Windows 2003 Data drive full
I would like to find out if there are any suggestions for this situation.
We replaced the drives on the following customer's server in March because both were failing SMART. As part of the replacement, I more than doubled their drive size.
Customer: Small Chiropractic Business - 10 PCs running a domain
OS: Windows Server 2003 SP2
Drives: 2-120GB IDE hard drives running a mirror (Dynamic disks)
1-30 GB partition for the system and some programs
Remaining partition space as data drive (80+ GB)
I looked at the remaining data drive space today, and they are down to 8.5 GB remaining on the data partition. Truthfully, I don't understand how they burned up more than 70 GB in less than 7 months. They do scan customer records and save them to the server for later review, but were at just over 37 GB of TOTAL data (both data and system drives) in March.
My question is, what's the easiest and most cost effective way to increase their storage capacity? I've looked into several options, but would like a couple of opinions before I make a suggestion to the client. I need to get this taken care of as soon as possible so they don't run out of drive space.
We replaced the drives on the following customer's server in March because both were failing SMART. As part of the replacement, I more than doubled their drive size.
Customer: Small Chiropractic Business - 10 PCs running a domain
OS: Windows Server 2003 SP2
Drives: 2-120GB IDE hard drives running a mirror (Dynamic disks)
1-30 GB partition for the system and some programs
Remaining partition space as data drive (80+ GB)
I looked at the remaining data drive space today, and they are down to 8.5 GB remaining on the data partition. Truthfully, I don't understand how they burned up more than 70 GB in less than 7 months. They do scan customer records and save them to the server for later review, but were at just over 37 GB of TOTAL data (both data and system drives) in March.
My question is, what's the easiest and most cost effective way to increase their storage capacity? I've looked into several options, but would like a couple of opinions before I make a suggestion to the client. I need to get this taken care of as soon as possible so they don't run out of drive space.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
membership
Create a free account to see this answer
Signing up is free and takes 30 seconds. No credit card required.
Given that they are only using a RAID 1, I would buy two MUCH larger drives - say 400 GB? Maybe as big as 750 GB drives... then break the RAID and replace ONE disk - then rebuild the RAID onto that disk and repeat the procedure with the other disk. Now use Diskpart to extend the d: partition or just create a (series of) new partition(s). That should be the easiest, least disruptive way - and you have the added benefit of new disks (new spindles) that are less likely to fail.
ASKER
We opted for the Buffulo 320GB NAS drive to take care of this issue (capacity is the customer's choice, not mine). They will also implement a new solution for managing patient records and store the data on the NAS. Hopefully, from my discussions with them, their data growth will stabilize so they are not buying a larger drive six months down the road.
Thanks for your suggestions. They really helped in the decision-making process.
Thanks for your suggestions. They really helped in the decision-making process.
That said, if the space utilization is business-legitimate, the answer to your question will depend on how these files are being used. If space is being used by files that are read-only for archived purposes, for example, create a schedule to regularly burn archives off to DVD or other WORM media and delete them from the main disk area. You can also look at a utility like Data Protection Manager or AppAssure that will assess how frequently data is being accessed, and move it around to more-expensive-but-faster disks for frequently-used data, or slower-but-less-expensive disks (like a SATA array) for files that are less frequently used but that need to remain in a writeable state.