Installed Ubuntu, ran GParted now space used is changed?

[fuzzylogic25]

Hi,

I just installed Ubuntu, and I already had windows XP in a separate partition. This is my first time installing Linux.

I have a 500GB drive, 20GB is a primary NTFS partition for win xp. I set linux to use the remaining space at installation time. Once installed, I checked the properties of the parition linux is using which is called "Filesystem" through File -> Properties and it said the following:

Ubuntu filesystem properties
---------------------------------------------------------------
Hard disk space used: totalling 3.2GB (some files unreadable)
Freespace: 409.5GB
---------------------------------------------------------------

Then i ran Gparted, because I actually only wanted 30GB for the parition, and remaining space to be used as data partition which will be NTFS. Gparted stated following information when i ran it:

What GParted saw before making any changes
---------------------------------------------------------------
/dev/sda1 : ntfs Size:19.53G; Used: 11.11G; Unused: 8.42G; boot flag
/dev/sda2 : extended Size: 446.23GB
/dev/sda5 ext3 Size: 440.47gb; Used: 8.97; Unused: 431.51
/dev/sda6 linux-swap Size: 5.75gb
---------------------------------------------------------------

Then what I wanted to do was set /dev/sda5 down to 30GB, and move the /dev/sda6 (linux-swap) to just after the /dev/sda5. That way, the remaining space which is going to be data partition in NTFS can be put at the end of disk.

So this is what I set the conditions to be:

Changes I wanted to make: (resize ext3 partition down and move linux-swap from end of disk to just after ext3 partition)
---------------------------------------------------------------
/dev/sda1 : ntfs Size:19.53G; Used: 11.11G; Unused: 8.42G; boot flag
/dev/sda2 : extended Size: 446.23GB
/dev/sda5 ext3 Size: 29.29GB; Used: 8.97GB; Unused: 20.33GB
/dev/sda6 linux-swap Size: 5.75gb
new partition #1 411.18
---------------------------------------------------------------

After I ran this process, i got the following information form GParted:

GParted view on disk partitions after I made changes
---------------------------------------------------------------
/dev/sda1 : ntfs Size:19.53G; Used: 11.11G; Unused: 8.42G; boot flag
/dev/sda2 : extended Size: 446.23GB
/dev/sda5 ext3 Size: 29.29GB; Used: 2.49GB; Unused: 26.8GB
/dev/sda6 linux-swap Size: 5.75gb
new partition #1 411.18
---------------------------------------------------------------

And when I when I booted up Ubuntu to check the properties of the FILESYSTEM disk like it did initially I got:

---------------------------------------------------------------
Hard disk space used: totalling 2.6GB (some files unreadable)
Freespace: 25.3GB
---------------------------------------------------------------

My question is, after I did a resize, why has the space used according to Ubuntu changed from 3.2GB down to 2.6GB? Have I lost some data that was there from the installation process?

And according to GParted, why does it say the used space was 8.97GB for that drive but now saying 2.48GB? Have I lost that much data?

[twoHats]

Let me understand... you repartitioned a running system on a mounted partition? Wow - I am amazed you could do that and even more amazed that the system would boot afterwords.

Ideally, you would repartition during install. If your system is brand new and you don't have too much customization done, let me suggest you re-install while your windoze partition is still intact. During the install when it asks about partioning, choose the closest thing to "Custom - I want to partion the drive myself" - now use that tool to set up your drive as you want - leaving the windoze partition untouched. Don't forget the swap partition - Where it is on the drive makes no real difference, but it must be there.

HTH