>2TB partition in Vista 64-bit

[triadyk]

Hi guys,
I'm tyring to create a RAID5 array to create a 4.5TB array

Here's my setup:
Vista Ultimate x64
Asus A8V Deluxe mb
Athlon X2 4400+
4 x 1.5TB Seagate hd on RAID5 (using HighPoint 1740 RAID card)


What I want to do is create a boot partition (500GB) and another partition (with the rest of the available space) for data.:

The array creation went fine, 4.5TB (4.5T bits => around 4T bytes) RAID5 array was created. When installing Vista, I created the boot partition and after that, the remaining space became 1.5TB, which indicated a BASIC disk was created, which has a limitation of 2TB partition.

After the Vista installation was done, I saw 3 partition on the disk:
- 500GB Boot partition
- 1.5TB unallocated space
- 2TB unallocated space


and I was unable to create the 4TB second partition for Data drive, or to convert the disk into GPT or Dynamic Disk (I guess they can't convert disk that contains the OS).

The question is, how can I create the 2 partition I wanted (500gb and 4TB) under Vista x64? I was thinking about using another drive to install Vista temporarily to convert the array into GPT, remove the temp drive, then re-install the OS in the now-GPT disk. But I read that you cannot boot from a GPT drive.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[GhislainG]

But I read that you cannot boot from a GPT drive.

This is correct. Since drives containing the system
or boot partitions are limited to 2 TB, the only solution is to use a single disk or setup another small RAID for the OS and use the 4 x 1.5 TB Seagate HDs in RAID5 and convert it to GPT. Out of curiosity, why do you need larger than 2 TB partitions?

 

[mikrev007]

Setup the raid array as two logical units, so the OS sees it as two different harddrives. Then you can have one as a normal basic disk and one GPT disk.

why do you need larger than 2 TB partitions?

2TB is actually the total partition space. So you cannot create 2x2TB partitions, if that was your thinking.

 

[GhislainG]

Setup the raid array as two logical units, so the OS sees it as two different harddrives. Then you can have one as a normal basic disk and one GPT disk.

The OS is smart enough to detect they are the same physical hard disk. http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/storage/GPT_FAQ.mspx

 

[mikrev007]

The OS is smart enough to detect they are the same physical hard disk.

No. If you create two arrays, it will see them as two different drives.

 

[GhislainG]

That's good to know and it would resolve the OP's problem.