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Losing space on my Hard Drive

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bluetech05

bluetech05

IS-IT--Management
Jan 10, 2007
25
US
Heres the background info first. I have a mirror setup currently. I have 2 39gig drives for server and exchange and 2 79gig drives for Data. My data drives are fine for space but in the last 2 weeks I have lost 1 gig of space on my smaller harddrives. I have ruled out the following: Its not a virus, and it not from any recent updates or upgrades. I can't figure it out but we had 10.9 gigs free last week and now are down to about 9.5 gigs free. ANY ideas?? I've even looked through the the C drive for anything out of the ordanary.

Thanks in advance
 
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Use search and look for files and folders that were created on or between certain dates. At least this will give you an idea of what was added on the C: drive that burned 1GB of space....

That's were I would start.
 
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If Exchange is on that smaller array, you're likely losing space to increasing stores, and accumulation of transaction logs.

Look in the \Program Files\Exchsrvr\mdbdata\ folder and see if there are a ton of log files in there from previous days. If there are, check and make sure your backups are completing successfully and flushing the log files.

Pat Richard, MCSE MCSA:Messaging CNA
Microsoft Exchange MVP
Want to know how email works? Read for yourself -
 
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I tried that just a couple minutes ago and there wasn't anything out of the normal stuff and files sizes. As a side question if I get bigger harddrives what would you all recommend to get all the current data to the new drives?
 
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Wait.... what are the names of the logs. 58sniper makes a good point regarding exchange logs. If your exchange is not using circular logging then you would see a growth in log files. Exchange log files will only be deleted after a successful backup (when not using circular logging).
 
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They start at file E00000A0.log and go to E0000997.log
 
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Thats a lot of log files! If they are all from today, fine. But if they have a date PRIOR to the last backup cycle, there is a problem somewhere. As WhoKilledKenny said, they'll be deleted upon a successful backup BUT ONLY FROM AN EXCHANGE AWARE BACKUP SOLUTION.

Pat Richard, MCSE MCSA:Messaging CNA
Microsoft Exchange MVP
Want to know how email works? Read for yourself -
 
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I had the same problem, but found out that a program that I was running was causing it. I was using Eraser and it was eating up all kinds of space because of some failed deletions. I know that this probably doesn't pertain to you (it's pretty specific), but wanted to mention it anyway.

J
 
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The are from back in June of 06. I can't believe I never saw them before. I'm using Symantec Backup exec 10d for windows server "quickstart edition".
 
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the server was just setup june of 06 on a side note
 
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Ok... so this issue is that your exchange logs are not being parsed. Are your backups completing successfully and are they backing up these logs. If yes, I would check with Symantec to assist you with the issue. Do not attempt to manually delete these log files, It is better that you fix the backup solution so that exchange deletes the files for you, automatically. I don't see you running out of space by the time it would take to resolve the issue, so you are not in danger at this time....
 
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I have had some bad jobs in the past for different issues and these are the logs that are left. They total 12.4 gigs of space in logs.
 
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Just some Exchange backgroung for you. Exhange handles tranaction logs as follows.
Cirucular loggin enabled - only maintians three log files and deletes and creates automatically throughout the day. Pro - takes up less disk space. Con - you can only recover mail from the last successful backup of the system.

Cirucular loggin disabled - (your system) - keeps a log file of all transactions. Log files are deleted by the system after the system has been succesfully backed up. This is an automated process. As 58Sniper stated, requires exchange aware backup system. Needs to clear the achrive bit on the log file so that the file can be purged.
Pro - You can restore all mail up to time of last transaction log. Con (not really a con) - requires disk space to save logs.

Good luck, should be an easy fix...
 
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Just saw you other post... Call Symantec or research the issue on their site. They will be able to assist you in getting the backups online and functioning properly. If this version is not supported for exchange. You can turn on circular logging (if your company standard allows) or find another backup solution. FYI: I'm sure the Native windows backup would work, though I have not tried it. What I do know is that the Exchange database is looking for the archive bit to be reset, when it sees that is has, Exchange purges the log files.
 
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You could delete some of the old logs, but I would not recommend it. Why? because if you delete the wrong file you will corrupt your datastore. If you can't get the solution working, I would suggest enable circular logging, wait 24 Hours, then start to purge old log files. As circular logging will only have a handful of active files. Remember the Con of circualr logging regarding restores.

But, do yourself a favor and try to verify if the backup is causing the issue. It might be someting as simple as the folder that houses the log files has been excluded from the backup...
 
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Cirucular loggin enabled...so you can restore all emails up until the last complete backup? That sounds like a better idea.

With it disabled I just can go back to a certain day though.
 
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When circular logging is disabled, transaction log files accumulate on the disk until a full or incremental backup is performed. "After this, the log files that have all transactions committed to the database are deleted."

This doesn't sound right?

What would be better for me. I work for a law firm by the way!
 
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You don't want circular logging enabled. Ever. It's evil if you ever want to do some recovery.

Get the Exchange agent for Backup Exec.

Pat Richard, MCSE MCSA:Messaging CNA
Microsoft Exchange MVP
Want to know how email works? Read for yourself -
 
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