Expanding File System

OVERVIEW

You just loaded the latest Debian image on your microSD 8GB card. Did an update and upgrade and are now out of space? This tutorial provides a step-by-step guide to expanding the file system on your BeagleBone microSD media card.

What you will need

• BeagleBone Black
• BeagleBone expandable case Orange or Black (recommended)
• AC adapter 5 Volts, 2 Amp (optional)
• microSD 8GB card(recommended)

STEP 1

Insert your microSD card, that you have flashed with the latest Debian image using Win32DiskImager. As you power-up the BeagleBone, you may need to press the boot button (and hold it until LEDs are on)  to load from the microSD card.

STEP 2

First verify that the microSD card is mounted. Using putty to SSH

ls /dev/mmcblk* 

STEP 3

Enter the following summarized commands in the left column of this table.

Command	Description
sudo su	become super user
fdisk /dev/mmcblk0	start fdisk for mmc card
p	display partitions
d	delete partition
2	partition 2
n	new partition
p	primary partition
2	partition 2
w	write

STEP 4

reboot

STEP 5

Once the system has rebooted, we can resize the file system

resize2fs /dev/mmcblk0p2

Example output for an 8GB microSD card.

Note the size of /dev/mmcbblk0p2  will depend on the capacity of the microSD card used.

STEP 6

You should now complete the update and upgrade.

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get upgrade

Whenever the microSD memory is present, the BeagleBone will load from this media card.
To boot from eMMC, remove the microSD card.