Server 2008 reporting C drive full - it's not

Hello,

I have a Windows 2008 server (64-bit). It runs MS SQL 2005 standard.
Yesterday I discovered that the C: drive has 9% free space. It's
never been close to full so I was surprised. For the life of me, I
cannot figure out why. I've done the following.

1. Checked SQL - this SQL server is for Symantec Enterprise Vault. My
DB is under 2 GB.
2. Manually checked size of C contents. I changed folder options to
view all files (see the pagefile etc). I select all folders/file and
check properties. It reports 25 GB. My C drive is RAID1 73 GB so
it's about 67 GB usable. I should have over 40 GB free.
3. I downloaded and ran "WinDirStat" which reports drive space, size
of files etc. It reports I'm using 25 GB?

I'm not sure what could be going on. I thought about shadow copies
but they are disabled - or so it seems. If I check properties of C
and the "previous versions" TAB there are none. But if I go to DISK
MGMT | All tasks | Configure Shadow Copies I see the C: volume and
Next Run time says 'disabled.' But the used column says "36819 MB on
C." Does this mean it's using that space somehow? 37 GB + 25 = 62
which leave 5 GB or so if my usable space is 67 GB. That math adds up
pretty well.

Any help is greatly appreciated. I need to clear some space ASAP and
there's nothing I can delete at the moment.

Thanks-

 

On May 21, 9:53 am, jrm73 <jayrmont...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I have a Windows 2008 server (64-bit).  It runs MS SQL 2005 standard.
> Yesterday I discovered that the C: drive has 9% free space.  It's
> never been close to full so I was surprised.  For the life of me, I
> cannot figure out why.  I've done the following.
>
> 1. Checked SQL - this SQL server is for Symantec Enterprise Vault.  My
> DB is under 2 GB.
> 2. Manually checked size of C contents.  I changed folder options to
> view all files (see the pagefile etc).  I select all folders/file and
> check properties.  It reports 25 GB.  My C drive is RAID1 73 GB so
> it's about 67 GB usable. I should have over 40 GB free.
> 3. I downloaded and ran "WinDirStat" which reports drive space, size
> of files etc.  It reports I'm using 25 GB?
>
> I'm not sure what could be going on.  I thought about shadow copies
> but they are disabled  - or so it seems.  If I check properties of C
> and the "previous versions" TAB there are none.  But if I go to DISK
> MGMT | All tasks | Configure Shadow Copies I see the C: volume  and
> Next Run time says 'disabled.'  But the used column says "36819 MB on
> C."  Does this mean it's using that space somehow?  37 GB + 25 = 62
> which leave 5 GB or so if my usable space is 67 GB.  That math adds up
> pretty well.
>
> Any help is greatly appreciated.  I need to clear some space ASAP and
> there's nothing I can delete at the moment.
>
> Thanks-

I figured this out. It was the VSS limit setting. Even though I have
it disabled, Backupexec is using the service for server backups - part
of the continuous protection I think. I set the limit to 7 GB and got
30 GB back of free space instantly.

 

Hello jrm73,

I had this with netbackup once too.

As it was only on one server among many, i think more of a backup trouble
that doesn"t release the vss snapshot.


Cordialement,
Mathieu Chateau
fr blog: http://www.lotp.fr
en blog: http://lordoftheping.blogspot.com


j> On May 21, 9:53 am, jrm73 <jayrmont...@yahoo.com> wrote:
j>
>> Hello,
>>
>> I have a Windows 2008 server (64-bit). It runs MS SQL 2005 standard.
>> Yesterday I discovered that the C: drive has 9% free space. It's
>> never been close to full so I was surprised. For the life of me, I
>> cannot figure out why. I've done the following.
>>
>> 1. Checked SQL - this SQL server is for Symantec Enterprise Vault.
>> My
>> DB is under 2 GB.
>> 2. Manually checked size of C contents. I changed folder options to
>> view all files (see the pagefile etc). I select all folders/file and
>> check properties. It reports 25 GB. My C drive is RAID1 73 GB so
>> it's about 67 GB usable. I should have over 40 GB free.
>> 3. I downloaded and ran "WinDirStat" which reports drive space, size
>> of files etc. It reports I'm using 25 GB?
>> I'm not sure what could be going on. I thought about shadow copies
>> but they are disabled - or so it seems. If I check properties of C
>> and the "previous versions" TAB there are none. But if I go to DISK
>> MGMT | All tasks | Configure Shadow Copies I see the C: volume and
>> Next Run time says 'disabled.' But the used column says "36819 MB on
>> C." Does this mean it's using that space somehow? 37 GB + 25 = 62
>> which leave 5 GB or so if my usable space is 67 GB. That math adds
>> up pretty well.
>>
>> Any help is greatly appreciated. I need to clear some space ASAP and
>> there's nothing I can delete at the moment.
>>
>> Thanks-
>>
j> I figured this out. It was the VSS limit setting. Even though I have
j> it disabled, Backupexec is using the service for server backups -
j> part of the continuous protection I think. I set the limit to 7 GB
j> and got 30 GB back of free space instantly.
j>