Increase disk space for main C:\ drive

[khinester]

Hello,
I am a bit puzzled as to how to increase the main os partition.

I have a Windows 2000 server, running all my file, print and Exchange mail.

I allocated 20Gb for the main partition and this soon got chewed up and now when I look at the Event Logs I get Warning Messages that my server has only 960Mb of space left!

I have 2 drives of 40Gb each and these are partioned I have another 19Gb left on the main drive which I would like to use, but don't know how to safely include this space into the C:\ allocation.

If there is now way, is there a way to list all the files in order of the largest, by size, so that to see where all this memory is going....

Or any other suggestions, would be welcomed.

Thanks

 

[jfwebber]

You could purchase Volume Manager from PowerQuest and that would do it for you. I think it retails for around $595.

Jim

Jim Webber
Network Administrator MCSE CNA

 

[rstitzel]

You can use Partition Magic to resize your c drive. Make sure to back up your drive before making any changes.

Try running search. Look for *.*. When it's done searching you can sort the size column to find your biggest files.

Or you could modify the search based on size and only look for files bigger than 100 MB or whatever you deem a large file.

Hope this helps.

 

[boondoggler]

PowerQuests Volume Manager will work if you are not using dynamic disks.

 

[xmsre]

Partition magic should do the trick. Just make sure you have a good backup including system state before you start.

John
MOSMWNMTK

 

[ashpp]

Partition Magic will NOT work on server, you have to use Volume Manager.
Worth searching for LOG files and deleting them aswell.

 

[Coineandude]

couldn't you mount the unallocated space as a folder on c: and make use of it that way? drop your logs there or replace your log folder with the mounted volume.

never done this on production servers, but have used it before on dev boxes without issues.

does anyone know if there are performance issues with this setup?

 

[yizhar]

HI.

> is there a way to list all the files in order of the largest, by size,
Yes, there are many tools that can help. And some of them are simply freeware...
Look here:

http://www.aumha.org/freeware.htm

http://www.jam-software.com/freeware/index.shtml

And some more can be found in Google,

http://www.nonags.com,

etc...

Here are some tips for freeing diskspace on C.
* No need to modify the C drive size. 20gb are much more then enough. Instead, you can and should delete temp files and also move data to other partitions.
* You can quite easily move file folders to the other partition. If you need to preserve NTFS permissions you can use "XCOPY /o ..." (type "xopy /?" for help).
* You can easily move the Exchange databases to other partition (best practice is to move them to another physical disk). It is done with Exchange System Manager.
Ask your Exchange support person if you are not sure what to do and how.
* Your problem could be the Exchange server log files.
These files should be removed by your Backup software.
You should be backing up Exchage server with a backup software that has Exchange add-on module.
You can delete all log files but the real solution is to have a good backup solution.

* You can quickly free some space, like this:
START - RUN - %TEMP% - delete all files there (some will be in use so skip them).
Internet Options - Delete Files - Delete all offline content.
START - C:\WINNT\TEMP - Delete all files there as well.
START - SEARCH - FOR FILES AND FOLDERS - *.DMP - Delete all these DMP files. (and in "My Computer" properties - disable that "Complete Memory Dump" option).
My Computer - Properties - Check the Page File settings and modify if needed.

Good luck, and remember to have a good backup as a routine and also before (and after) any change.


Yizhar Hurwitz

http://teachers.sivan.co.il/yizhar

 

[khinester]

many thanks for your good advice.

 

[justcurious]

Partition Magic will work on NT and Win2K servers if you create the recovery disks and boot with them.

 

[xmsre]

That is correct, you have to use the recovery disks to use partition magic on a W2K server.

John
MOSMWNMTK

 

[ashpp]

Really? Ive tried running PM from my own boot disks and that didn't work - I assume it couldn't be done.

 

[xmsre]

Which version?

 

[justcurious]

Actually, I'm using PM 7 Pro. Perhaps the standard ( non Pro ) versions don't support Win2k Server.

However, when booting from DOS, I don't see why changing the size of an Win2K server NTFS partition would be different from a Win2K Pro NTFS partition or NT 4 for that matter.

 

[ashpp]

I was using PM8 Pro. It gave a message saying it couldn't be run on a server OS.

>However, when booting from DOS, I don't see why changing >the size of an Win2K server NTFS partition would be >different from a Win2K Pro NTFS partition or NT 4 for that >matter.

Its not a technical issue, NTFS is the same on Pro/server - it just PQ way of making you pay for the volume manager (hugely expensive) version. Thats why I'm quite suprised the rescue disks worked, I don't see the difference between using them and manually using the DOS program.

Useful info tho - thanks.

 

[xmsre]

I confess, I haven't updated. I'm still using 6.0. You can resize if you boot off the recovery disks.

John
MOSMWNMTK

 

[AV1611]

Why don't you just go to explorer. Select half of the files and go to properties, look at the size of this half verses the other half. Find the half that has all the space filled up and then split that half.

Follow out the splitting pattern until you get the folder that has all the data. Go inside of it and split those until you find where all the data is going. Follow this pattern until you find it.

Sounds to me like you have a virus. There are many that just fill the hard drive.

AV

 

[tjahn]

With regard to using PM 8 pro with Win2k Server to resize partitions. How do you make the recovery disks?

 

[tjahn]

Has anyone used Server Magic 3.0 on Win2k Server?

 

[sjjnks]

PowerQuest's Server Magic is only for Netware. You have to use Volume Manager, unless it can be done off recovery disks. I haven't tried that, but I might see what happens.