Too small system partition

[Jonathan de Boyne Pollard]

Yes. I've done this multiple times.

Long experience with Unix, Netware, and other systems has me convinced
of the long-standing wisdom (certainly in the Unix world) of not putting
applications, log files, and user data on the system volume wherever
possible. If one doesn't, there's far less pressure the system volume
to need additional space. I'm curious. How many of the times that
you've expanded a system volume have been because the "Program Files" or
"Documents and Settings" trees have become too big?

[Grant Taylor]

Post by Jonathan de Boyne Pollard
Long experience with Unix, Netware, and other systems has me
convinced of the long-standing wisdom (certainly in the Unix world)
of not putting applications, log files, and user data on the system
volume wherever possible.

I *COMPLETELY* agree.

On the servers that I set up, I usually have a system volume, a swap
volume, and one or more data volumes.

Post by Jonathan de Boyne Pollard
I'm curious. How many of the times that you've expanded a system
volume have been because the "Program Files" or "Documents and
Settings" trees have become too big?

Many of the servers that I have inherited / taken support over tend to
fall in to this category.

I have run in to a few very long running servers that started with
either a 2 / 4 GB system volume and the OS has grown (because of service
packs / hot fixes / demanding IE updates / etc.) to the point that the
OS is too snug for comfort.

Usually along these lines, it's time to upgrade the drives any way. In
these cases I usually establish a new RAID, and image from the small
RAID to the larger RAID while adjusting the size on the fly. After the
fact, the system seems to be much happier.

As far as "Program Files" and "Documents and Settings" is concerned, I
usually move them to other volumes when things start to be come a
problem. When ever possible, I will put things like Exchange and SQL
data files on a different volume too.

Like I said, I /completely/ agree with spreading things out across
multiple volumes. :-}



Grant. . . .

[Guus Ellenkamp]

Thanks for all the replies. I'll review them carefully.

I already cleaned up a lot and put a lot of stuff on other volumes,
including program files. Cleaned up Documents and Settings already. It's a
10Gb partition, so should be big enough for just the OS, but somehow there
is stuff that's still very large and I can't figure out exactly what.

Any more suggestions what could be so big are welcome.

Post by Grant Taylor

Long experience with Unix, Netware, and other systems has me convinced of
the long-standing wisdom (certainly in the Unix world) of not putting
applications, log files, and user data on the system volume wherever
possible.

I *COMPLETELY* agree.
On the servers that I set up, I usually have a system volume, a swap
volume, and one or more data volumes.

I'm curious. How many of the times that you've expanded a system volume
have been because the "Program Files" or "Documents and Settings" trees
have become too big?

Many of the servers that I have inherited / taken support over tend to
fall in to this category.
I have run in to a few very long running servers that started with either
a 2 / 4 GB system volume and the OS has grown (because of service packs /
hot fixes / demanding IE updates / etc.) to the point that the OS is too
snug for comfort.
Usually along these lines, it's time to upgrade the drives any way. In
these cases I usually establish a new RAID, and image from the small RAID
to the larger RAID while adjusting the size on the fly. After the fact,
the system seems to be much happier.
As far as "Program Files" and "Documents and Settings" is concerned, I
usually move them to other volumes when things start to be come a problem.
When ever possible, I will put things like Exchange and SQL data files on
a different volume too.
Like I said, I /completely/ agree with spreading things out across
multiple volumes. :-}
Grant. . . .

[Al Williams]

Download treesize or windirstat - they are free tools that show you where
your space is going.
--
Allan Williams

Post by Guus Ellenkamp
Thanks for all the replies. I'll review them carefully.
I already cleaned up a lot and put a lot of stuff on other volumes,
including program files. Cleaned up Documents and Settings already.
It's a 10Gb partition, so should be big enough for just the OS, but
somehow there is stuff that's still very large and I can't figure out
exactly what.
Any more suggestions what could be so big are welcome.

