What is the best way to resize system volume on RAID 1

[helpmealready]

I have a Windows Server 2003 with 2 160GB drives configured RAID 1. The dynamic volumes are "C"-System, 39GB and "D"-Data, 120GB and drives are mirrored. The system volume is full and starting to create error messages. This volume has been cleaned up as much as possible. Ideally I want to shrink the D volume and extend the C volume.

Questions:
Are any of the utilities such as Aomei Dynamic Disk Manager or EaseUS successfull at accomplishing this without data loss?

If a backup is made of a dynamic volume, can it be restored to a simple partition? If so, would the MBR be intact?

I don't know what the safest method to would be - making backups, converting the disks to basic and restoring, or using a third party utility.

 

[goombawaho]

I would follow this thread's advice.

http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=1677573

Ghost image of entire server to another hard drive
Replace drives and create new RAID
Ghost image back onto new drives - adjusting sizes of partitions

Best reason - keeps the original disks safe until you decide everything is working well. Not much risk.

 

[helpmealready]

Thanks Goombawaho.

Do you know what version of Norton Ghost will clone Windows Server 2003 dynamic disks, or do you recommend another backup program?

Some folks say Norton Ghost 2003 works well but I was wondering if more recent versions would work.

 

[goombawaho]

I've got an older version and it worked cloning a windows 2003 server from single disk to RAID 1. I can't quote you on what version I have right at the moment.

Here would be a good way to get the newer Ghost and an SSD drive. Bonus!!!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147134

 

[goombawaho]

Smaller & cheaper one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147133

 

[NetworkTek]

If you have a good backup. I have used Gparted for this many times with good success.

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/

Network+
Inet+
MCP
MCSA 2003
MCTS

 

[helpmealready]

Thank you for your commments folks.

NetworkTek,

I considered gparted but read on one of the forums that dynamic disks could not be resized with the utility. Have you used gparted to resize dynamic volumes in Windows Server 2003, or were you resizing partitions on basic disks?

Goombawaho,

Thanks for posting the links. I am tempted to do just that. Although the documentation for Ghost 15 doesn't list Windows Server 2003 as a supported OS. The documentation states:

From the Ghost 15 manual...



The following Windows 32- or 64-bit operating systems are
supported:
■ Windows 7
■ Windows Vista Ultimate
■ Windows Vista Business
■ Windows XP Professional/Home (SP2 or later)
■ Windows XP Media Center (SP2 or later)


So, I am worried that this won't work for me.

 

[goombawaho]

Well, I guess you could try it with your version and a test disk drive but I'm betting it will work. Server 2003 is just like XP. The reason they don't list it as supported (I'm guessing) is that Ghost was more of a consumer backup product whereas Symantec Solution Suite 2.5 is how they market the business software.


And you would be using a bootable CD of Ghost, which is NOT the same thing as installing the software and running it within windows.

I didn't explicitly mention that, but when I did it, I booted with the Ghost CD and did a disk to disk copy of the original C: and D: drives to a new RAID array I had created with a new controller (with bold old and new drives connected). Slightly different than what you are doing, but your situation is actually simpler and less risky because you wouldn't even have your old and new disks in the server at the same time.

 

[goombawaho]

Okay - I went to the trouble of booting a PC with my version of Ghost (the bootable CD) and it says:

Symantec Ghost 11.0 Korporate Edition (Hmmm....)

This worked just fine with Server 2003 SP2

 

[helpmealready]

Whats odd is Symantec Solution Suite 2.5 is only $39.20 for a single license and Norton Ghost 15 is 69.99 for a single license.

It seems odd that the consumer product is more than the corporate version. I wonder if I am missing something important.

 

[goombawaho]

Unless there is a minimum order of 5 or something.

 

[NetworkTek]

Sorry I completely overlooked that it was a dynamic disk. No you can't use gparted for dynamic disk.

Network+
Inet+
MCP
MCSA 2003
MCTS

 

[2ffat]

We used Partition Wizard to shrink our D: volume and extend our C: volume on our raid array. Worked like a charm.


James P. Cottingham
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