Disk partitioning: how to consolidate?

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Hi there

I have just had a new server commissioned, but the partitioning was not done according to my instructions. I instructed the ISP to partition as follows:

100Gb – for OS (Separate in case we need to reinstall, change OS, or something etc)
400Gb – storage 1
500Gb – storage 2

What happened was they did this partitioning correctly, but the OS went onto the 500Gb partition instead of the 100Gb and was labelled as C:

I have gone into the Computer Management side, and wanted to consolidate the available space. I have deleted the 100Gb partition and the 400Gb partition. I then used the Shrink Volume command under the Disk Management part of the MMC to reduce the C: Drive to 100Gb. I now have the following situation:
29249-Partitions

How do I consolidate the two separate bits, because I have decided that I want to rather have OS partition 100Gb and remainder as a separate partition?

Please help! I would hate to have to ask the ISP to re-install…

Thanks for helping!

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You may need to fork out some money for the Server Edition of a third-party partition manager.

Or get the ISP to do the job properly!

BATcher

Plethora means a lot to me.

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Sounds like they will have a bit of a job to do…..!
Ho hum- another delay…

Thanks!

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ISP has responded – very red-faced! SHould be back in order in a couple of hours – properly installed this time!

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It is preferred to hold the vendor accountable for the error, but if it is not a production server and you do not have the option of returning it to the vendor, you could follow these steps to rectify the storage anomaly:

1) create a Microsoft Deployment environment using the MDT 2010 Update 1 and AIK3 tools provided free on the Microsoft web site.

2) customize the Microsoft Deployment Workbench as directed in the Reference Guide documentation (summary: add driver sets, operating systems, as a minimum, add applications, etc. as you learn more), then update your Deployment Share to create the bootable WinPE ISO image files

3) follow instructions in the Reference Guide (in the Lite Touch Installation section) to create bootable media

4) boot your server with the bootable flash drive from step 3 into the Deployment environment, and run imagex /capture to collect an image of the Windows server partition (read the step-by-step instructions along with the imagex parameters help in the technet library online)

You should now have a files-based image of the Windows partition, ready to be re-applied to the server after you adjust the partitions to your liking using the following steps

5) once you verify you have a good image (read the imagex instructions), you can use the diskpart tool to clean the hard drive and configure the partitions to your liking

at the command prompt in the WinPE environment, type diskpart and press enter, then select the server’s hard drive, clean it, create the partitions, format them, assign the letters, then apply the image using imagex /apply to the C: drive

diskpart
list disk
select disk 0
clean
create partition primary size=350
select partition 1
format quick fs=ntfs label=”system”
assign letter=”G”
active
create partition primary size=100000
select partition 2
format quick fs=ntfs label=win2k8r2
assign letter=”C”
create partition primary size=400000
select partition 3
format quick fs=ntfs label=apps
assign letter=”X”
create partition primary size=500000
select partition 4
format quick fs=ntfs label=data
assign letter=”U”

Well, I don’t have the commands memorized because it’s easier and safer to create a text file with the commands and simply direct diskpart to use the text file (see the Technet technical library for diskpart parameters and best practices). By the way, there are some additional items to include if you choose to use the MDT 2012 Beta package.

Once the partitions are in order and you’ve applied the image to the server, the final step is to load the boot configuration data into the system partition using the utility “bcdboot” (I don’t remember the parameters, as this is one of the lines in a script I use).

Steps 1 and 2 are the most difficult and time consuming, but once the environment is established, the rest of the steps may take thirty minutes if you take time to load and activate the coffee machine. 🙂

Woody

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I use the same method to image servers but don’t bother with the system partition – you only need it for bitlocker and why would you have that on a server?
You also don’t need to make more than one partition because you can do the rest in Windows – it has a nice GUI ;-))

Code:

diskpart
select disk 0
clean
create partition primary size=102400
format quick fs=ntfs label=win2k8r2
assign letter=”C”
active
exit

Use imagex to restore the image to C:.
BCDBOOT to set up the boot files.

Code:

C:windowssystem32bcdboot C:windows /s C:

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Thanks for the tips folks!

I am sure that the next time will be easier…
I did manage to get the ISP to setup the machine once more – it was pretty quick, so I guess they must use an image of some kind. It is now just right!

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I don’t know if Easeus Partition Manager Home Edition will resize partitions on a server but I have used it to resize partitions on my home computers and it works well. I have used it on Windows XP and Windows 7 OS’s. I have not experienced any loss of data and the Home edition is free for home users.

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Sorry, the Easeus Partition Manager Home Edition will not operate on server operating systems. You need the Server edition or higher.

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