Post by Grant Taylor

Post by Jonathan de Boyne Pollard
Long experience with Unix, Netware, and other systems has me
convinced of the long-standing wisdom (certainly in the Unix world)
of not putting applications, log files, and user data on the system
volume wherever possible.

I *COMPLETELY* agree.
On the servers that I set up, I usually have a system volume, a swap
volume, and one or more data volumes.

Post by Jonathan de Boyne Pollard
I'm curious. How many of the times that you've expanded a system
volume have been because the "Program Files" or "Documents and
Settings" trees have become too big?

Many of the servers that I have inherited / taken support over tend
to fall in to this category.
I have run in to a few very long running servers that started with
either a 2 / 4 GB system volume and the OS has grown (because of
service packs / hot fixes / demanding IE updates / etc.) to the
point that the OS is too snug for comfort.
Usually along these lines, it's time to upgrade the drives any way. In
these cases I usually establish a new RAID, and image from the
small RAID to the larger RAID while adjusting the size on the fly. After
the fact, the system seems to be much happier.
As far as "Program Files" and "Documents and Settings" is concerned,
I usually move them to other volumes when things start to be come a
problem. When ever possible, I will put things like Exchange and SQL
data files on a different volume too.
Like I said, I /completely/ agree with spreading things out across
multiple volumes. :-}
Grant. . . .

[Guus Ellenkamp]

Thanks a lot for the suggestion. Just downloaded it and see a major 'disk
eater' already: the Windows Installer folder. Safe to delete and how?

Post by Al Williams
Download treesize or windirstat - they are free tools that show you where
your space is going.
--
Allan Williams

Post by Guus Ellenkamp
Thanks for all the replies. I'll review them carefully.
I already cleaned up a lot and put a lot of stuff on other volumes,
including program files. Cleaned up Documents and Settings already.
It's a 10Gb partition, so should be big enough for just the OS, but
somehow there is stuff that's still very large and I can't figure out
exactly what.
Any more suggestions what could be so big are welcome.

Post by Grant Taylor

Post by Jonathan de Boyne Pollard
Long experience with Unix, Netware, and other systems has me
convinced of the long-standing wisdom (certainly in the Unix world)
of not putting applications, log files, and user data on the system
volume wherever possible.

I *COMPLETELY* agree.
On the servers that I set up, I usually have a system volume, a swap
volume, and one or more data volumes.

Post by Jonathan de Boyne Pollard
I'm curious. How many of the times that you've expanded a system
volume have been because the "Program Files" or "Documents and
Settings" trees have become too big?

Many of the servers that I have inherited / taken support over tend
to fall in to this category.
I have run in to a few very long running servers that started with
either a 2 / 4 GB system volume and the OS has grown (because of
service packs / hot fixes / demanding IE updates / etc.) to the
point that the OS is too snug for comfort.
Usually along these lines, it's time to upgrade the drives any way. In
these cases I usually establish a new RAID, and image from the
small RAID to the larger RAID while adjusting the size on the fly. After
the fact, the system seems to be much happier.
As far as "Program Files" and "Documents and Settings" is concerned,
I usually move them to other volumes when things start to be come a
problem. When ever possible, I will put things like Exchange and SQL
data files on a different volume too.
Like I said, I /completely/ agree with spreading things out across
multiple volumes. :-}
Grant. . . .

[Al Williams]

Lots of hits on google on that...

http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en-GB&q=server+2003+windows+installer+folder+cleanup&sourceid=navclient-ff&rlz=1B3GGLL_en-GBCA361CA362&ie=UTF-8
--
Allan Williams

Post by Guus Ellenkamp
Thanks a lot for the suggestion. Just downloaded it and see a major
'disk eater' already: the Windows Installer folder. Safe to delete
and how?

Post by Al Williams
Download treesize or windirstat - they are free tools that show you
where your space is going.
--
Allan Williams

Post by Guus Ellenkamp
Thanks for all the replies. I'll review them carefully.
I already cleaned up a lot and put a lot of stuff on other volumes,
including program files. Cleaned up Documents and Settings already.
It's a 10Gb partition, so should be big enough for just the OS, but
somehow there is stuff that's still very large and I can't figure
out exactly what.
Any more suggestions what could be so big are welcome.

