system drive upgrade possible?

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anthonyx26

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I have a fairly new Dell server (2 yo/dual core) but the dummy who
originally set it up, split a single 120 GB hard drive into two
partitions...one for system (12 GB) and another for data (108 GB). It's
configured as a "basic" drive in disk manager.

The server is running Windows 2003 and Active Directory.

I'm not sos concerned about the data drive as I am about the system drive
(as I'm considering upgrading it to Windows 2008). Is there any way to,
more or less painlessly, migrate the system drive to a larger hard drive?

- anthonxy26
 
Re: system drive upgrade possible?

Hello anthonyx26,

If you have an additional machine which is capable of 2003, then i would
make it a seond DC, move the FSMO roles, make it DNS and Global catalog server
copy the data and remove the first one from the domain. So you have still
the domain running and can start from scratch.

Best regards

Meinolf Weber
Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers
no rights.
** Please do NOT email, only reply to Newsgroups
** HELP us help YOU!!! http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm


> I have a fairly new Dell server (2 yo/dual core) but the dummy who
> originally set it up, split a single 120 GB hard drive into two
> partitions...one for system (12 GB) and another for data (108 GB).
> It's configured as a "basic" drive in disk manager.
>
> The server is running Windows 2003 and Active Directory.
>
> I'm not sos concerned about the data drive as I am about the system
> drive (as I'm considering upgrading it to Windows 2008). Is there any
> way to, more or less painlessly, migrate the system drive to a larger
> hard drive?
>
> - anthonxy26
>
 
Re: system drive upgrade possible?

"Meinolf Weber" <meiweb(nospam)@gmx.de> wrote in message
news:ff16fb6698348caf9417c09ec94@msnews.microsoft.com...
> If you have an additional machine which is capable of 2003, then i would
> make it a seond DC, move the FSMO roles, make it DNS and Global catalog
> server copy the data and remove the first one from the domain. So you have
> still the domain running and can start from scratch.

Hmmm. I was afraid that might be the case. Unfortunately since I only
contract for the company, I'd have to charge them a pretty hefty per hour
fee, making that method not terribly cost effective. If I worked for the
company full time, then such a project would make sense.

- anthonyx26
 
Re: system drive upgrade possible?

Hello anthonyx26,

From my point of view this will be the way with minimum to zero downtime
and risk. If you use some tools like partition magic you can srew up everything
if it goes wrong. Especially because this machine is a DC. Additional i would
recommend the customer to have at least 2 DC's for redundancy and failover
reasons, so this can be the starting point for this.

Best regards

Meinolf Weber
Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers
no rights.
** Please do NOT email, only reply to Newsgroups
** HELP us help YOU!!! http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm


> "Meinolf Weber" <meiweb(nospam)@gmx.de> wrote in message
> news:ff16fb6698348caf9417c09ec94@msnews.microsoft.com...
>
>> If you have an additional machine which is capable of 2003, then i
>> would make it a seond DC, move the FSMO roles, make it DNS and Global
>> catalog server copy the data and remove the first one from the
>> domain. So you have still the domain running and can start from
>> scratch.
>>
> Hmmm. I was afraid that might be the case. Unfortunately since I
> only contract for the company, I'd have to charge them a pretty hefty
> per hour fee, making that method not terribly cost effective. If I
> worked for the company full time, then such a project would make
> sense.
>
> - anthonyx26
>
 
Re: system drive upgrade possible?

12 GB is not much of data.
You could use any imaging solution to transfer this data to a new disk. I
would first take the image to a network share, then I would replace the disk
and apply image from the network share.
In the past I used Symantec Ghost, but now since WAIK (free download from
Microsoft) is available, I'm using WAIK. In fact I built WinPE and I'm now
using ImageX tool from WAIK. I'm also using other tools:
- Diskpart, disk partitioning tool
- Bootsect.exe, to fix (rebuild) boot and MBR sectors
- BCDEdit, new boot configuration utility for Vista/Win2008
The whole operation should not take longer than two hours. But building of
WinPE with proper tools will take you one or two days (if you didn't try it
before). I would definitely recommend you to get proficient with these new
tools. They are great.


"anthonyx26" <anthonyx26@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:4D900896-9D63-4A06-8360-F021E63F921C@microsoft.com...
>I have a fairly new Dell server (2 yo/dual core) but the dummy who
>originally set it up, split a single 120 GB hard drive into two
>partitions...one for system (12 GB) and another for data (108 GB). It's
>configured as a "basic" drive in disk manager.
>
> The server is running Windows 2003 and Active Directory.
>
> I'm not sos concerned about the data drive as I am about the system drive
> (as I'm considering upgrading it to Windows 2008). Is there any way to,
> more or less painlessly, migrate the system drive to a larger hard drive?
>
> - anthonxy26
>
 
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