To partition or not to partition

[DCL]

To partition or not to partition

I currently have an NT 4.0 server (service pack 1) with a 12GB Hard Drive. It has three partitions with the following info;
C:\ NT installation
D:\ Human Resource info and client database
E:\ Employee home folders

I am buying a new 30GB Hard drive and reinstalling our NT 4.0 however I will apply all service packs (6a). My big questions are:

1)Should I partition the drive
2)Where and how should I setup the page files

[python134r]

Quick thought, leaving all on one partition is ok, easier to backup if you do this on a regular, you can move the pagefile to the other hard drive or you can also span the old hard drive so you have 42gb of space.

You can also install the os on the 12gb drive with page file and use the new hdd for the hr database and home folders.

If you have the liberty to do so, try a few configs and see which gives you the best performance and above all stability.

Actually there are a few ways you can go with this, post more info on the network setup,domain, etc. I just woke up..need coffee

[HAL9000]

At a bare minimum, I prefer to setup NT servers with the OS and programs on C:\, then data on D:\. Depending on the situation, I may break it down even more to just the OS on C:\, programs on D:\, and data on E:\.

[Roberto]

If you have a program like partition magic you do not have to partition until later when you decide that you have the need. So, initially you many not want to partition, then you may want to partition the drive into 2 parts with one large partition so that space is available for future partitions.

[glc]

Hmm - why reinstall NT? If it's working fine, here is what I would do.

First off, upgrade your NT to SP6a. Then buy a copy of Drive Copy (Powerquest) for $29 or so. This will clone all 3 of your partitions and allow you to adjust the size of your partitions in the process. I have used this to migrate NT to a larger drive on several occasions, it's fully NTFS compatible and does a fine job.

[DCL]

1)I don't trust the hardware (no documentation)
2)I need more storage space
3)The current NT installation is configured as a workgroup meanwhile I have 100 users. My thought is to reinstall w/needed service pcks and set up the server in a domain environment.

Originally posted by glc Hmm - why reinstall NT? If it's working fine, here is what I would do. First off, upgrade your NT to SP6a. Then buy a copy of Drive Copy (Powerquest) for $29 or so. This will clone all 3 of your partitions and allow you to adjust the size of your partitions in the process. I have used this to migrate NT to a larger drive on several occasions, it's fully NTFS compatible and does a fine job.