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Moving Exchange log file exceeds quota SBS 2011, OS C: Drive full.

I purchased a new server that had two partitions. One for the OS at 120 GB and the remaining 800 gigs for the data. The problem is that we ran the move wizard for Exchange so that the database path was on the D: drive. That seemed to work fine. My problem is that it did not move the Log folder path and it is now filling up my OS partition. In Microsoft's wisdom, they hide this file so that it can not be seen even if you unhide system and hidden files. Found it using FolderSizes. Long story short figured I could use the wizard and simply change the c: at the beginning of the path where the log file resides and run the move wizard. I keep getting an exceeding Quota error after about 16 minutes. How can I move the log file to the data partition? I tried to simply reallocate another 50 gb from the data drive and add it to the OS partition but once I shrank the Volume, Disk Management would not allow me to Extend the OS(c:) Volume with the 50 GB I just freed up. Thanks in advance. New to Exchange so this may or may not be a simple task but spent many many hours getting to this point. Please help.

SOLUTION

Andrew Oakeley

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MrGD

ASKER

Good point and that is part of my problem. I have been using Microsoft's backup routine available from within SBS20111 with an external USB Drive. It worked fine for about 2 weeks then all of a sudden it quit working. An error message in the log stated that "A Shadow Copy operation failed". When I attempted to view the backups on the drive it shows up as a CD drive in Explorer and can only see the boot programs that came with the drive. I then plugged the drive into a laptop and it immediately saw it as a drive and showed the backup files in a separate backup partition with plenty of free space. As you are probably aware, Microsoft Backup sees the area during the initial backup then formats it or at least erases all data in the area prior to the backup. Since it ran fine for a couple of weeks figured everything was fine. I did a little Google searching and noticed that 2008 had a bug that caused a similar problem but figured Microsoft would have had it resolved by now so called Dell on that issue which they have not gotten back to me yet.

So you are right but shouldn't I be able to move the log file as even a temporary fix until we have a solution for the external backups?

MrGD

ASKER

I removed all quotas, even the ones within Exchange, and reran the wizard early thinking that was the problem and reran the wizard. Same error. Would I need to reboot the server?

yo_bee

Are you running out of space on the USB when you do the backup.

MrGD

ASKER

No. The problem is that SBS2011 can not longer see the backup partition/volume on that drive. There is nothing wrong with the drive because I can plug it into my laptop and can see the complete drive. Plug it into SBS2011 and it sees it as a CD drive and can only see the portion of the drive that contains the program files that came with the drive. Can not see the backups. Plenty of space on the drive when attached to my laptop and I can view it.

Andrew Oakeley

I would do this
1. Enable circular logging
2. Restart info store
3. Wait for logs to clear
4. Disable circ logging
5. Restart info store

6. Format USB drive
7. Disable windows backup
Reboot server

8. Re-enable windows backup

This will truncate logs, and should restart your backups working. If the backups don't start after this create a new question related to the backups.

Yes you should be able to move the logs though. Are quotas completely turned off on the properties of the drive?

yo_bee

Maybe there is an issue with the USB bus.
If you have a USB PCI card for testing I would try that.

Andrew Oakeley

The error message "A Shadow copy failed" Indicates it is more than likely a VSS issue. Rather than an issue with the USB disk

#> vssadmin list writers

Will be a good start at trouble shooting this, but getting way off track from the original Q

MrGD

ASKER

Found the problem. It had to do with the last update from Microsoft for SharePoint. Oddly enough, the last service pack for SharePoint required you to run another program or update manually. If you did not run it, problems started to crop up after a period of time. It has been a long day and will document next week along with links on the process.

yo_bee

Nice work....:)

Andrew Oakeley

Sweet...

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MrGD

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Andrew Oakeley

This is a well known issue with Sharepoint upgrades, intersting that it affected VSS so you could not do your backups.

Glad that you sorted it out. One to file away in the memory bank.

MrGD

ASKER

I am awarding AOAKELEY 250 points because although there were no direct solutions provided, it was right on target as to the core reason and forced me to take a second look at the backup routine. Hope this is appropriate and appreciate all of the help.