Post by Grant Taylor

Post by Jonathan de Boyne Pollard
Long experience with Unix, Netware, and other systems has me
convinced of the long-standing wisdom (certainly in the Unix
world) of not putting applications, log files, and user data on
the system volume wherever possible.

I *COMPLETELY* agree.
On the servers that I set up, I usually have a system volume, a
swap volume, and one or more data volumes.

Post by Jonathan de Boyne Pollard
I'm curious. How many of the times that you've expanded a system
volume have been because the "Program Files" or "Documents and
Settings" trees have become too big?

Many of the servers that I have inherited / taken support over tend
to fall in to this category.
I have run in to a few very long running servers that started with
either a 2 / 4 GB system volume and the OS has grown (because of
service packs / hot fixes / demanding IE updates / etc.) to the
point that the OS is too snug for comfort.
Usually along these lines, it's time to upgrade the drives any
way. In these cases I usually establish a new RAID, and image from
the small RAID to the larger RAID while adjusting the size on the fly.
After the fact, the system seems to be much happier.
As far as "Program Files" and "Documents and Settings" is
concerned, I usually move them to other volumes when things start to be
come a
problem. When ever possible, I will put things like Exchange and
SQL data files on a different volume too.
Like I said, I /completely/ agree with spreading things out across
multiple volumes. :-}
Grant. . . .

[Guus Ellenkamp]

Yeah, I found. I finally moved that folder with a link to it using
Linkmagic. Seems to work. Thanks everybody for helping me find the way with
this.

Post by Al Williams
Lots of hits on google on that...
http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en-GB&q=server+2003+windows+installer+folder+cleanup&sourceid=navclient-ff&rlz=1B3GGLL_en-GBCA361CA362&ie=UTF-8
--
Allan Williams

Post by Guus Ellenkamp
Thanks a lot for the suggestion. Just downloaded it and see a major
'disk eater' already: the Windows Installer folder. Safe to delete
and how?

Post by Al Williams
Download treesize or windirstat - they are free tools that show you
where your space is going.
--
Allan Williams

Post by Guus Ellenkamp
Thanks for all the replies. I'll review them carefully.
I already cleaned up a lot and put a lot of stuff on other volumes,
including program files. Cleaned up Documents and Settings already.
It's a 10Gb partition, so should be big enough for just the OS, but
somehow there is stuff that's still very large and I can't figure
out exactly what.
Any more suggestions what could be so big are welcome.

Post by Grant Taylor

Post by Jonathan de Boyne Pollard
Long experience with Unix, Netware, and other systems has me
convinced of the long-standing wisdom (certainly in the Unix
world) of not putting applications, log files, and user data on
the system volume wherever possible.

I *COMPLETELY* agree.
On the servers that I set up, I usually have a system volume, a
swap volume, and one or more data volumes.

Post by Jonathan de Boyne Pollard
I'm curious. How many of the times that you've expanded a system
volume have been because the "Program Files" or "Documents and
Settings" trees have become too big?

Many of the servers that I have inherited / taken support over tend
to fall in to this category.
I have run in to a few very long running servers that started with
either a 2 / 4 GB system volume and the OS has grown (because of
service packs / hot fixes / demanding IE updates / etc.) to the
point that the OS is too snug for comfort.
Usually along these lines, it's time to upgrade the drives any
way. In these cases I usually establish a new RAID, and image from
the small RAID to the larger RAID while adjusting the size on the fly.
After the fact, the system seems to be much happier.
As far as "Program Files" and "Documents and Settings" is
concerned, I usually move them to other volumes when things start to
be come a
problem. When ever possible, I will put things like Exchange and
SQL data files on a different volume too.
Like I said, I /completely/ agree with spreading things out across
multiple volumes. :-}
Grant. . . .