Guidelines For Managing Disks And Volumes; When Managing Disks And Volumes; Scheduling Defragmentation - HP ProLiant ML310 User Manual

changes take effect immediately. A complete online help facility is provided with the Disk Management
utility for assistance in using the product.
NOTE:
• When the Disk Management utility is accessed through a Remote Desktop connection this connection
can only be used to manage disks and volumes on the server. Using the Remote Desktop connection
for other operations during an open session closes the session.
• When closing Disk Management through a Remote Desktop connection, it may take a few moments
for the remote session to log off.

Guidelines for managing disks and volumes

When managing disks and volumes:

• Do not alter the operating system disk labeled Local Disk C: or Primary OS C:.
• Do not alter the disk labeled "DON'T ERASE."
• HP does not recommend spanning array controllers with dynamic volumes. The use of software
RAID-based dynamic volumes is not recommended. Use the array controller instead; it is more
efficient.
• Use meaningful volume labels with the intended drive letter embedded in the volume label, if
possible. (For example, volume e: might be named "Disk E:.") Volume labels often serve as the
only means of identification.
• Record all volume labels and drive letters in case the system needs to be restored.
• When managing basic disks, only the last partition on the disk can be extended unless the
disk is changed to dynamic.
• Basic disks can be converted to dynamic, but cannot be converted back to basic without deleting
all data on the disk.
• Basic disks can contain up to four primary partitions (or three primary partitions and one
extended partition).
• Format drives with a 16 K allocation size for best support of shadow copies, performance,
and defragmentation.
• NTFS formatted drives are recommended, because they provide the greatest level of support for
shadow copies, encryption, and compression.
• Only basic disks can be formatted as FAT or FAT32.
• Read the online Disk Management help found in the utility.

Scheduling defragmentation

Defragmentation is the process of analyzing local volumes and consolidating fragmented files and folders
so that each occupies a single, contiguous space on the volume. This improves file system performance.
Because defragmentation consolidates files and folders, it also consolidates the free space on a volume.
This reduces the likelihood that new files will be fragmented.
Defragmentation for a volume can be scheduled to occur automatically at convenient times.
Defragmentation can also be done once, or on a recurring basis.
NOTE:
Scheduling defragmentation to run no later than a specific time prevents the defragmentation process
from running later than that time. If the defragmentation process is running when the time is reached,
the process is stopped. This setting is useful to ensure that the defragmentation process ends before the
demand for server access is likely to increase.
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