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Thread: Create a GPT disk in 32 bit Win2003 R2 w/sp2

  1. #1
    Mike O Guest

    Create a GPT disk in 32 bit Win2003 R2 w/sp2

    We currently have a Windows 2003 R2 32 bit system attached to a SAN. It
    currently has a 1.5TB "disk" allocated to it. We are going to be adding a
    3TB area to it soon (as a new disk). We have SP2 installed, so I can use
    the GUID partition disks to go over 2TB, but I trying to find out how to
    create one. When I initialize the disk through disk manager, it creates an
    MBR disk and doesn't give me an option to create a GPT. I realize I can
    create an MBR and convert it to GPT , but if the raw "disk" is over 2TB,
    will it even allow me to create an MBR? If I do create an MBR, since I
    assume it will limited it to 2TB, can I then convert it to GPT then extend
    it?

    I've done some searching, and have found a bunch of references that say when
    initialize the disk in disk manager, it will give you the option of creating
    a GPT, but I'm not seeing that option. I assume that's in the 64 bit
    versions, since they've supported GPT's longer. The command line DiskPart
    doesn't seem to have an option to create a GPT, just convert to/from MBR.
    It does have some options for setting the GUID ID, but doesn't seem to be
    what I'm looking for.

    Any assistance would be appreciated.

    Mike O.


  2. #2
    Daveg Guest

    Re: Create a GPT disk in 32 bit Win2003 R2 w/sp2

    http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device...PT-on-x64.mspx

    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/300415

    Use the diskpart utility reference "convert gpt"

    We do not recommend creating such large disks unless absolutely
    necessary. In the event that chkdsk runs, you will be in a bad
    position. How long will chkdsk take to run on a 3 TB disk? Consider
    mount points if space is the issue.

    daveg


  3. #3
    Mike O Guest

    Re: Create a GPT disk in 32 bit Win2003 R2 w/sp2


    "Daveg" <dguenthners@yahoo.com> wrote in message
    news:1178074965.804991.177530@l77g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...
    > http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device...PT-on-x64.mspx
    >
    > http://support.microsoft.com/kb/300415
    >
    > Use the diskpart utility reference "convert gpt"
    >
    > We do not recommend creating such large disks unless absolutely
    > necessary. In the event that chkdsk runs, you will be in a bad
    > position. How long will chkdsk take to run on a 3 TB disk? Consider
    > mount points if space is the issue.
    >
    > daveg
    >


    Thanks for the reply.
    The reason we're wanting to use a single "drive" is to better utilize the
    space on the SAN. The system we're planning on putting the GPT disk on is
    actually a two node Windows 2003 R2 server cluster (I'm aware of the hotfix
    to allow GPT disks on a cluster). It currently has a 1.4TB SAN "disk" on
    it. We're using this cluster to consolidate many smaller departmental file
    servers. One of the problems we've had has been using the space
    efficiently; frequently one server would have a bunch of free space, and the
    others would have none.

    I hadn't thought about using mount points, and will look into that some
    more, but from what I understand about them it doesn't look like it would
    accomplish what we need. We could still be in the situation of some
    folders/areas with excess space, and others not having enough.

    I've seen both of those articles, and am aware of the convert functions in
    Disk Manager and diskpart, but I was trying to find a way of directly
    creating a GPT disk without creating and MBR and converting it. My concern
    is that if I have a raw "disk" over 2TB, will Disk Manager or Diskpart even
    allow the initialization of the disk? If it allows it, will it only be 2TB?
    If so, can I then convert it and expand it to the full size?

    I understand that something like chkdsk would be a problem, but these
    servers are in our data center, with a building wide UPS and backup
    generator, environmental systems, etc. The servers themselves have
    redundant fans, power supplies, etc., have dual fiber channel cards, each
    connected to a redundant SAN network, and the disks are on an EMC enterprise
    storage array, with it's own redundant drives, cache, power supplies, etc.
    I wouldn't say nothing can happen, but I feel our risk of a corrupted disk
    and triggering a chkdsk is pretty low. Of course, now I've probably jinxed
    everything!

    Mike O.



  4. #4
    Theo Verweij Guest

    Re: Create a GPT disk in 32 bit Win2003 R2 w/sp2

    I use a 3Tb nas.
    After configuring the nas, disk manager saw 1 disk, splitted in 2 parts
    (1 part of 2 Tb and 1 part of 1.5 Tb). After converting to GPT disk
    (before formatting), it became one disk of 3.5 Tb.

    Mike O wrote:
    >
    > "Daveg" <dguenthners@yahoo.com> wrote in message
    > news:1178074965.804991.177530@l77g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...
    >> http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device...PT-on-x64.mspx
    >>
    >> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/300415
    >>
    >> Use the diskpart utility reference "convert gpt"
    >>
    >> We do not recommend creating such large disks unless absolutely
    >> necessary. In the event that chkdsk runs, you will be in a bad
    >> position. How long will chkdsk take to run on a 3 TB disk? Consider
    >> mount points if space is the issue.
    >>
    >> daveg
    >>

