KDE Patition Manager a liability IMHO - please package Gparted instead.

[justcosmic1]

IMHO KDE Partion Manager is not fit for purpose and is a liability that lets KDE and MX down.
I know that is a strong statement; but I think what I have written below backs this up.
IMO it would be better to package Gparted as standard in the KDE version of MX.

So I tried installing MX 23.1 KDE and was reminded why I left Mangaro behind...It's sad really; there's a lot I like about it.
While I was in the live session I reached for Gparted, but it wasn't included - instead there was KDE Partition Manager. I had decided that I wanted to delete my swap partition and use a swap file instead; which meant moving boot and expanding root. I had made a snapshot so I wasn't worried; and my data partition was not to be changed - but stupidly I hadn't done a recent backup of it to be safe
Apart from being really fiddly to get it to do what I wanted; once I hit apply it very quickly ground to a halt with a big fat error message; after which the whole SSD was messed up
After this happened, I did some research online and found many other similar reports; and then I remembered that I think I had an even worse scenario when I was first trying the move to Linux (with Manjaro) ; and it appeared to actually brick the SSD completely - obviously I can't know for sure that Partition Manager was the cause of this.
I should say that I have used Aomei partition manager as well as Gparted and done moves, merges and resized partitions with never a problem.

Several days of data recovery later...
I did eventually get to test MX 23.1 KDE and there lots that I really like about it. (I wish all DE's had universal file tagging like KDE/Dophin for example.)
And MX 23.1 generally rocks!
However, for now; I personally think that packaging Gparted in place of KDE Partition Manager would be more in line with the reputation of MX as amongst other things rock solid and reliable. A buggy partition package can do way too much damage both to peoples data and MX's reputation and is why I describe it as a liability.

Apart from appealing to developers to consider this change; I also hope this post will help warn other users and perhaps save them from similar experience as I had.

P.S. I posted elements of this in the AVL respin thread as the question of KDE had come up. I hope I didn't violate any forum rules in doing so; and please feel free to notify me if I should make any changes.
Many thanks.

[kc1di]

Gparted is available in the mx package manager. And can be install without problems.

[m_pav]

edited to fix grammar

When a distro provides KDE, it is expedient to provide the standard integrated tools that come with it, hence the inclusion of the KDE Partition Manager. As with all Open Source packages, the user assumes full responsibility for its use on his/her machine and it is quite clear you have taken that responsibility by acknowledging your error of neglecting to make a backup, so that's a good thing as it fits in perfectly with what might be called "the rules of engagement" There is no liability where Open Source is software is employed, it is provided free of charge, without warranty and without compulsion or corecion.

I too have borked stuf in the past by putting blind faith in not only a package, but also my ability to operate without the occasional error, therefore, I must always consider the value of a drive or partitions contents before taking any action on it. If the contents are inconsequential, then I go ahead with the safety of knowing their loss is of little or no value. If the contents have even the slightest hint of being of value, then a backup before any other operation is the only way forward.

So what can be done to facilitate your newfound needs?;

• Make a backup and confirm it to be viable

• Install gparted on your daily driver

• Make a snapshot of your own installation that includes gparted and burn it to USB

• Install gparted when running live before doing any partitioning operations

• Boot the Live-USB, install gparted and use our remaster tools to integrate it permanently

This list is incomplete, but we have provided all the tools required for you to rebuild it how you like it.

May this be the beginning of an excellent journey for you. No expert earned their title without first making more than their fair share of right royal screw-ups :)

[Stevo]

You can even install and use gparted in a Live session if you have a Net connection...

[asqwerth]

To be fair to the OP, I also don't find KDE Partition Manager as usable as GParted.

It hasn't destroyed any partition of mine, but I remember initiating an action (either copy/paste a partition or format/label it) and nothing happening. While I still have it on my MX KDE installs, I always install GParted as well. On my Artix KDE install, where KDE PM was not preinstalled, I chose to install GParted. I'm never concerned about having mixed theming for gtk and Qt apps.

[~FLOW~]

I can confirm also about the fiability-less of the KDE Partition Manager. In my heavy distro hopping years, when I used KDE PM I got a lot of errors, I'm talking about resizing, deleting and creating 4 partitions at a time ...basic stuff, on different hardware. I didn't mind because the OS was always on a separate disk, but man ! with what I know now I would never ever use it for partitions that I really care.