drive partition size calculations for new 5.5 install

[zenophryk]

i'm getting ready to implement a 5.5 enterprise site. i have about 75 users. and a 400gb logical drive to split up. i can figure out what i need for an information store partition e#users X mailbox limit + a little overhead) but does anyone know of a good resource to figure out what c: and d: should be ?
i know the optimiser will give me suggestions when i start the install, but i would like to start out with the right size partitions.

any thoughts?

 

[zbnet]

A new 5.5 install? Are you kidding? You're bringing software that's out of support into production? Why now implement Exchange 2K3?

Your C-drive doesn't need hardly anything at all - 2 or 4GB will be pleanty (stick your swap file on there). Make sure you have enough RAM.

Your transaction log volume (should be a mirrored pair really for maximum through-put) needs to be big enough to contain a few days' worth of email traffic (make sure you turn circular logging OFF and implement an Exchange-aware nightly online backup). I can't predict how much email your 75 users will send and receive each day, but when you estimate this, multiply it by the number of days you desire to be able to manage with no backup (say your tape drive breaks and it takes you a week to replace it), and that is the minimum size for your log volume.

With such a relatively small number of users, I'd stick the MTA files on the db volume.

 

[Griffyn]

There's no benefit in partitioning a single drive for use with Exchange. A single drive can access only one point on the disk at a time, and is therefore no quicker than if there was a single partition.

Only if you have multiple drives do you need to worry about where different files are stored.