Partitions - can i delete it.

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automationstation

If you partition the drive, you would want much more than 10 GIG for the OS partition... probably more like 20-36 GIG

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ASKER

couldn't i simply use another machine, and install one of my mirrored drives, and a freshly formated drive... and just copy over from my poorly partitioned drive to this new single partitioned drive?

Or what if i used MS backup and then restored to a freshly partitioned drive?

do i really need special software for this?

You don't want a C: drive that wastes 10-26 GB - 10-12 GB C: drives are fine - ESPECIALLY if this isn't Microsoft Small Business Server.

Consider this: moving data around and appropriately managing the C: drive will take about 30-90 minutes and can be done with MINIMAL interruption to the users. BUT, if you try repartitioning things and/or moving data to a new physical drive, it will take you longer - perhaps half a business day - is your time worth nothing?

I have NO server with a C: drive larger than 20 GB - and most are between 10-14 GB - and most of those are SBS servers! The drive isn't poorly partitioned - the server is poorly managed.

ASKER

leew,

thanks for answering....

firstly it is a lesson for me in server... and partitioning....

a machine died , my tech set up an entirely different computer... so i have the older one to play with....
a friend set it up... with out asking me... and made this partition.....
i wanted it to be set up exactly like our replacment.....
the replacment has no partitions....
so the first question was can i somehow or another go from two partitions to one...
i woul d like to bypass the whole set up and configuration process..

or better said, how can i do....

then this conversation came up.... that perhaps the server is not managed properly...i woul dlike to address each one. so i will post another question.....

but could i get my OS ( there is no data as yet.. onto another reformated hard drive., and hten use that drive here. using anohter machine to accomplish this seemed plausable.
what are your thoughts

ASKER

Can i mirror ( using windows software ) a drive with two partitions... with a drive which only has one partition? or will this process not work?

Paragon takes 5 minutes and can be done while the system is up. 80 Gigs is small by todays standards and I don't see an harm in running your system on that other than the fact it's an old drive. If you really want to do it right, dump the old hardware and ghost your os to a new drive us for the realiability factor, or just extend the partition and be done with it.

Mirrored drives must match. Use ghost if you want to get the OS to a new drive. It works great...

ASKER

Scottyvanman,

i appreciate your comment..... but i am not a true tech.. and do not posses a copy of that software... which weems to be a few hundred bucks...
in as the system has nothing on it, just an operating system, i would proberly opt for reinstalling the OS.....

trying to accomplish this with out funds.

ASKER

Ghost,

I posses copies of that..

now this is progress.....

can i ghost only my c drive to a larger drive?

If you don't mind reinstalling, then it's a piece of cake. Just use the windows setup to delete both partitions and create whatever size you want during the setup. I'm with ya on the cash situation man...

Yes, drive space is cheap - but its still a huge waste to use ONE partition of that size on a 2003 server. It's just not needed. NO DATA should be on the C: drive - this is just a bad idea. I've already posted some of the reasons that its a bad idea.

There are tools mentioned in my article for how to repartition. Generally, it's not easy and not inexpensive. Trial software is for that - TRIAL. The more I think about it, the more I consider it stealing if you use TRIAL software on a production machine - and have it work - and then NOT buy it. It's akin to someone calling me for a free hour of network review, then using my report to go get the job done by another consultant - that would not make me feel good! So that leaves gparted or purchasing EXPENSIVE software to get the job done when it's entirely unnecessary in this case.

(PS - Sorry if I came across harsh in my stating the server was poorly managed... I usually try to be more diplomatic - stating that it was poorly partitioned bothered me... and thanks for posting back - I was kinda dragging my feet on writing articles tonight and this issue is reinvigorating my desire to!)

Yes you can ghost the c drive no problem. When you choose the destination drive when cloning in ghost, it will automatically use as much room as is available on the new drive, so you will end up with a larger partition.

Ghost will not work on a server unless you have the expensive server version.

And you do NOT need identical size drives for a mirror (on MOST controllers) - the mirror would simply be created using the smallest of the two drives. HOWEVER, you would still be mirroring the partition sizes as well and still stuck where you are.

Now if you think outside the box, you COULD try to create a software mirror to a larger drive. Then break the mirror and trying using DiskPart to extend the partition of the formerly mirrored C: drive. BUT, to me, this would be a waste of time for several reasons and success could NOT be guaranteed!

ASKER

oh no to the contrary.....

i want to be very definate here.....
i am working on a project fr knowledge and fun...
and by doing so i learn....
I am the in house tech.... before we call our out of the house tech.....

i am more technical then most we know... who are not professional.....

but do not touch the real working server... and usually answer the questions with in our company like " my mouse doesn't work"

we spend a lot of money on the our professional... and we do not mind....

your comment that the server is not properly managed goes deep... yet does not cut....
I really want to explore it.....

I forced my tech to make a ghost of our drive two months ago... this week... we had a very bad thing happen... and they tried for a few hours to get it working.... finally they threw in the towel and used the ghosted drive.. ( all this has nothing to do with my original post )

my data is on a shared folder off the c drive called "G" which is mapped.
you brought up a beautiful point... which i never considered.
perhaps the server is not properly managed.... but it will be addressed immediatley...not by challenge or condesending comment... but by me posting an other separate question and to start to learn...
so no worries my friend.... you just put me on a road of thought and concern..

ASKER

so forgive me....

can i ghost only one partition of a drive ( my C ) and put it on a larger drive..... and have th emachine propoerly boot?

YES.. you can...
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/on-technology.nsf/docid/1999012108164025

read carefully!

As noted - Ghost will not work for servers unless you have the server version of Ghost. (It's against the license agreement and, quite possibly as I know older versions of Ghost took note, it will detect the server OS and refuse to work).

gparted... if you really want to do this.

I would suggest, if you want to learn - two things to do - one is easy and free - and the other costs $350 (or so) - Start playing around with virtualization - you can create an entire network on ONE PC. HyperV, Virtual PC, VMWare - all are free downloads and can do this. The second thing is to get a subscription to Microsoft TechNet Plus Direct - which allows you to download fully functional, non-time limited trials of ALMOST ALL Microsoft software and provides many learning and documentation resources (the software is NOT FOR PRODUCTION USE, but you can use it to install, learn, and run tests).

ASKER

thanks guys.... i got some choices now.

I'd have to say that I disagree with almost everything that leew has stated here, especailly keeping eveything on one PC. Having one single point of faliure is never a good idea even if MS wants you to go that way because too many people complained about spending so much money on hardware using the original model of running everything on seperate servers. When I said the drives must match for mirroring I meant the partition sizes and not the hardware, just to clarify. If you read the ghost article is says Ghost is primarily a tool for cloning Windows workstations. Since Windows servers typically have NTFS file systems, just like workstations, it is possible to clone Windows servers, with some restrictions...
This actually seems to be getting off topic of the original question so I'll stick with my origianal answer of using Paragon as the least painful solution or a reload since you don't have this server in production.

scottyvanman - What are you talking about keeping everything on one PC? Are you seriously saying that to learn, he should use multiple physical computers? I never said he should keep everything his business does on ONE PC. I said he could run an entire network on one system with virtualization - and that statement was prefaced with "if you want to learn"