How much free disk space is needed on system partition? 1

[ErickH]

I inherited a WIN NT 4.0 SP6a server, 350mHZ Pent.II. There are about 35 users on the network. This server is the PDC and File/Print server. The system (C:\) partition's free space has been creeping down during the last year to 65MB. There are no applications or files that can be moved off of it. The print spool is on another partition, as is the paging file.

Will the shortage of free space effect the performance of the server? Does anyone know of a way to free up space? I defragmented the drive, but did not reclaim much space.

Any input is appreciated! Thanks much.

 

[wimvanherp]

you can move the page file to another disk where there is more place. This is the file on disk that can hold the whole memory as a temporary stock. Wim Vanherp
Wim.Vanherp@belgacom.net

 

[ashleym]

I like to keep at least 700MB to 1G free so that I have enough room to do a parallel install should my production install of NT get corrupted.

You may also want to consider using compression on certain folders, that can free up several hundred megabytes. This will only be an available option if your file sytem is NFTS. If it is FAT, then changing it over to NFTS will free up some disk space anyway, but not much.

There is also a third party utility made by Powerquest

http://www.powerquest.com

called volume manager. It allows for on the fly partition enlarging or decreasing. Its close to $1000.00 though, so its not cheap.

AM

 

[lunatic23]

hi guys,

sorry to drag this out of the murky depths but reading this has made me sooo panicky...we're officially up s**t creek & heading for the firey depths of hell..

ok the nt4 server on work has a 502Mb C: partition and the free space right now is sitting at 441Kb, i've already been thru it & deleted everything possible

the pagefile is on the C: partition, but i dont know how to move it, is it just a matter of cut & paste? also there is a folder in /system32 called spool - is this the print spooler? if it is how do i go about moving that too?


thanks for the help
luni

someone once told me to shut up...

 

[justcurious]

lunatic, changing your page file location is not just a mattter of copying it elsewhere. You have to set it's parameters in the System Properties.

Right click on My Computer and select Properties, select the Performace tab and then the Change button in the Virtual Memory section.

The first section in this dialog will show you your current settings. To move it to another drive, select that drive and enter the Initial and Maximum sizes of the new file in the boxes below.

On an NT4 server, your initial size should be equal to your RAM + 11 MB. You will see this number in the Recommended field in the 3rd section. Some people think more is better so they enter a higher number here, but I have seen this cause "Your system is running low on virtual memory" errors.
Go with the recommended size.

I'm not sure what the conventional rules are for the Maximum size, but I never have problems leaving it the same as the Initial size. I guess if you have lots of free space on the drive, you can add a couple hundred MB without any problems.

Once you have done this, click on the Set button.

Now go back up to the top section and select Drive C: and change it's Initial and Maximum sizes to 2MB. You could blank them out so that there will be no page file on C:, but if the system crashes, it will not be able to dump it's memory. Don't forget to click on the Set button. A lot of people make that mistake and you have to repeat the steps after you reboot.

Now reboot your system and NT will take care of the rest.

 

[killasooty]

Hi lunatic

I face this problem every so often - I support some old NT systems which were all built with 2Gb C: partitions - I try to maintain at least 500Mb free space & panic if it goes below 150Mb ... here are some tips

Moving the Pagefile :- right-click on the My Computer icon, select Properties & then the Performance tab ... click on the Change button - this will allow you to define pagefiles on any local disk - set the one on C: to 0Mb, & create a new pagefile on another disk. Then reboot the system & you can then delete the original pagefile

Also look for logfiles ... many of my NT servers are SBS 4.5 systems - they use up hundreds of megabytes with logfiles from MS Proxy (C:\Winnt.SBS\System32\msplogs)

Search the disk for crash dumps (*.dmp)

Check & see how many user profiles are being stored in C:\winnt\profiles ... some of these can get pretty big. Get rid of unwanted profiles via My Computer -> Properties -> User Profiles .... Be careful !!! Once removed this way you can't get undelete anything - the profiles are wiped completely.

Hope this helps ...

 

[lunatic23]

thanks for the replies,

killasooty; you say you 'try to maintain at least 500Mb free space' - that makes me laugh, ohh we must be so out of date...

anyway i'll give it a go [gotta be out of hours though] & hopefully it will free up some space for a while longer.

thanks again, ill post back once its done
luni

someone once told me to shut up...