Hard Drive Dilema

[JT]

New IBM xSeries 235 Server came preloaded with W2K Server
installed. However, they partioned only 4GB for C: drive
for OS and on top of that made it FAT32 instead of NTFS.

I have two mirrored drives totalling 73GB, so I could
allocate more space to C:, but are there any alternatives
available other than reformatting the drive with NTFS to
be able to install AD?

This server is going to be used as a Terminal Server for
our remote offices.

thx in advance

 

[Herb Martin]

New IBM xSeries 235 Server came preloaded with W2K Server
installed. However, they partioned only 4GB for C: drive
for OS and on top of that made it FAT32 instead of NTFS.

I have two mirrored drives totalling 73GB, so I could
allocate more space to C:, but are there any alternatives
available other than reformatting the drive with NTFS to
be able to install AD?

You can of course convert (.exe) the drive to NTFS in place.
(The permissions won't be set really correctly but there is a
procedure for fixing that.)

You can back up and restore but convert is easier, even though
you really should have a backup first. After the backup,
recreate the partition.

You can format another drive with NTFS and install "SysVol"
(the part that needs NTFS) there -- but you really should be
using NTFS for Windows Servers.

Bottom line is you must have an NTFS partition for AD --
either CONVERT, Backup/CREATE-new/Restore, or
use another partition.

This server is going to be used as a Terminal Server for
our remote offices.

 

[JT]

It worked flawlessly....I was able to install AD
afterwards....thx!

 

[Herb Martin]

You're welcome.

You might want to look into SubInAcl.exe and the method
for straightening out permissions when the system starts life
on a FAT(32) volume and then is upgraded to NTFS.