Server 2003 Re-Booted with full C Drive - Help!

[johnj1710]

I just started at a new school as the only technician and whilst in the middle of sorting out the lack of space on the Admin server c: drive, CC3 Server 2 has re-booted over night and hung at "unable to load directory services" due to insufficient drive space. No doubt the c drive is full... I have only been here for two days and havn't had time to get to this server yet! Any ideas on how I can get to the C: drive to clear enough space to get this (Old) thing back up and running?

[somabc]

Boot from a CD / PXE, mount the disk and delete some files?

[dhicks]

Any ideas on how I can get to the C: drive to clear enough space to get this (Old) thing back up and running?

Any idea what the harddrive is full of? We had a similar issue with our Exchange server - it turns out the transaction logs weren't being backed up and deleted properly, so the daily Exchange transaction logs were clogging up the hardddrive. Deleting a few log files in general might give you enough space to get the machine to at least boot, although I'd Google the location of each file first before delting just in case you're deleting something important, or maybe back up the files to an external harddrive or something before deleting.

[superfletch]

Any idea what the harddrive is full of?

Not very much if it is an RM CC3 Server, in my experience RM seem to think 10 or 12 GB is more than enough for an OS partition.

I'd agree with somabc if you mount the drive with a boot CD you could probably clear off a fair few files from the windows update cache.

Then once it boots check the location and size of the page file as that could be moved if you're really low on space.

Also look at uninstalling any unneccessary applications that reside on C: - office for instance?

[johnj1710]

Indeed... Is an RM CC3 server and yes, you guessed it... Has a 12gb c drive. I had this sorted at my old school when I replaced the servers (although it took some pushing as they don't like non-standard setups). I'll have a look at what's eating it up as soon as I can get back in and let you know. Will try the CD/PXE boot if I can. Don't have any software to hand at the moment as don't know where the previous guy has it stored. Am looking now. May have to get the cd's replaced to do it but will take time. More to come.....

[glennda]

Indeed... Is an RM CC3 server and yes, you guessed it... Has a 12gb c drive. I had this sorted at my old school when I replaced the servers (although it took some pushing as they don't like non-standard setups). I'll have a look at what's eating it up as soon as I can get back in and let you know. Will try the CD/PXE boot if I can. Don't have any software to hand at the moment as don't know where the previous guy has it stored. Am looking now. May have to get the cd's replaced to do it but will take time. More to come.....

look at bart pe for a disk which you can boot

[johnj1710]

Ta so far everyone. Still trying. Problem is, I can't find the schools server software to be able to boot from it. Looking at Bart PE now to see what I can find. Made a server boot disk to try and get to a command prompt but so far can only use the boot disk to boot to the error point so not much good yet. More to come.....

[sparkeh]

Classic things to look at on small CC3 server c: drive

1) If you are using RMVP take a look at log folder, the logs can build up to be huge
2) Move i386 folder off c:
3) Clear the spool folder, I regularly see large files not being cleared and eating up the space

[sukh]

Hi

Try F8 DSRM to get in and delete files.

Sukh

[johnj1710]

Hi

Try F8 DSRM to get in and delete files.

Sukh

I tried F8 to DSRM but all it did was scan all the drives / partitions and tell me they were clean. I didn't see any way to get to a command prompt or be able to get nto the c: drive. Any ideas?

[johnj1710]

Classic things to look at on small CC3 server c: drive

1) If you are using RMVP take a look at log folder, the logs can build up to be huge
2) Move i386 folder off c:
3) Clear the spool folder, I regularly see large files not being cleared and eating up the space

As soon as I gat in I will look here.... Ta....

[johnj1710]

Anyone know if booting from a 180 day Trial CD would allow me to mount the drives?

[sukh]

Is there another drive other than C: drive?

What's the role of this server? DC? F/P?

Sukh

[somabc]

Anyone know if booting from a 180 day Trial CD would allow me to mount the drives?

Don't bother with that use Ubuntu (or any other Linux CD)

Use Ubuntu Live CD to Backup Files from Your Dead Windows Computer - How-To Geek

[johnj1710]

It is a replica server... CC3 Server 2 (DC). Will try Ubuntu and and see....