extending C: partition-proliant server-2003 windows business

[rod reese]

i got my server 6 weeks ago.

i have a 145 gig hard drive. HP sent it with 7.92 gigs of files on the C:drive which they also partitioned at 8 gigs. nice. the C:drive is full although there is over 130 gigs more space.

every call to support yields the same worthless solution---diskpart.exe

re:diskpart.exe

the c: partition will not allow itself to be extended. yadda yadda.

the fact that HP did this, i have been without a business server for six weeks. i'm not a computer guy and have already spent a large number of hours on and off the phone dealing with it.

seems the constant low disk space messages would have tipped them off

does anyone know a way i can allocate more space to the C:partition??????????????

[Tony Gore]

Under Windows 2000/2003 there is actually a simple way - not the ideal way - to do this.

You need to use "computer management" and under this you will find "disk management".

When you create a new partition (in your unpartitioned space) you would normally assign it a drive letter. However, it is possible to mount it instead at an empty folder on your c: drive.

There is a danger in doing this - if, in the future, someone forgets things are linked. Also, when doing backups, you have to check that the extended part is backed up, and it might make it harder to rebuild the system in the future.

It also has a limitation - you cannot extend the root partition in this way.

Normally, the only means of changing the partition size is with a tool that does it - these are cheap for workstations but the server version (surprise, surprise) is considerably more expensive.

If you are running SBS, you can move things like Exchange to a different partition, and install any additional software on a partition other than c: so it is possible with these tricks to live with a small c: partition.

I don't know why someone set it up with 7.92G as the root partition - under NT, this was the maximum boot disk size, but this limitation disappeared 6 years ago with Windows 2000.

Sorry that I cannot give you a simple fix (other than buying the server equivalent of PartitionMagic)

[Kedd Guyton]

Diskpart can be used to extend the system/boot partition (C: Drive), but only if the system/boot partition is not in use.

The following assumes that you have a 146GB hard drive with a single partition (C: Drive). There are no other partitions on the hard drive. In other words anything other than the C: Drive's partition is unused free space.

You will need to boot from a copy of WinPE (Microsoft Windows Preinstallation Environment) available to Microsoft Select customers, or from BartPE (a third-party superset of WinPE that is available for free to anyone).

After booting from the WinPE/BartPE CD, launch a Command Prompt. Type 'diskpart' to enter the Diskpart environment. Since the C: Drive's system/boot partition is mounted, but not booted from, you will now be able to use the Extend feature of Diskpart to extend your C: Drive to whatever size you like. If you select the volume (C: Drive) and just enter 'extend', it will use ALL remaining space on the 146GB hard drive.

The best part about this solution is that it is free.

Enjoy!

[shun_1]

why not shrink other partition and expand the os partition by mouse drag and move, all operations under your control, you can even undo the changes, I cannot bear a complex work, check this http://www.partition-tool.com/resource/extend-system-partition-server-2003.htm

[Longsan]

A excellent software, Extend Partition Server Edition could help you increase the size of system C: partition, reference instruction: http://www.extend-partition.com/extend-partition-server-edition.html

[Sony Chen]

you can just using the software EASEUS Partition Manager.

Hope that really helps you, very easy and simple to use.