maurice volaski

I am trying to span several large volumes. Some are under a terabyte;
others are 3+ terabytes.

I converted the less than 1 TB partitions to dynamic volumes with no
problem. Even the boot (C) disk converted and I didn't need that to be
dynamic.

But my external hardware RAIDs, which are 3+ TB, will not convert. These
are already GPT disks, and I have W2K3 standard 64-bit edition with SP1
and all the latest patches.

It gives me a bogus error that "The operation did not complete," falsely
claiming there are more details in the event log.

Interestingly, there is a knowledgebase article, 826823
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/826823/en-us, that seems to be
describing this exact problem, but the article claims it affects only
the 32-bit editions of Windows Server 2K3. Of course, that hotfix will
only work on the 32-bit edition.

mention of the service pack.

darrellg

Hello Maurice,
Checking on this, but it appears that this should be included in the x64
release already. So the QFE should not be needed
Yes this should be in SP1 for Windows Server 2003. Since it is in Windows
Server 2003 SP1, it should also be included in the X64 release.
This may be another issue

Thanks,
Darrell Gorter[MSFT]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights
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<From: Maurice Volaski <support@fluxsoft.com>
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microsoft.public.windows.server.general,microsoft. public.windows.64bit.gener
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<Subject: Multi-terabyte dynamic disks are not supported under 64-bit W2K3!
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<I am trying to span several large volumes. Some are under a terabyte;
<others are 3+ terabytes.
<
<I converted the less than 1 TB partitions to dynamic volumes with no
<problem. Even the boot (C) disk converted and I didn't need that to be
<dynamic.
<
<But my external hardware RAIDs, which are 3+ TB, will not convert. These
<are already GPT disks, and I have W2K3 standard 64-bit edition with SP1
<and all the latest patches.
<
<It gives me a bogus error that "The operation did not complete," falsely
<claiming there are more details in the event log.
<
<Interestingly, there is a knowledgebase article, 826823
<http://support.microsoft.com/kb/826823/en-us, that seems to be
<describing this exact problem, but the article claims it affects only
<the 32-bit editions of Windows Server 2K3. Of course, that hotfix will
<only work on the 32-bit edition.
<


<mention of the service pack.
<

maurice volaski

It is indeed another issue.
The hardware RAID is a Promise VTrak, which uses > 512-byte sectors to
achieve array sizes > 2 TB. Dynamic volumes require the array itself use
512-byte sectors. (Presumably, other RAIDs keep the sector size at 512,
but use > 32-bit addressing to permit > 2 TB volumes.)

I reformatted the array this way and created on it < 2 TB logical
volumes to cover the full capacity. These all appeared under Windows and
I had no problem changing them to dynamic disks.

Ideally, Windows should post a more informative message or at the very
least Microsoft should post a knowledgebase article explaining what's going on.