Running out of Drive space! 1

[JimPletcher]

Win2k SBS, one disk drive, two partitions, basic - not dynamic.

Drive C: is getting dangerously full, plenty of space on drive E.

Any way to extend drive C: without destroying existing C:?

Willing to add new drive, but don't want to destroy existing C:

 

[rodentcentre]

Do you know for a fact what resourses are consuming the drive space?? The reason I ask is because I had the same issue, wanted to exend the partition but then decided to take a look at what the real problem was...turns out IIS logs were getting very bulky, moved them to a different partition and everything is good again. If this doesn't take care of your problem do a search on the forum for partition tools, I'll bet that you will come up with many that address this exact issue.

 

[aftertaf]

good idea...
and check the size of your Ad logs and database too...

first, find what is making the disk dangerously full!


Aftertaf
________
Regain control of your PC, at

http://www.debian.org

If you break your hard drive, it'll be DPlank's fault

 

[NickFerrar]

I use this utility for looking at where the disk space is being used:

http://www.stgsys.com/fpp.asp

With a C: low on space I normally move the pagefile to a different disk first and then as the others said check for logs etc (backup software is another huge consumer of disk space).

If you do still need to mess with the partition sizes then you'll have to use a 3rd party app like Patition magic as it's not supported by Microsoft. You could also look into volume mount points.

 

[JimPletcher]

Have already moved all moveable shares, deleted all excess files, cleaned out Temp directory, moved SwapFile to another drive and emptied all logs. (space was that tight!)

The problem (if that's what you can call it) appears to be Exchange.
Had all users clean up their Outlook folders, but the C:\Program Files\Exchange directory continues to grow.
Looks like it will completely fill the disk in less than a month, - if we don't crash before then.

Looking into moving the Exchange files to a new drive (if I can find a 100% safe method), but would still like to expand C:

 

[lebisol]

if it is a matter of partiotion size vs. physical drive size u could expand your partition using some of tools:
-partition magic
-acronis partition expert

100% method would be getting a bigger drive and using one of the uttilites above to copy/ghost your entre drve C onto a new drive

You could add a drive and change/move Exchange defaults (where mailboxes are stored) to the newly added drive ...just be careful and make your backups before any of this take an effect.
All the best

:--------------------------------------------------------------------------:

All around in my home town,
They tryin' to track me down...

 

[Tightpants]

If you are really short of drive space make sure you have emptied your recycle bin after the cleanup.

Use Treesize Pro to find out where your drive space is being used.

Otherwise lebisol's suggestion of moving the Exchange stores is a good one.

 

[GlenJohnson]

Also, why not archive saved e-mails older than x number of years, and delete them off the drive. Even if you move the files to a different drive, sloppy users will continue to fill up any and all drives.

Oh, here's the recipe for cheese cake from auntie rose, I've GOT to save that.

Also, have you used this?

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;192185

Glen A. Johnson
If you're from the Illinois, Wisconsin or Florida area, check out Tek-Tips in Chicago IL
To get the best answers to your questions, check out faq950-5848

 

[markdmac]

Another thing to check is to delete the KB uninstall folders in the Windows directory.

For your Exchange, is it your infostore that is growing or is it your log files?

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

 

[JimPletcher]

Thanks guys,
By moving the Exchange Transaction Log files to another drive, I managed to reclaim around 7GB on Drive C:

Moving the Exchange Log files is easy, but not for the faint-hearted.

Now we get to check (on Monday) to see if Exchange is working properly - I think it is.

 

[markdmac]

Did you stop the info store and see if those logs were even needed?

Run the following command with the info Store Service stopped.

ESEUTIL /MH Priv1.edb

Scroll up on the results. Look for Logs Needed and it should say 0/0. Above that you should also see the shutdown state which would hopefully be clean and not dirty. If it does then you can actually DELETE those transaction logs because they have already been incorporated into the database. You can safely execute
del *.log as long as it says the 0/0.

If you had 7GB of transaction logs, this is an indication that your backup had problems NTBackup and veritas will both clear out the unneeded transaction logs if the Exchange backup is successful. You should check that out right away.

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

 

[JimPletcher]

Mark, I suspect that you are right on. This site uses TapeWare backup, which seems to have several problems of its own.

None of the other sites I administer, use this much space for transaction logs, and they all use other backup systems(NTbackup and ARCserve).

At close of business tonight, I'll give your recommendation a shot.

Thanks much for the suggestion!

 

[Tightpants]

The standard windows backup is a really good way of backing up your Exchange Server in the absence of a paid-for product. I would do a backup BEFORE doing anything to your Exchange Server, even if it is a backup to disk.

 

[LukaBuka]

By the way, I've just purchased TreeSize Pro from Froogle (Google's shopping engine). Should anyone be interested, here is the discoun link

http://www.deprice.com/treesizeprof.htm