Gardinho Posted July 8, 2007 Posted July 8, 2007 Help! I have a windows server 2003 installation on a 20gb partition, on a 73gb sczzi drive. It is a dynamic disk. I have ran out of space on my c partiton and have no data on the rest of that drive. I have thought about third party software, but can't find anything that really convinces me it is the one to use. Has anyone experienced this and how did you solve it? I really want to avoid wiping and reinstalling if possible. Thanks again everyone!
Geoff Posted July 8, 2007 Posted July 8, 2007 Obvious way out is to use your backup/restore system. Just restore onto a bigger disk than you started with. Failing that, your stuck with 3rd party and Open Source solutions. Your data. Your choice.
lovelldr Posted July 9, 2007 Posted July 9, 2007 Obvious way out is to use your backup/restore system. Just restore onto a bigger disk than you started with. Failing that, your stuck with 3rd party and Open Source solutions. Your data. Your choice. As Geoff said. If you have Symantec ghost, then you could buy another hdd, and image the drive over to it, but choose different sized partitions. Done that with one of the schools I work at. Another place I worked at, we had same problems, and they had Paragon Partition Manager Server, which was an excellent bit of kit for resizing partitions. Tried to use the demo version at this school, but it didn't do anything. Hence the need to use ghost (cheapest option as we had ghost). So just depends on what you wanna do. I think that software is really expensive, but only thing could find which would do it, and also has loads of other handy stuff available on it...
Butuz Posted July 9, 2007 Posted July 9, 2007 What are you using 20GB for on the C: drive? Do you have programs such as backup or SQL databases on your C: drive? Would be worth creating a D: drive and moving all non system programs to the new drive? Andrew
Gardinho Posted July 10, 2007 Author Posted July 10, 2007 I have a version of Symantec Ghost, has anybody carried this out in the past? What steps would you take with the software? partition to disk then back again? We are running quite a few applications on it and it would be quite messy to move stuff from it onto another drive. I really don't fancy restoring from backup if I can avoid it, Thanks for your advice everyone, P.S. lovelldr - If you could let me know exactly how you did this with Ghost I will be very gratefull.
lovelldr Posted July 10, 2007 Posted July 10, 2007 I have a version of Symantec Ghost, has anybody carried this out in the past? What steps would you take with the software? partition to disk then back again? We are running quite a few applications on it and it would be quite messy to move stuff from it onto another drive. I really don't fancy restoring from backup if I can avoid it, Thanks for your advice everyone, P.S. lovelldr - If you could let me know exactly how you did this with Ghost I will be very gratefull. OK, what I did is booted the computer with the ghost boot disk (into dos). Then, when the ghost program started, chose the "Local" option, then choose "Disk" and then "To Disk". This is assuming that you have 2 physical disks in the server (not talking about mirrored drives). Then, select the drive which has all the partitions on it you want, the drive you want to copy it to, and then it will give you the option to select what size you want to give to the new partitions... Choose something bigger. hth
Gardinho Posted July 10, 2007 Author Posted July 10, 2007 Wow! that exactly what I was after, thank you very much. I will let you know how I get on next week.
plexer Posted July 10, 2007 Posted July 10, 2007 What do you have taking all the space up on c: though? I would have thought 20gb was plenty for the system partition? Ben
Gardinho Posted July 10, 2007 Author Posted July 10, 2007 I tell a lie, it is in fact 15gb. We are running a few applications on it too. It is not dangerously low yet, down to 1gb. I'd like to get it done before the summer hols.
lovelldr Posted July 11, 2007 Posted July 11, 2007 Hope it goes well for you. Gotta note that this was done on a new hdd that was bigger than my current hdd, but shouldn't notice any problems... Let us know how it goes. Just wondering also though, why the rush to get it done before end of the hols? Surely the hols would be the best time to do it? (Unless you're one of the lucky it buggers who gets the whole holidays off??? )
ninjabeaver Posted October 8, 2008 Posted October 8, 2008 Ah, a similar question to 'Server 2003 - Disk Partition Software - Which one? ' and I would like to repeat my anwsers: Resizing partitions under windows 2003 server is a difficult task for most PC users. Now, EASEUS Partition manager Server has made resizing partitions under windows Server 2003 a simple task. ... for more information of How to Resize Partitions under Windows 2003 Server? You may visit: How to Resize Partitions under Windows 2003 Server?
