Server drive partitioning - All on C??

Hi,

Just a question I thought I would put out there...

For servers (DC's or Exchange or SQL etc) how do people recommend drive
partitioning?

I have heard some place everything on C, some split with OS on C and
applications/data on another and some split C with OS, D with application
binaries and E with data??

I am just trying to understand what is really the best answer, currently our
equipment is based with a large C, which I believe is because people before
me believed that as everything is all so closely tied together, like the
registry on C points to sections on D or e, so if D dies it causes problems
etc??

Any ideas or Microsoft Best Practice guides?

 

"UselessUser" <UselessUser@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:6BBA634B-021B-4787-A090-0150A67116F7@microsoft.com...
> Hi,
>
> Just a question I thought I would put out there...
>
> For servers (DC's or Exchange or SQL etc) how do people recommend drive
> partitioning?
>
> I have heard some place everything on C, some split with OS on C and
> applications/data on another and some split C with OS, D with application
> binaries and E with data??
>
> I am just trying to understand what is really the best answer, currently
> our
> equipment is based with a large C, which I believe is because people
> before
> me believed that as everything is all so closely tied together, like the
> registry on C points to sections on D or e, so if D dies it causes
> problems
> etc??
>
> Any ideas or Microsoft Best Practice guides?

This is a question of preference. My preference goes like this:
- Keep the OS and all applications on drive C:.
- Keep all data, including the Exchange Information Store, on drive D:.

There are a few big advantages with this approach:
- It is easy to size drive C: since its growth is moderate and independent
of user files.
- Having a small system partition makes it easy to image it with one of the
popular imaging products.
- If user data (e.g. the Exchange Data Store!) grows much faster than
anticipated then it's very easy to move the lot to a larger disk.

Running out of space on the system partition is a frequent topic in this
newsgroup. The problem is easily avoided: Never store user data on the same
partition as system files.

 

Adding the Pegasus's comments, there is also a difference between the "D"
just being another partiation on the same drive (or drive set) -vs- being a
different drive or set. If it is the same single drive then losing the
drive loses both partitions. I tend to like the "D" and other subsequent
partitions to actually be different physical drives or arrays when it is
possible to do so, or at least use a fault tolerant array like RAID1 or 5.

--
Phillip Windell
www.wandtv.com

The views expressed, are my own and not those of my employer, or Microsoft,
or anyone else associated with me, including my cats.
-----------------------------------------------------

 

To add to previous two posters.

You can consider using mounting points instead of drive letters.
This is recommended practice for Exchange and SAN's.
For example you create empty folder:
C:\ExchangeStorageGroup1
You mount your SAN partition to this folder.
If something goes bad you simply mount your replica to the same mounting
point.
No hassle with drive letters because your Exchange data remains on
C:\ExchangeStorageGroup1.

"UselessUser" <UselessUser@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:6BBA634B-021B-4787-A090-0150A67116F7@microsoft.com...
> Hi,
>
> Just a question I thought I would put out there...
>
> For servers (DC's or Exchange or SQL etc) how do people recommend drive
> partitioning?
>
> I have heard some place everything on C, some split with OS on C and
> applications/data on another and some split C with OS, D with application
> binaries and E with data??
>
> I am just trying to understand what is really the best answer, currently
> our
> equipment is based with a large C, which I believe is because people
> before
> me believed that as everything is all so closely tied together, like the
> registry on C points to sections on D or e, so if D dies it causes
> problems
> etc??
>
> Any ideas or Microsoft Best Practice guides?