Partitioning server HDD

Acronis disk director suite http://acronis.com

Or, if it has to be, Symantec has volumemanager.

A utility like partition magic works with NTFS partitions.

paartition magic works on ntfs, yes, but you can't install it to server operating systems, that's why you would need volumemanager fiyou really want symantec's bloatware, but then you'll also have a price tag about tenfold that of partition magic.

Of course, what needs to be said anyway, it is always essential to make sure you have a working backup...

I've also used partition resizer successfully.  You boot from a floppy and it is a very simple program but I don't know if it still exists.  It was called "presizer"

Symantec Volumemanager does not work on Windows 2003 servers i guess
http://sea.symantec.com/content/product.cfm?productid=7 

thats what the link says above..

i guess i will try usinf Acronis disk director on couple of test computers and servers, then use it my server

currently i have 4 GB at the C: drive and i have deleted all temporary files from it
i need more space in order to download server 2003 SP 1.

i found the file taking space i guess
it is pagefile.sys , almost 2 GB

what is that for?

can i move this file to some other location?

isn't virtual memory neccessary for the performance of my server?

i have tried deleting by hand, it says the program is being used by other program.
can i create a pagefile on another partition on my server. would that work fine for the operationg system?

Virtual memory is nearly estential to running a OS. It acts as additonal RAM for you computer allowing you to run programs greater in size than memory can hold (checkout task manager to see you current memory usage). You could run the server without a page file but there be a big performance hit. The OS reserves a file to store this pagefile.

You can't delete the file by hand because the file being used by windows and if you did delete it like that, you effectively be deleting RAM. Paging files work better if they're not on the same phyiscal hard disk as the OS so moving the file to another drive (or even partition on the same drive) should improve performance and won't harm your server. Just follow the instructions in a previous post and change from there.

A pageing file isn't absolutely necessary if you PC has enough RAM. If it doesn't have enough RAM then you need it. For the process of making a disk image, or manipulating your partition, a pageing file doesn't make sense, as you would only be imaging or moving a very large file which should be reset when rebooting anyway, so for that Process I'd deactivate it. Once you have that process, you can create a new one. And yes, it is better to have this file not at the same location as your OS. It is also best to make it a fixed size, and not dynamic, and to have it on a partition reserved for this file. A page file should generaly be 1.5 x the size of RAM (for servers 2.5x). If you can put plenty of RAM into the PC, I'd try using no such file, as RAM is always a lot faster than disk space. If you can work without problems without a pageing file then leave it that way, if not create one.

Windows won't run without PageFile.sys. And it's always (by default) 1.1 times the size of your servers internal memory. Why?
If your server crashes and wants to write a memory dump, it will fully write this via the pagefile.

So your server CAN'T do without. What you CAN do is what's mentioned above: Control Panel --> System --> Advanced --> Performance Options --> Click the button Change under the Virtual Memory Header --> Create a 2 GB Virtual Mem File on D: --> Resize the Virtual Mem File on C: to about 2MB (Minimum that Windows needs to StartUp). That would create about 2GB of space on C:.

And if you ever get the chance to delete the pagefile: DON'T!!! Worst case scenario is that the server won't boot up at all anymore.

Not completely correct on the last statement indeed. If you want a pagefile of 2MB...go ahead.
But sure thing is that Performance will fall seriously.
The pagefile is also used to store things used irregularly.

Memory falls out in a few parts.
Internal Cache Memory for the Processor: What's here has been used during the past second or is used so many times a second it should be here.
External Cache Memory for the Processor: What's here is used VERY frequently, but not as much as the stuff in Internal Cache.
Internal Memory (RAM): All running Programs + pipeline stuff that is not in the Cache Memory anymore.
Virtual Memory (PageFile): As mentioned above.

As certain Memory items get used more, they will move up in this line, so the processor can get to them faster. Of course it will go the other way around when items are not used.

When deleting PageFile, you might already figure out what happens. There is no space for items which are used irregularly. So all will be stored in RAM, which would effectively mean RAM fills up....and performance falls.

That, and the crash thingie that I mentioned in my previous post.

2003 will quite happily allow you to turn off the paging file on C and create one on D or wherever. One paging file is best (in my opinion - which is challenged by many). This should solve your problem.

Chris B

To my knowledge you would require one of 2MB on your C-drive. Though that could be for W2K as well.......

Define "don't use too much memory". For me, that would be like 50% of total RAM. Windows got Memory leaks so in time, RAM would still fill up to 75%. And the other 25% are required 'just in case'.

One paging file is best or not? It's at least the simplest to maintain.

For the purposes of this exercise, I have switched the paging file on my 2003 server to G (System managed size, but you can specify if you wish) and set C to none. Apart from a complaint about possibly not being able to create a dump file in the event of a stop error, it is running happily. So if this will not be an issue for you, go ahead. I have also done this successfully with W2K and NT4.

Chris B

thanks for all responds esspecially to marco_peereboom's post that direct me to a better solution that i asked in my first post

Thanx too.

Your welcome.
And thanks.