Grow root partition and filesystem in Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Here are the steps to grow the root filesystem on an existing system that does NOT use LVM:

1. First, use LVM; it makes resizing filesystems nearly trivial, robust, without any real downsides.  Just another way that Ubuntu is not enterprise-worthy.  But, we don’t have LVM on these systems’s as they are….
2. Second, before doing any operations on your partitions, always perform and test a backup (to a separate system!) of your data. You may make your system unbootable and/or nuke all of your data!
3. The system I performed these steps on was partitioned thus:
1. /dev/sda – 7GB – /
2. /dev/sda2 – remainder – Extended partition
3. /dev/sda5 – swap – partition within the extended partition.
4. So, to grow “/”, we will become root, delete the swap partition and the extended partition, grow /, and then re-create the swap partition.  Adjust the steps below according to the partition numbers and layout of your particular system:
1. Disable swap:
1. swapoff /dev/sda5
2. Delete and re-create partitions as appropriate.
1. fdisk /dev/sda
2. print out partition information (p)
3. Delete partition 5 (d – 5)
4. Delete partition 2 (d – 2)
5. Delete partition 1 (d)
6. Create partition 1 (n – p – 1)
1. It must start on the exact same sector as before (as seen in the print command)
2. It must end on a sector higher than it did before.  Num_GB*1024*1024*2 = ending sector
7. Create partition 2 (n – p – 2)
8. Change partition 2 to type “Linux Swap” (t – 2 – 82 )
9. Activate partition 1 to make it bootable (a - 1)
10. Double-check everything.
11. Exit (w)
3. recreate the swap partition, using a label:
1. mkswap -L swap /dev/sda2
4. add a label to the root filesystem
1. e2label /dev/sda1  /   (in centos, it’s e4label)
5. Fix up /etc/fstab
1. Fix the “swap” line to use LABEL=swap instead of UUID=
2. Fix the “/” line to use LABEL=/ instead of UUID=
6. swapon /dev/sda2
7. Fix up /boot/grub/grub.cfg
1. Either: Find the “linux” line for the menu option you will boot, change UUID= to LABEL=/
2. Or: update-grub
8. Re-create the initrd
1. update-initramfs -u -k 3.2.0-38-generic
9. Reboot the VM. *Cross your fingers!* This is your moment of truth.
10. Grow the root filesystem
1. resize2fs /dev/sda1  (resize4fs on CentOS, I believe).
11. If it didn't boot, then that's what you get for biting off more than you could chew, and for choosing a distro that doesn't leverage LVM.  Boot off your Ubuntu/Mint install disk, and copy off your data to a USB disk, and start over. (...but you DID back up your data anyway, right?)