Re: Increasing the C: partition size on a SBS 2003 system

except one thing

Richard didn't actually say if it was hardware or software RAID but his
comments suggest to me that it is HW. If so we can ignore the parts about
dynamic vs basic disks.

I've also used Partition Magic to adjust the partition size of test systems.
Dell test systems having PERC RAID to be precise.

You want about 20GB for your OS partition.

"Merv Porter [SBS-MVP]" <mwport@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:uWAJ0a0qFHA.1788@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Hi Richard,
>
> You should be able to break the mirror and remove the shadow disk for safe
> keeping, in case things go wrong. You might even want to run a test to
> make sure you can boot off the shadow disk. Then get a copy of Ghost 2003
> (or 9.0) and a either a spare internal drive or an external USB drive.
> Don't install Ghost on the server. Create a set of boot floppies or a
> bootable CD, boot up the server on one of these and Ghost the primary
> drive to the external USB drive (I generally use the partition to image
> method). Use the Ghost "Verify" command to verify the image. This
> imaging procedure will create an image of the disk as a "basic" disk (not
> a dynamic disk).
>
> Restore the image from the external USB drive to the primary drive while
> adjusting the partition sizes (this capability is built into Ghost using
> the Restore from Disk procedure). Reboot and make sure everything works.
> I generally run for at least a day before I declare the procedure a
> success. Once satisfied, remove the primary disk, install the secondary
> disk and reformat it from either the SCSI utility you see as the server
> boots up or, if it boots, you can also use Disk Management to reformat the
> drive. Now replace the primary and secondary drives in their original
> places in the server. Boot up, configure both disks as dynamic and
> establish a mirror. Keep the image you created on the external USB as this
> is your final lifeline if anything goes wrong with establishing the
> mirror.
>
> While this procedure may take a few hours, it's less nerve-racking and
> time-comsuming that trying to reinstall from scratch and remember all the
> server settings/patches. And you can then continue to use Ghost to
> periodically image the server before installing major software (like
> service packs). Backups are good but you can sleep better with both a
> backup and an image.
>
> --
> Merv Porter [SBS MVP]
> ===================================
>
> "Richard" <Richard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:33211A37-6DC9-4FDC-BE66-CCD57CDDCCE1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> The default 12gb c: partion on this system is down to 2.5 gb. I'm still
>> finding files I can either remove or redirect but I have concern for the
>> long
>> term space needs for this partition and want to increase it size. This is
>> a
>> Dell Poweredge 2800 server w/ raid 1. Two phisical disks look like one to
>> the
>> os. This logical drive is partitioned as c & d. The d partition has
>> pleanty
>> orf space. If this were any other sys I would have already run Partition
>> Magic or Diskeeper and been done with it but I can't afford a mistake on
>> this
>> server and modifying system partitions is not supported by Dell and risky
>> anyway.
>>
>> Dell & MS both say the c: & d: partitions will have to be backed up and
>> SBS
>> 2003 re-installed with the backup applied in a specific manner allowing
>> the
>> old application configurations to be inherited. This will allow, during
>> the
>> beginning of the new install, the repartitioning of c: to a larger size.
>>
>> Am I missing anything here? Anybody know a better way. This looks like a
>> full 8 hour night project if nothing goes wrong.
>>
>> Additionally, how do you run SBS and all of its component system in a 12
>> gb
>> partition? I have redirected the docs & setting folders for all users,
>> moved
>> the Exchange stores, moved the SQLServer db files and turned off volume
>> shadowing on c:.
>>
>> I'm blown away there is not a straight forward approach to this.
>>
>> Tnx,
>> Richard
>
>


.

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