Expanding the Raspberry Pi file system

Does anyone have a quick history lesson so that I avoid a full chase the squirrel engagement, on the A1 Expand Filesystem option, under the Advanced Options in the raspi-config tool?

I stumbled across a suggestion to expand the file system while researching a project. Instead of fully engaging and chasing this squirrel, I thought someone in the community might just have a quick answer.

I recall at one point in Raspbian (RP OS) development the operating system would indicate it was expanding the filesystem and then reboot. I don't recall seeing that message lately. Does the automatic SD card expansion still exist? Does the option described above utilises the full capacity of any SD card installed or are their limits?

I confess this is me being lazy but still curious of the answer. Any response off the top of your head?

Parents

gdstew over 5 years ago

The Raspberry Pi OS (or Raspbian) image file you copy to an SD card is out of nessesity smaller than the capacity of the SD card. That option expands
the file system to the full size of the SD card. This has been done automatically after the first boot for a few years now so it is usually not needed. It
should not cause any problems if you use that option after the file system has already been expanded as the program will see that it has nothing to
do and exit.
Cancel
Vote Up +1 Vote Down

Sign in to reply

Cancel

Reply

gdstew over 5 years ago

The Raspberry Pi OS (or Raspbian) image file you copy to an SD card is out of nessesity smaller than the capacity of the SD card. That option expands
the file system to the full size of the SD card. This has been done automatically after the first boot for a few years now so it is usually not needed. It
should not cause any problems if you use that option after the file system has already been expanded as the program will see that it has nothing to
do and exit.
Cancel
Vote Up +1 Vote Down

Sign in to reply

Cancel

Children

No Data