Michael Posted October 8, 2008 Posted October 8, 2008 If the system drive has already been converted from Basic to Dynamic, you can increase its size using Computer Management.
zhu Posted September 8, 2009 Posted September 8, 2009 Many computer users, including me would encounter this problem. It is not clever to ghost the system partition and then restore to another hard disk, complex, why not resize the partition directly. there are many SW that can do this, for example, acronis, but it is too expensive, $699 for server. at last, I found this article Extend System Partition on Windows Server 2003 and solved the problem
zhu Posted September 17, 2009 Posted September 17, 2009 Hi guys, there is no SW that can resize dynamic disk directly like on a basic disk. To solve the problem, there are two ways. Backup your server and reset the partition size, then restore it again, using GHOST. Little software supports backing up dynamic disk or volume. The second way is copy the dyanmic volume to another basic disk to resize or convert it to basic disk directly. I do not recommend convert dynamic disk directly to basic, as it is dangerous if there is an error when converting, besides, you can only convert simple volume. I've heard that someone using copy dynamic volume to solve this problem, it is safe refer copy dynamic volume tutorial
chazzy2501 Posted February 3, 2010 Posted February 3, 2010 Goto Computer Management - Disk Management Convert your C: drive to dynamic by right clicking on it and pressing convert to dynamic. This will require a reset and would prevent any non windows os from booting from it. (that's not a problem your likley to have unless you dual boot a linux os) RESET SERVER: Goto Computer Management - Disk Management Your C: drive is now dynamic, you can simply extend the volume (it's now a volume not a partition) using disk management by right clicking on it and pressing extend volume. This is all built into Windows and was made for this stuff.
zhu Posted March 20, 2010 Posted March 20, 2010 chazzy2501 Did you do it yourself before? In fact, even if you convert the disk to dynamic, you cannot extend the system volume, too, it will cause problem worse, as no software can resize dynamic disks. Server 2008 could shrink and extend, but 2000 and 2003 cannot. So to backup and resize the server is better, see this tutorial http://www.hdd-tool.com/partition-magic/resize-windows-server-with-partition-magic-software.htm
chazzy2501 Posted June 24, 2013 Posted June 24, 2013 Damn, thought I'd update this thread to say I was wrong Swore blind I'd done this in the past. @zhu you're right you can't do that! if you force it (like I did today) the server will BSOD and you'll have to restore it (not fun)...
Michael Posted June 24, 2013 Posted June 24, 2013 2008 and 2008 R2 allow you to resize even the boot volume on the fly which is handy using Computer Management. Under 2003 you'll have to use some third party software which should in theory allow you to do it on the fly with the boot volume. 1
free780 Posted December 30, 2013 Posted December 30, 2013 I've never thought extending the c drive was a good idea. Either rebuild of the server or move the location of the mailboxes and log files off of the c drive.
Broderick151 Posted December 31, 2013 Posted December 31, 2013 As I know, in Windows 2003, the built-in Disk Management could help you extend C drive when there is some free space that is exactly behind it. But, if your free pace is not behind it, don’t worry, there are also some partition tools that can help you, such as IM-Magic Partition Resizer Free, GParted and EaseUS Partition Master. Different partition tools always have their own characters. You should always select a proper one according to your own needs. Note: Also do not forget to back up everything important well in case of any data loss in the process of extending.
MordyT Posted December 31, 2013 Posted December 31, 2013 Nothing like bumping a thread that started in 07...
free780 Posted December 31, 2013 Posted December 31, 2013 Hopefully the server is now on 2008r2 or 2012 running exchange 2010/2013.
chazzy2501 Posted December 31, 2013 Posted December 31, 2013 I was worried a google search may mislead someone because I was mistaken. I was googl'ing a question when I saw this thread pop up. Didn't want someone desperate with their 2003 server too suffer further:) On a personal note. I'm still running 2003 (not even R2) domain controller (+DNS, DHCP). I've wrangled training to get an MCSA on server 2012, so I'm waiting to do it after. (summer 2014)
MordyT Posted December 31, 2013 Posted December 31, 2013 On a personal note. I'm still running 2003 (not even R2) domain controller (+DNS, DHCP). Ha. same here. Its also a file server and wds w/ mdt as well. Oh, and it holds impero server also.
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