So we have a windows 2000 server doing lots of interesting things including our network backups using Veritas. To make a long story short I need to make more room on the main C partition that contains the operating system in order to properly backup the machine. I’ve moved everything off that partition that I can but still can’t get enough free space, not even close. I need to allocate more room to the C drive but I don’t have a good backup in case something bad happens. I need an EXCELLENT repartition utility, cost does not matter, but it has to work without screwing up this machine (its mission critical).
Is there one piece of software that stands out from the rest as the defacto repartitioning utilty for Windows server?
Get the latest version of Partition Magic but study everything about it before you get started. Make no mistakes and it will function perfectly. Sometimes if you make mistakes, it will just leave you where you started. I still use Version 7, but it has always worked very well for me. There are later versions now that are undoubtedly better.
Partition Magic won’t run on a server; the server version is VolumeManager. It’s $760, but there is a trial version. Not sure what the restrictions on it are.
I would still strongly recommend you do everything you possibly can to backup first. No repartitioning software is %100 guaranteed. Will Windows backup not run? Can you uninstall Veritas and then use WIndows backup?
Ooops, I didn’t know about the server restriction. I do not know of any other cheaper alternatives or anything about what you need to expand your C: drive. Sorry.
This is what I love about the Straight Dope. Not 24 hours after I realize I need to reformat a Win2000 server does a question appear asking how to reformat a Win2000 server.
[nitpick]
VERITAS is a company (and yes, it’s properly spelled in all caps). They sell lots of products, including (but not limited to) Backup Exec and NetBackup.
[/nitpick]
True, they make a wide variety of stuff, I’m using Backup Exec. Its good but very, very large. Lots of options and flexability makes for some headaches at times.
I’ll give VolumeManager a shot, sound like a winner. Thanks for all the help!
Actually I don’t want to format, that’s what I’m trying to avoid. I just need to make the C partition larger so I can run Backup Exec properly. It needs empty disk space to make a swap file of sorts where the Open File Option is installed that tends to run larger than the partition. Fails with a space error at night when it runs.
For God sakes man, backup your server. Back it up. BACK IT UP! IT folks don’t call it “Partition Tragic” for nothing! Actually, PM (and VM) have gotten very stable in the past few versions, but as you can imagine - if this software messes up, you are screwed in every possible way. NOt trying to scare you, but seriously: BACK IT ALL UP!
I had to recover from a Partition Magic re-partitioning disaster in Dec 2002. I don’t know the details, because I wasn’t the one who did it, and the person may have caused additional damage with two failed recovery proframs (one of which was an expensive corporate version that included limited in-lab recovery in the price. I suspect they had me take a shot at it because hey were afraid the lab would return a report indicting their errors for any unrecoverable errors)
I tried a few programs with partial success, before trying Ontract East Recovery Pro, which recovered almost all of the 300GB total drivespace in a single overnight session (what little was not directly recoverable may have been damaged by earlier recovery attempts, and was fortunately recoverable from regular backups)
The program worked like a champ for me, and was easier and more automatic than the programs which yielded partial resulats (as easy, in fact, as the ones that simply failed outright) I still had to do some manual repairs - mostly chosing the best of near-identical copies of some folders and moving them to their proper place in the tree. (Ontrack couldn’t recover the proper position of many directories and placed many recovered directories in the disk root, instead)
While this was a one-shot, unscientific success, I was so impressed that it’s been my primary fallback [fortunately unneeded] since. It did a great job considering that I hadn’t done any preparation and had never used the program before.
If it were my mission-critical system, I’d first make a bootable CD with EasyRecovery, and a complete hardcopy of the directory tree, just in case.
Dammit, Jim, I’m a doctor, not a systems guy (though I used to be one in the 80s)
Ok, I’m convinced we need a backup prior to doing this now. I suspected that might be the case but oh well…I can live with that. Its a bit of a catch 22 but I think if I backup certain critical files I can do a complete reinstall if everything gets hosed beyond recognition. Thanks everyone for your very helpful tips, now I have a bunch of options to consider.
