Re: Extending boot partitions

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Ahhh. Saw your earlier post on the drive sizes and numbers.

6 x 18gb would be cool. 36's or 72's would be better (especially for the 4
new drives) - a 2600 is pretty good hardware and you're probably going to
run it for a few years. But no big deal, you can swap the drives for bigger
ones later if you have to.

I'd probably do this:

Mirror the os (2 drives), raid 5 (3 drives), and the 6th for a global spare.

The raid 5 could be all one d: drive of 36 gb, or you could split it (but
it's hardly large enough to bother). The split could be whatever, but you
might take into account the size of your data (except exchange data) versus
your exchange data, and make a relative split based on existing size and a
WAG at growth potential. Data could then go on D:\, exchange on E:\.

If you got larger drives for the raid 5 + spare, you'd have a lot more to
work with. Anyway.

Once your drives are on hand, here's how I'd proceed.

a) get a tape (or some other kind of full backup)
b) stick one of the as-yet drives in the box.
c) boot from the Paragon CD and image c: and d: partitions to the drive (and
possibly the Dell utility partion, if there).
d) remove the drive holding the image, so you don't inadvertently add it to
a raid set.
c) install the three new drives, and use the raid card bios to set up your
OS mirror and Raid 5 - wait until they're built.
d) install the drive holding the image, and boot from the Paragon CD.
e) copy your image of c: to the 2 drive mirror - use all the space. (and the
dell partition, if you want).
f) copy your image of d: to the 3 drive raid set - selecting a new (larger)
size.
g) boot from new c: check event logs and deal with any issues.
Note: if your original drive had the dell utility partition, you'll need to
put it back or change the boot.ini.

Once you're satisfied, you can re-assign the drive that's holding the
original image as a global hot spare.


--
Les Connor [SBS Community Member - SBS MVP]
-----------------------------------------------------------
SBS Rocks !
----------------------
"Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I'll remember. Involve me and I'll
understand." - Confucius


"Les Connor [SBS Community Member - SBS MVP]" <les.connor@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote in message news:emAd2pU8FHA.2716@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Hi Terry,
>
> For your new configuration, how many drives and what size - what type of
> raid configuration are you considering?
>
> I'd recommend Paragon Drive-Backup - as you can do the current job with
> it, plus use it as a disaster recovery tool afterwards with periodic live
> images, etc.
>
> http://www.drive-backup.com/corporate/server/features.htm
>
> You can image your present partitions (C and D) (and possibly the dell
> utility partition as well)
> Set up your disks at the hardware level as raid <whatever>.
> Then boot from the Paragon CD, restoring the images of c: and d:, sizing
> them as you see fit.
>
> Once we know what you have in mind for disk size/numbers and raid config
> we can make some suggestions on <sizing as you see fit>.
>
> --
> Les Connor [SBS Community Member - SBS MVP]
> -----------------------------------------------------------
> SBS Rocks !
> ----------------------
> "Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I'll remember. Involve me and I'll
> understand." - Confucius
>
>
> "Terry M" <terrym@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:%23yWXqLT8FHA.736@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> Hello
>>
>> I am using SBS 2003 Prem on a Dell PE2600 (Perc 4Di hardware Raid) and am
>> running out of room on C:\
>>
>> Originally the system came with 1 set of 18G RAID1 drives partitioned at
>> C:\ 9G and D:\ 9G.
>>
>> I have added more drives so now I would like to enlarge the boot
>> partition to the full the original 18G disks.
>>
>> Yes I can move he data off D: and remove the partition but I am not sure
>> how to enlarge C: to fill it.
>>
>> I read that DiskPart does not work on boot drives, plus these are basic
>> disks. I have read mixed reports about using 3rd party partition
>> utilities, or ghosting the drives.
>>
>> Might this be a good case for a swing migration. At the end of the day I
>> don't want to reinstall from scratch.
>>
>> Any advise or experience would be appreciated
>>
>> Terry Mc
>>
>
>


.

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