Moving System to a Larger Hard Drive

[techno-vision]

I currently have a server running Windows 2003 Enterprise Server on a 9 Gig hard drive. I want to replace the drive completely, but with a larger drive in order to give the system more "elbow room".

Has anyone got any first hand experience of doing this?

I really do NOT want to go through the trauma of setting up a system from scratch.

George.

[3fingersalute]

well, Norton Ghost shoud make a snap job of it for you, but if I was adding new hardware to a server, I'd personally want to do it from scratch.

Is that the only drive in the system? If not, are you running any sort of RAID ?

[shamus]

I'd agree with 3FS. Ghost would be the way to go.

[techno-vision]

The $64,000 question is, will Norton Ghost "restore" to the new larger drive such that the operating system will see, and be able to use, the additional space?

Or will it simply image the 9GB drive, and restore to a 9GB partition?

I'd re-build from scratch, but I've spent a small fortune, both in time and hard earned cash, getting the system working as it is. The system just needs more space.

George.

[3fingersalute]

The $64,000 question is, will Norton Ghost "restore" to the new larger drive such that the operating system will see, and be able to use, the additional space?

Or will it simply image the 9GB drive, and restore to a 9GB partition?

I'd re-build from scratch, but I've spent a small fortune, both in time and hard earned cash, getting the system working as it is. The system just needs more space.

George.

Can you not just add the new drive as an additional drive and use it for data? That's really how a server should be setup anyways, a small drive or partition containing the OS and installed programs, then a larger drive/partition(s) for the data, shares, etc.


That said, ghost will create a partition and use the capacity of the new drive, I've done this many times before.

[Ferrit]

I will have to ask, is it running SQL?
Cause if it is i dont think normal ghost will do it at all .
I believe if its a server with sql you will need Live state recovery.
I have yused Live state recovery and it works fine for copying to the new drive and using the added space.
It works right in windows and the GUI is pretty slick
The sad note is its dam pricey

[techno-vision]

I should have explained that the server does in fact have 3 drives.
1) The main system (9GB SCSI - Hotswap drive))
2) MS Exchange & Accounts (9GB SCSI - Hotswap drive)
3) General storage (20GB IDE)
NB: There is a spare Hotswap drive bay available which I was hoping to use for a larger drive
We will ultimately replace the server, but that won't be until later this year due to budget constraints.
SQL 8 is installed, but not at present implemented, so presumably can be removed.
Looks like I've little to loose in trying Norton Ghost.