What are the options and recommendations when a Windows 2003 server needs a partition larger than 2 TB (ie the D:\ drive and not the system drive). It appears that moving to Dynamic Disks has some considerations and drawbacks, so I was wondering of there were any other alternatives or preferred routes. The physical disk in the machine is a 3 TB RAID5 partition with 30 GB used for the C:\ drive or system drive. We would like to use the remaining space to create a ~2.8 TB D: drive. TIA ... e.
The "C" drive should not even be in the same RAID Set. Creating Partitions is almost a waste of time (with some exceptions). The "C" drive should be a completely separate Array. Perferably RAID1 with a pair of average sized drives. It does not need to be huge drives,...it just needs to be high quality dependable drives. Create a second Array of RAID5 with 3 or more Disks,...these can be huge if you like. Let the partition take up the whole Logical Drive unless you have a very specific reason to do otherwise (and I cannot think of very many reasons). The biggest reason that comes to mind for partitions here would be if certain users pack their shares full and never "house clean",...separating them with a partition keeps them from filling the entire Volume and running everyone else out of space along with themselves. -- Phillip Windell The views expressed, are my own and not those of my employer, or Microsoft, or anyone else associated with me, including my cats. -----------------------------------------------------
