Put simply, when you see small disk in azure it means that your machine will have a 30GB disk instead of the usual default of 128 GB.
![what is SMALLDISK Windows Servers in Azure](https://www.urtech.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/what-is-SMALLDISK-Windows-Servers-in-Azure-1024x617.jpg)
If you think 30 gigabyte is small, you are correct, but remember that one of the big things that chews up small C:\ is the paging file, but in Azure your servers page file is running on a separate, hidden drive.
To give you some context, let’s look at how large page files should be.
How Big Should a Page File Be?
Here are Microsoft recommendations for page file sizing:
- Minium Page File Size = RAM / 8
- Maximum Page File Size = 3 x RAM
Most techs use a 1.5 x 8 rule so if your server has 16Gb of RAM your page file would likely be 24GB in size. That does not fit well on a server with only a 30GB disk, which is why it is so nice the Microsoft puts its Azure page files on a disk you don’t see or pay for.
So Azure Small Disk servers are practical if you are following best practices and keeping your data and applications on a second disk volume.
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