Every server carries a layout someone chose - the only question is whether it was chosen on paper, with the roles in mind, or by the installer defaults on a busy afternoon. The paper version wins every year after.
Of all the pre-install decisions in this set, this is the cheapest and the most skipped. The disk layout - which arrays exist, what volumes they become, how big the C: drive is, where data and virtual machines live - is nearly free to design before the install and ranges from annoying to rebuild-the-server painful to change afterwards. This page gives you the sheet itself: what goes on it, the size decisions that age well, and the mistakes the sheet exists to prevent. It assumes the hardware decisions from the companion guides - roles listed, RAID levels chosen, drives and a spare bought, and the backup target decided (because the backup does not live on this array, and the sheet should say where it does live).
The sheet has a natural order. First the physical truth: which drives form which array, at which RAID level, on which controller - with models and serials, because this sheet becomes the server's permanent record. Then the logical plan: each array becomes one or more volumes, and each volume gets a job and a size. Only at the end come the drive letters and share names. Designing in this order prevents the classic tangle where someone plans "a 500 GB D drive" without noticing the array underneath cannot offer it. It also forces the conversation that matters - which data deserves the SSD array's speed, and which is perfectly happy on the big spinning array - while the answer is still free.
The operating-system volume is where optimistic sizing goes to die. Windows Server updates, logs, temp files and role data all grow year on year, and a C: drive carved at the old-fashioned small size becomes a monthly chore of hunting space on the one volume where space matters most. A comfortable modern default for a general office server is the 200 to 250 GB class for C: - generous enough for years of updates, small enough to image and back up quickly. Keep user data and shares off C: entirely: the OS volume should hold the OS and its roles, so that one day, if Windows itself must be rebuilt, the data volumes sit untouched beside it. On the sheet, write the sizes as decisions ("C: 250 GB - room for 5 years of updates"), not just numbers - the reason recorded is what stops a future helper from "fixing" your layout.
Two placements pay rent for years. Data on its own volume: shares on a data volume can grow, be backed up, be quota-managed and one day be moved, without touching the operating system. The day the data outgrows the array - and data always does - you add storage to the data volume's world, not to the whole server. Virtual machines on their own volume too: VM files are huge, busy, and the first thing you restore in a disaster; keeping them on a dedicated volume (ideally on the SSD array in the example above) makes their backup, migration and growth a single-volume story. While you are here, decide the page file and any database locations deliberately as well, rather than accepting wherever the wizard dropped them - databases follow the same rule as VMs: fast array, own volume, away from the OS.
The last section of the sheet is bureaucracy, and it is gold. Fix the drive letters and use them consistently in every document and backup job from day one. Name shares for the humans ("Accounts", "Scans", "Common") rather than the technology. Then record the machine itself: model, serial number, warranty end date, controller model and firmware, drive models and serials, the spare's location, the backup target and schedule, and where the admin credentials are kept (a password vault or sealed record - not written on this sheet itself). File the sheet with the server and a copy with the office records. Servers outlive the memory of the person who installed them; the next engineer - on a bad night, possibly years later, quite possibly you - starts from this sheet or starts from nothing.
Close with the hall of fame, every entry personally witnessed in small offices:
Thirty minutes with a pen prevents all five. That is the entire pitch for paper.
Layout planning is the last step of the pre-install tour - watch the complete video to see the whole sequence.
Watch Full VideoThe 200 to 250 GB class is a comfortable modern default for a general office server - enough for years of updates, logs and role data, while staying quick to image and back up. The common failure is carving it at an old-fashioned small size and then fighting for space on the system volume every few months.
No. Put shares on their own data volume. A separate volume can grow, be backed up and be moved independently of the operating system, and if Windows ever has to be rebuilt, the data sits untouched beside it. The same rule applies to virtual machines and databases - each gets its own volume, ideally matched to the right array.
The arrays (drives, models, serials, RAID level, controller), the volumes with sizes and jobs, drive letters and share names, the spare drive and its location, the backup target and schedule, warranty dates and firmware versions, and a pointer to where admin credentials are stored. Keep one copy with the server and one with the office records.