    >
    > Thanks for the reply.
    > The reason we're wanting to use a single "drive" is to better utilize
    > the space on the SAN. The system we're planning on putting the GPT disk
    > on is actually a two node Windows 2003 R2 server cluster (I'm aware of
    > the hotfix to allow GPT disks on a cluster). It currently has a 1.4TB
    > SAN "disk" on it. We're using this cluster to consolidate many smaller
    > departmental file servers. One of the problems we've had has been
    > using the space efficiently; frequently one server would have a bunch of
    > free space, and the others would have none.
    >
    > I hadn't thought about using mount points, and will look into that some
    > more, but from what I understand about them it doesn't look like it
    > would accomplish what we need. We could still be in the situation of
    > some folders/areas with excess space, and others not having enough.
    >
    > I've seen both of those articles, and am aware of the convert functions
    > in Disk Manager and diskpart, but I was trying to find a way of directly
    > creating a GPT disk without creating and MBR and converting it. My
    > concern is that if I have a raw "disk" over 2TB, will Disk Manager or
    > Diskpart even allow the initialization of the disk? If it allows it,
    > will it only be 2TB? If so, can I then convert it and expand it to the
    > full size?
    >
    > I understand that something like chkdsk would be a problem, but these
    > servers are in our data center, with a building wide UPS and backup
    > generator, environmental systems, etc. The servers themselves have
    > redundant fans, power supplies, etc., have dual fiber channel cards,
    > each connected to a redundant SAN network, and the disks are on an EMC
    > enterprise storage array, with it's own redundant drives, cache, power
    > supplies, etc. I wouldn't say nothing can happen, but I feel our risk of
    > a corrupted disk and triggering a chkdsk is pretty low. Of course, now
    > I've probably jinxed everything!
    >
    > Mike O.
    >
    >


  5. #5
    Mike O Guest

    Re: Create a GPT disk in 32 bit Win2003 R2 w/sp2


    "Theo Verweij" <tverweij@xs4all.nl> wrote in message
    news:463a06e4$0$322$e4fe514c@news.xs4all.nl...
    >I use a 3Tb nas.
    > After configuring the nas, disk manager saw 1 disk, splitted in 2 parts (1
    > part of 2 Tb and 1 part of 1.5 Tb). After converting to GPT disk (before
    > formatting), it became one disk of 3.5 Tb.
    >


    Thanks for your reply.

    Did you see the two parts before you let disk manager initialize the disk,
    or was that after? When you converted it to GPT, did it automatically
    combine the two pieces?

    I'm planning on doing some testing, but unfortunately at this time we don't
    have the new disks yet, and I don't have a spare 3TB disk lying around to
    experiment yet...


    Mike O.

    > Mike O wrote:
    >>
    >> "Daveg" <dguenthners@yahoo.com> wrote in message
    >> news:1178074965.804991.177530@l77g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...
    >>> http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device...PT-on-x64.mspx
    >>>
    >>> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/300415
    >>>
    >>> Use the diskpart utility reference "convert gpt"
    >>>
    >>> We do not recommend creating such large disks unless absolutely
    >>> necessary. In the event that chkdsk runs, you will be in a bad
    >>> position. How long will chkdsk take to run on a 3 TB disk? Consider
    >>> mount points if space is the issue.
    >>>
    >>> daveg
    >>>

    >>
    >> Thanks for the reply.
    >> The reason we're wanting to use a single "drive" is to better utilize the
    >> space on the SAN. The system we're planning on putting the GPT disk on
    >> is actually a two node Windows 2003 R2 server cluster (I'm aware of the
    >> hotfix to allow GPT disks on a cluster). It currently has a 1.4TB SAN
    >> "disk" on it. We're using this cluster to consolidate many smaller
    >> departmental file servers. One of the problems we've had has been using
    >> the space efficiently; frequently one server would have a bunch of free
    >> space, and the others would have none.
    >>
    >> I hadn't thought about using mount points, and will look into that some
    >> more, but from what I understand about them it doesn't look like it would
    >> accomplish what we need. We could still be in the situation of some
    >> folders/areas with excess space, and others not having enough.
    >>
    >> I've seen both of those articles, and am aware of the convert functions
    >> in Disk Manager and diskpart, but I was trying to find a way of directly
    >> creating a GPT disk without creating and MBR and converting it. My
    >> concern is that if I have a raw "disk" over 2TB, will Disk Manager or
    >> Diskpart even allow the initialization of the disk? If it allows it,
    >> will it only be 2TB? If so, can I then convert it and expand it to the
    >> full size?
    >>
    >> I understand that something like chkdsk would be a problem, but these
    >> servers are in our data center, with a building wide UPS and backup
    >> generator, environmental systems, etc. The servers themselves have
    >> redundant fans, power supplies, etc., have dual fiber channel cards, each
    >> connected to a redundant SAN network, and the disks are on an EMC
    >> enterprise storage array, with it's own redundant drives, cache, power
    >> supplies, etc. I wouldn't say nothing can happen, but I feel our risk of
    >> a corrupted disk and triggering a chkdsk is pretty low. Of course, now
    >> I've probably jinxed everything!
    >>
    >> Mike O.
    >>


  6. #6
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Posts
    1
    I needed to create a 4TB partition of a EMC SAN. I tried to do this by using the DISKPART utility command: (Selecting the disk first, of course) "CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY ALIGN=64", but it gave me two 2TB of unallocated disk space (seen in Disk Manager). Then I tried the "CONVERT GPT" command and it automatically joined the two 2TB units into one 4TB.

    Rich

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