Help !! Challenge Question re: Win Server 2003 !

[bjassin]

I have a question that I would REALLY appreciate an answer to from an expert. Somehow I think that the answer to this question should be easy, but no I have not been able to get a clear answer yet.

I have Windows Server 2003 installed on the office server. It is setup in a RAID 5 configuration. But, it came really badly formatted from DELL. It has 2 drives--C: and D:. They made the C: drive (where the OS resides) extremely small (about 5 Gb.) and the D: drive is over 100 Gb. I am nowhere near the space limit of the D: drive, but I keep getting low space warnings on the C: drive. Obviously it would be very helpful for me to increase the size of the C: drive partition.

Here is the question. Is there a program that can realiably adjust the size of the partitions in a RAID configuration WITHOUT having to reformat and reinstall the OS. I am thinking of something along the lines of Partition Magic for a RAID server configuration.

Is any such product available? I would prefer the EASIEST program to use--while I have some experience with personal computers, I don't have a lot of experince with RAID and with servers.

Thanks,

BJ

 

[tomt4535]

gparted will do it. It will take some time because you have to shift the D: partition down the disk but it will do exactly what you want. You have to boot the server from a CD. The server will be unavailable while you are working on it, so make sure you set a decent downtime window.

EDIT: heres the link http://gparted.sourceforge.net/

 

[bjassin]

Thanks for the quick reply. It looks like that program is aimed at Linux users. Are you sure it will work with Win Server 2003?

Also, I should mention, I would not mind PAYING for a program that would do this--especially if it has a simple, GUI interface. Any suggestions?


BJ

 

[imported_snikt]

What is the purpose of this server? Is it a file server, domain controller? Considering its been set up with RAID 5 it sounds like it might be a file server of some sort or a db server. You should consider a plan B should something go wrong with your plan A. Back up any and all important files on this server before proceeding with your Plan A.

If all you need is additional space to prevent the low space warnings or to accomodate some temp files maybe you can give this a try as an alternative first.

Mounting drive

 

[bjassin]

Thanks for that suggestioin. It's a file server. That 'mounted drive' thing seems interesting. I will look into it.

The main problem is that there is less than 1 gb. of free space left on the C: drive and I keep getting low storage space warnings. Then I run disk cleanup and they go away. But, I would rather just solve the prblem by adding about 4Gb. of space to drive C: The D: drive is 125 Gb. in sieze and only 57 Gb. are in use--so there is plenty of space to take from the D: drive and give to the C: drive.

I personally don't work with computers as a job. But, I have asked people locally that do and they are all scared to 'touch' the server--I even offered to pay for their time. Go figure.

The server runs the email and some programs for the office--there are about 10 workstations connecting to it, but I don't think that should make any difference. I am so tired of this recurring problem that I finally decided to see if I could do something about it myself.

Thanks for all the suggestions so far.

BJ

 

[tomt4535]

Originally posted by: bjassin
Thanks for the quick reply. It looks like that program is aimed at Linux users. Are you sure it will work with Win Server 2003?

Also, I should mention, I would not mind PAYING for a program that would do this--especially if it has a simple, GUI interface. Any suggestions?


BJ

Gparted works with NTFS no problem. It is a linux live CD but they have support for Windows machines as well.