Slow booting system

[Ayman Altounji]

Hello all

I have this server as the main AD controller in the forest :) it is also the Exchange server (5.5) and the file/print server.

It has the integrated Smart array controller with 3 identical UltraScsi3 10,000rpm drives and is configured as a RAID 5.

I know a server with Exchange normally takes anywhere from 5 - 10 minutes to boot normally on a NT4 system. The priv.edb file is ~260MB.

This server however is taking close to 30 minutes to boot. I am leaning toward the integrated smart array controller since the drives seem to get hit, there's a couple second lag then they get hit again, etc.....

Any ideas, short of upgrading to the regular smart array card? This may be a solution later but now I can't get that approved.

I have defragged both the drives and the exchange databases.

TIA

dan