Britixo CRMBritixo CRMEnterprise Help Centre
Ctrl K
VPS · Question & answer

How do I use extra disk space after a VPS disk upgrade?

Provider disk growth, guest partition growth and filesystem growth are separate steps. First identify the real layout. The commands below apply only to a verified simple Linux layout with a larger /dev/vda disk and root filesystem on /dev/vda1, without LVM, encryption or RAID.

AdvancedVPS services; platform features and management permissions depend on the selected serviceLinux commands apply only inside a compatible Linux guest

Britixo Help Centre · Updated

Go to the answer

Before you start

  • The provider has completed the disk increase and the guest sees the new disk size.
  • A verified recoverable data source and authorised maintenance plan exist.
  • growpart and the correct filesystem tool are installed.

Instructions

1. Verify the larger disk and exact filesystem

Wait for the provider operation to complete, then inspect the guest. Do not continue if these example device names or the layout differ.

Remote Linux shell
lsblk -o NAME,SIZE,TYPE,FSTYPE,MOUNTPOINTS
findmnt -n -o SOURCE,FSTYPE,TARGET /
df -hT /

Confirm the disk is larger, the selected partition can grow into adjacent free space, and root is directly on the identified partition.

2. Preview and approve partition growth

Only for the confirmed /dev/vda partition 1 example, preview the change first.

Remote Linux shell
sudo growpart -N /dev/vda 1

-N reports the proposed partition-table change without applying it. Review the original start and intended larger end.

Remote Linux shell
sudo growpart /dev/vda 1
lsblk -o NAME,SIZE,TYPE,FSTYPE,MOUNTPOINTS

Run the real growth only after the preview is approved. Confirm the kernel sees the larger partition before growing its filesystem.

3. Choose only the matching filesystem command

For a confirmed healthy ext4 filesystem on /dev/vda1 with online growth supported, use resize2fs. For confirmed XFS mounted at /, use xfs_growfs against that mount point. Never run both alternatives.

Remote Linux shell
sudo resize2fs /dev/vda1

EXT4 ONLY: extends the verified filesystem to its underlying partition capacity.

Remote Linux shell
sudo xfs_growfs -n /
sudo xfs_growfs /

XFS ONLY: the first command checks geometry without growth; run the second only after reviewing it.

4. Verify usable space and application health

Recheck the root filesystem and the application. If the kernel cannot reread the changed partition table, follow the supported maintenance procedure before continuing.

Remote Linux shell
df -hT /

The filesystem should now expose the intended usable capacity. Filesystem overhead means it will not exactly equal the raw disk size.

Check the result

  • The correct partition retained its starting location and exposes the approved larger size.
  • The filesystem capacity increased and the application remains healthy.

Troubleshooting

The layout uses LVM, encryption, RAID or another filesystem
Stop this example and use the documented layered expansion procedure for that layout.
growpart reports no available growth
Check whether the partition already fills the disk or another partition blocks contiguous space; do not delete partitions to force it.

Official references

Use the documentation for your installed version when a flag, service name or platform feature differs.