Exchange server 2000 Maximum size 16384MB

[melissagordon]

We are currently running MS Exchange 2000. I have about 30 email accounts. Yesterday no one could get into their outlook and I got the following message in the event viewer on the server:

Information Store (4428) The database c:\program files\exchsrvr\mdbdata\priv1.edb has reached its maximum size of 16384 MB. If the database cannot be restarted an offline degragmentation may be performed to reduce its size.

So I temporarily increased the max size of exchange server to 17GB and defragged. The defrag decreased the priv1.edb file enough that I could open clients outlook and permanently delete pictures and other big files. I got in almost everyones inbox and permanantly deleted sent items, deleted items, etc. This morning when I got to work I noticed that the size of the file had not changed. It is still under the 16384MB (currently 16258 MB) limit but I thought the mass permanent deleting that I did would decrease that file significantly. Yesterday after the defrag I changed the mailbox store settings on the limits tab to 0 in the keep deleted items for days box. I also rebooted the server that exchange is on.

Is there something else I need to do in order to create more space? I thought for sure deleting all of those big files in user's outlook would help. Any comments or suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks!