Disk/Volume size limitation

[Carson Dyle]

I have a server running 32-bit Windows 2003 Server. It's working fine and I don't foresee updating it in the near future. The server runs on a motherboard without UEFI.

It's unclear to me whether or not its feasible to use hard drives larger than 2TB in this system. They would only be used as data drives, with no need to boot from them.

If I format, say, a 4TB disk on my Wn7 64-bit PC to use a GUID Partition Table, will the drive work work on the server and will all of its space be available? If so, would volumes be limited to 2TB, or could I create a single 4TB volume on the drive that would be fully accessible on the Win2k3 system?

 

[Zxian]

Server 2003 SP1 and onwards will support drives that are larger than 2TB for data drives. The boot drive must still be formatted using MBR.

You can install the drives into the system and configure them directly through Server 2003 SP1 as GPT drives to use as data drives.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/gg463528.aspx

 

[Carson Dyle]

Thanks.

As for configuring the drives within Win2k3, I assume that the sector alignment issue with Advanced Format drives with 4k sectors still exists with GPT disks. So that it would be necessary to use either a software tool or a later version of Windows to properly align any partition created.

Note: Microsoft recommends that for Windows Server 2003, basic disks should use 512-byte sectors (dynamic disks will only work with 512-byte sectors). Windows Vista and later operating systems will support up to 4-KB sector sizes.

 

[Zxian]

I'm not sure about the alignment of advanced format drives. You may need a tool in order to ensure proper alignment. However, some WD drives may support the use of a jumper to enable 512-byte sectors for backwards compatibility.

 

[imagoon]

Thanks.

As for configuring the drives within Win2k3, I assume that the sector alignment issue with Advanced Format drives with 4k sectors still exists with GPT disks. So that it would be necessary to use either a software tool or a later version of Windows to properly align any partition created.

If you use Microsoft diskpart rather than the control panel, you can feed it an offset to align the sectors. Aligning 4k NTFS sectors on the 4k drive helps for performance. Also certain controllers can't handle larger than 2TB drives. Random example being the PERC4 PERC5 and PERC6 from Dell land.

Paraphrased it would be:

C:\>diskpart

DISKPART>list disk (find the new disk)
DISKPART>select disk X (number of the disk here)

DISKPART>create partition efi offset=4
DISKPART>exit

help attached:

DISKPART> help create part efi

    Creates an Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) system partition on a GUID
    partition table (GPT) disk.

Syntax:  CREATE PARTITION EFI [SIZE=<N>] [OFFSET=<N>] [NOERR]

    SIZE=<N>    The size of the partition in megabytes (MB). If no size is
                given, the partition continues until there is no more free
                space in the current region.

    OFFSET=<N>  The offset, in kilobytes (KB), at which the partition is
                created. If no offset is given, the partition is placed in the
                first disk extent that is large enough to hold it.

    NOERR       For scripting only. When an error is encountered, DiskPart
                continues to process commands as if the error did not occur.
                Without the NOERR parameter, an error causes DiskPart to exit
                with an error code.

    After the partition has been created, the focus is given to the new
    partition.

    A basic GPT disk must be selected for this operation to succeed.

Example:

    CREATE PARTITION EFI SIZE=1000

DISKPART>

 

[Carson Dyle]

imagoon, thanks for that.

What type of disk does Windows7 create by default? MBR or GPT? Is it based on disk size or is it always the same?

 

[imagoon]

imagoon, thanks for that.

What type of disk does Windows7 create by default? MBR or GPT? Is it based on disk size or is it always the same?

um... I think default is MBR unless the disk is >2TB then it will ask if I remember correctly. Windows 7 also should offset to 4k boundaries if I recall correctly.

Are you planning to partition and format the disk with Windows 7 and move it to the 2003 server?

As a side note, 2003 must be SP1 and above to have GUID/EFI drive support.

 

[Carson Dyle]

Are you planning to partition and format the disk with Windows 7 and move it to the 2003 server?

That's what I've been doing with AF 2TB drives, but whatever works.

 

[imagoon]

That's what I've been doing with AF 2TB drives, but whatever works.

It should work as long as the drive is blank (as in partitioned and formatted but has no data). 2003 and 7 share the same NTFS version (3.1) but 7 has EFS and the like that Windows 2003 wouldn't understand. Any reason why you don't want to let 2003 format and partition it? Only issue I can see off the top of my head is ACL mismatches.

 

[Carson Dyle]

Any reason why you don't want to let 2003 format and partition it?

No. Like I said, whatever works. I've also used diskpar.exe (not diskpart.exe) in the past to align partitions.

 

[imagoon]

Diskpart is easy once you get the hang of it. Windows 7 works also using disk management. Diskpart has help for everything ie DISKPART> help create will feed you commands etc. It can be scripted also if you ever get in to that.