Shadow copies are eating gigabytes
VSS snapshots grow unbounded if the quota is wrong. On file servers this can fill the volume completely.
Try this first
- 1List snapshots with vssadmin list shadows and vssadmin list shadowstorage
- 2Cap maximum size via vssadmin resize shadowstorage to for instance 10%
- 3Trim old snapshots specifically with vssadmin delete shadows /oldest
- 4Schedule shadow copies on a dedicated volume going forward if space is tight
When to bring us in
For a growing file server: review backup strategy, VSS is no substitute for backup.
See also
- My laptop is suddenly slowThree main suspects: a runaway background process, near-full disk, or a Windows update in progress.
- One specific application is slow for everyoneIf an app is slow for one person: local. For everyone at once: server side or vendor side.
- Opening files from the file server takes minutesOften the server itself is fine and the issue is network routing or stalling DNS resolution.
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