A "best practice" for Exchange 2000 and 2003 server performance is to move the SMTP queues to a seperate partition. The queue is located in the Mailroot directory and the default location is Program Files\Exchsvr\Mailroot\vsi # (# is the SMTP Virtual Server number).

To move the Queues we first need to create a new Queue folder and a new Badmail folder, moving the Badmail directory is not necessary but still recommended. It is also recommended to place these directories on a redundant array. Next open up the Exchange System Manager and drill dow to the SMTP Virtual Server, right click and select Stop. Next right click and select Properties, then click the Messages tab. Under the Queue Directory heading, enter in the new path to the SMTP Virtual Server queue directory.

You can do the same for the Badmail directory.

Finally, start the SMTP Virtual Server. That is the easy way.