Out of space on c:\ need your opinion... 1

[quell]

Ok I need some opinions here. I have 4 servers all are running out of disk space on the c: drive (800mgs left of 4g) I have heard of partition magic but never used it. Will this work ok on a w2k server? Has anyone ever tried it? Thanx for your opinion

 

[Claudek]

Guess you wish to extend your C: drive to incorporate some empty space elsewhere. Partition Magic is an excellent software to partition and repartition HDs. However, any admin would be most wary of using a software like this on a production server. If you do decide to use it (It will extend your C drive as I mentioned) do make a full backup of your system.

Perhaps you could just use the new dynamic disk features of Windows 2000. If you convert your C:\ drive to a dynamic volume and if you have free space you have not partitioned or maybe you are putting in a new HD, you can format and convert them to dynamic as well and basically extend your C:\ drive to those volumes. Others may suggest similer things such as using folders mapped to an entire HD etc (havn't done this so cannot say much on it).

Good luck with the space issues though.


Claudius (What certifications??)

http://www.iteq.com.au

 

[mawilson]

What is going on your C drive that is taking up so much space? Can you move some of it to another partition so free up some space? If not, Claudek's suggestion of using the dynamic disk features sounds like a good plan to me.

 

[packdragon]

You can move the paging file to the D:. It often is a big user of space. Right click on My Computer and select Properties. Click on the Advanced tab. Click on the Performance button. Click the Change button under Virtual memory. You can specify how much and on which drive the page file resides. A reboot will be required for the changes to take effect.

- Zoe, that's ZOH-EEE, get it right please
- Just a little ol' MCP at Solien Technology
-

http://www.solien.com

 

[quell]

it is a production server and that is why i am wary ....another thing to through in the mix is its a raid 5 system. most programs are installed on other drives but still some progs install files into the sys dir so all that adds up. hehe just checked out neworder.box.sk they posted a pic of my servers

 

[ricpinto]

New RAID controllers supports disk extension wherein you can add additional HDD's in your RAID 5 to gain more space. Check your RAID controller manual.

 

[quell]

PacketDragon: Thank you for your recommendation. I know have a wopping 2.5g of free space. Heres a star for ya.

 

[quell]

PacketDragon: Thank you for your recommendation. I now have a wopping 2.5g of free space. Heres a star for ya.

 

[Seaspray0]

Also look into the services and their logging (not everything gets put into the system log, some services have their own). You may have several log files that you can back up (if desired) and truncate/delete. You can also set limits on many of the system logs. If you are using WINS, you should schedule a monthly task to compact the database with the jetpack program (if never compacted, you might get some considerable space back). For data that isn't referenced often (i.e. archival information) consider compressing the folder to save space. I once compressed the entire C drive (was setting up a test DC on a 1.2G HD with other services and needed all the space). It ran slower, but the OS didn't have any problems with compressed system files.

 

[thebassplayer]

Be aware that if you have moved the entire paging file to the D drive you have introduced another problem wherby if the system crashes you can no longer write the system debug information. It is safer to have a very small swap file left on drive C and the rest on another drive. this also increases your performance as well.

Thebassplayer (MCSE, MCT)

 

[djhath]

Question for thebassplayer... How small is small? I have the same problem described here. When I attempted to set the swap file to be small, say 100 megs, it says that anything less than a gig could be trouble for writing system debug info. I currently have it set the c: partition at a gig and allocated the rest to the d: partition. I'd like to maximize this if I could (use 100 megs if possible)...

 

[burnman2000]

use ghost to create an image. and replace the disk with a larger one and set data back with ghost.

you can do the same with a backup

 

[skotman]

2.5 gb free? Oooo I'm jelous. I have 300mb free on my C partition...I spose it's time to expand my disk across multiple disks.

Scott Heath

http://www.scottspad.com

AIM: orange7288

 

[alanterrill]

I've got the same problem with c: drive not having enough space for an upgrade to Veritas backup (needs 540mb just for an update!). Swap file is aleady on drive d: (which has 50GB free). According to windows help I can right click on the volume in Disk Administrator and choose "Extend Volume" -however, no such menu choice is visible. Does anyone know why? Is this choice onlythere on a single disc (I have raid 5).

 

[Palagast]

Skotman:
Though you can extend partitions over multiple disks, you must also realise one possible future problem with it: if either of the drives fails, you lose data of the entire partition.

Alanterrill:
One thing you might want to do is re-install BackupExec on your D-drive. That way you get some free space on the c-drive. Don't forget to modify your backup as well to to include the part on D where you install BackupExec (if you want to).
Wether or not you can extend partitions outside your raid 5 set, depends on the 'pimpness' of your raid controller. If it supports it, you might have basic disks in a raid 5 configuration (yes, this is possible with hardware raid controller), in that case you need to upgrade them to dynamic discs.
Also, it might be possible for you to add another disk to your raid 5 set, if you are considering buying another disk as an option.

Good luck!