How to Resize a Plenit Disk

Expanding a disk is straightforward. Shrinking it is not, because the current disk is not modified: you create a new smaller one, clone the system onto it, and then set it as the root disk instead of the original.

In this tutorial, you go through that entire process.

👍 What you get

The server's root disk replaced with a smaller-capacity one, with the system cloned and booting normally. It is a long process: set aside time and do it unhurriedly.

❗️ Before touching anything, make sure you have a way back

This procedure replaces the boot disk. Take a snapshot or a backup of the server before you start, so you have somewhere to return if something goes wrong.

Before you begin

• Log in to the Plenit platform.
• Have a subscription to Servers or Remote Desktop with the server whose disk you are going to shrink.
• Check that the data fits in the new size.

This last step is what causes the most failures: the new disk has to be larger than the used, not than the total space on the current disk. Check the actual usage before choosing the size.

In Windows, from PowerShell:

Get-Volume

On Linux:

df -h

🚧 Look at the used space, not the total

If the current disk is 100 GB but only 35 GB is occupied, you can clone to a 60 GB disk without a problem.

What you cannot do is clone to a disk smaller than the data in use.

Step 1. Create a new disk with the desired size

1. Go to the Servers subscription from its card.
2. Open the subsection Servers, select the server and click Edit in the side menu.
3. Scroll down to Disks. There you can see the current root disk (in the example, 100 GB).
4. Add a new disk, attach it to the server, set the new size (in the example, 60 GB) and click Create disk.

When finished, the new disk appears in Disks alongside the original root.

{/* 📸 SCREENSHOT 1 · Disks subsection · add disk, connect to server and set the new size */}

Creation of the new smaller disk in the Disks subsection

Step 2. Prepare the server with the boot ISO

Cloning is done with the tool AOMEI Backupper Linux, which the platform offers as a boot ISO.

1. In the server panel, use the selector in the upper-right corner to add the ISO AOMEI Backupper Linux and confirm.
2. Click Boot from ISO and confirm. The server restarts and boots from the ISO.

When the restart finishes, the platform indicates that booting from the ISO has completed.

{/* 📸 SCREENSHOT 2 · ISO selector with AOMEI Backupper Linux and the Boot from ISO icon */}

Boot ISO upload and boot from ISO option

Step 3. Clone the current disk to the new one

1. Connect to the server with the Console option from the panel. A window opens with console access.
2. In the application menu, open the Clone tab and choose System Clone.
3. Select the new disk as the destination and start the cloning. You can follow the progress on screen.
4. When finished, click Finish and then shut down the server from the panel.

❗️ During cloning, work through the console

At this step you cannot use a remote RDP connection: you have to operate from the Console panel console. RDP access will not be available while the server boots from the ISO.

{/* 📸 SCREENSHOT 3 · console with the Clone > System Clone tab and the new disk as destination */}

System cloning onto the new disk from the console

Step 4. Set the new disk as root

With the server powered off:

1. First disconnect the ISO.
2. Go to Disks and disconnect the two disks from each one's menu.
3. Connect the cloned disk as root. On the Connect Volume, answer Yes to "Do you want it to be root?".
4. Go back to the panel and turn on the machine.

{/* 📸 SCREENSHOT 4 · Connect Volume screen with the "Do you want it to be root?" option set to Yes */}

Connection of the cloned disk as the root disk

Verify the result

When the server boots, log in and confirm that the root disk is now the new one, with the reduced size:

Get-Volume

df -h

If the system boots normally and the size is as expected, the shrink is complete. At this point, you can delete the original disk if you no longer need it.

If something doesn't match

Symptom	Likely cause	What to do
The server does not boot after powering on	The cloned disk was not marked as root	Shut down, check in Disks that the clone is root and try again
The cloning stops or fails	The new disk is smaller than the data in use	Create a disk larger than the used space (check df -h / Get-Volume)
You do not have access to the server during the process	You are trying to access via RDP	Use the Console from the panel while booting from the ISO