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Curlyben · Jun 2, 2008, 04:27 AM

Guys, could use a hand here.
I need to image a critical NT 4 server so I can run some tests on it.
Now what I intend to do is run the image in VMware.
I have tried the VMware converter, but as the C: drive is set to 1Gb and has very little free space this fails.

So my intention is to image it and then run some tests on that image in a virtual environment.
What I need to do is see if it is possible to repartition the disc without losing data or functionality, also test upgrading it to win 2k3.

Any help or ideas would be good, but bear in mind this is NT.

NoDaddy dot com · Feb 27, 2009, 11:25 PM

1
Ghost drive

2
Restore image to larger phyiscal drive

3
Try conversion

Unless you meant something entirely different by

but as the C: drive is set to 1Gb and has very little free space this fails.

darkvision · Mar 3, 2009, 05:07 PM

Ghost drives are an expensive piece of equipment so unless you already have one(and I'm guess you dont) I would recommend making a backup to an external that you can then image on a PC or any other computer to A not hurt the network performance and B not worry about free space.

The other bright side of that is that (unless I'm completely off my rocker) is that you should be able to make a plain jane PC your virtual server and not have to worry about damage done to the network.

darkvision · Mar 3, 2009, 05:11 PM

Oh a side note(im still under 48 hour rule so can't edit posts) if you don't have a USB port on the server you could always use an admin account to just net file the whole C:\ drive to another PC. And then make your image etc.

Also if your looking to actually make changes on the network and not in just a purely virtual environment another good option would to be to set up a second hard drive with all the old files settings etc and make whatever changes to the first, if something goes bad just pop in the other hard drive and reload the second and try again.

Curlyben · Mar 3, 2009, 10:35 PM

Thanks for the response guys, but I did manage to get this done.
You really should check post dates before you post as this is from JUNE 2008.

Just out of interest DV, I've implemented a FULL VMware ESX environment for all of my production servers.

NoDaddy dot com · Mar 4, 2009, 01:24 AM

ghost drive

'ghost' was used as a verb

darkvision · Mar 4, 2009, 02:24 PM

Yeah second time post dates have messed me up I just saw it was relatively "new" (high up on the thread) and didn't look at the date.

No daddy- sorry thought you were talking about a imaging machine/hard drive that is known as a ghost drive(costs around 1 grand last time I priced one)

For your quote -Just out of interest DV, I've implemented a FULL VMware ESX environment for all of my production servers.

Not sure if there is a question in their, or if your just stating what your now running. Anway congrats on getting everything going. Did you ever upgrade to 2k(or 03 etc) on your servers? If so isn't AD just the best thing since sliced bread. NT was a frigen nightmare always droping PC's corrupting scripts and user management was a frigging nightmare. Had to use at a minimum two different applications in the correct order to create the account or you got multiple accounts and all sorts of other stuff.

Also if your running an exchange server (2003 up to my knowledge) make sure you set limits to mail box size well under a gig and for PST's ensure they are under 1 gig or it causes nightmares. (users can have more than 1 .pst but each individual one has to be under 1 gig)

Curlyben · Mar 4, 2009, 02:29 PM

I was able to clone and directly upgrade this server to 2k3 and the others are now running 2k8, which is so sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet.
I even run it as my desktop as I can't stand Vista..

I use some nice tools which makes setting up and managing AD an absolute breeze, mind you the (l)users don't think so. They can't get on with the SOX restrictions :)

As for exchange, well we're a Notes (R8) house, so don't have that issue/limitation ;)

darkvision · Mar 4, 2009, 02:51 PM

Originally Posted by Curlyben

I was able to clone and directly upgrade this server to 2k3 and the others are now running 2k8, which is so sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet.
I even run it as my desktop as I can't stand Vista..

I use some nice tools which makes setting up and managing AD an absolute breeze, mind you the (l)users don't think so. They can't get on with the SOX restrictions :)

As for exchange, well we're a Notes (R8) house, so don't have that issue/limitation ;)

It's a love hate relation ship with exchange servers. The headaches it caused!! (and when your talking 1000 pcs... GAH!) when it starts having to crunch too much mail from file size it starts messing up profiles, dropping pcs, dropping network printers, sending ghost emails, emailing to the wrong person, not sending them at all, sending the same message over and over and over(we had a guy that was getting an email that wasn't meant for him about 1 time a second every second day in and day out and we couldn't stop it, I ended up just making a rule that would perm delete it every time it came in till we could fix the exchange server)

I assume your talking about Lotus notes by the way? If so yeah I have touched notes in like 10 years :*(

Well even without any apps for AD its just so much more versatile and admin friendly. Can set up perms accounts etc so forth in minutes instead of hours. And I've never seen it corrupt scripts like NT would.

Also just tell your users it's a ID10T error and your working on it :P