T105 convert MBR to GPT 2TB limit on virtual disk.

Question

Hi

My T105 has 2x2tb drives with a single raid0 3.8tb virtual drive.

Disk Manager has greyed out the "New Simple volume". I can only use the first 2tb of the virtual drive which I am presuming is because it is MBR and not GPT.

F10 on boot tells me the utility partition is not present (do I need this? How do I put it back?)
Diskpart "convert GPR" says it cannot run on a disk with a pagefile.

I can't find the option for UEFI boot on this so not sure if it is supported. Bios version is 1.4.4.

I've just downloaded Gptgen from sourceforge but looking for another solution before trying this.
Aomei is a chargeable option but in all likelihood I will only ever need it once.

Is there a non-destructive fix for this, not too bothered about reinstalling server 2012r2 if not.

Thanks

Graham

grahambrown · Accepted Answer

Thanks. I need the 4tb for backups. Also going to try Hyper-v or Virtual Box on this server so the more storage the better.

I can't see a way round this at the moment, would've thought somebody has figured out a way to do this...

Thanks Charles

DELL-Charles R · Answer

Hello grahambrown,

The T105 does not have UEFI boot mode. The best, quickest and easiest would be to reinstall.

I would make a single drive RAID0 of a 2TB drive and reinstall. Then make another single drive raid0 of the other drive.

The factory installed Utility Partition will have 32-bit system diagnostics on the installed utility partition. It is not required. You can download the diagnostic utility from support page : Dell 32 Bit Diagnostics, v.5109A1, 5109.2 - https://dell.to/3GQKekx

grahambrown · Answer

Thanks. If i create array and select one disk it says configuration not supported. Will physically unplug hdd1 and see if that works.  Wasnt sureif it only allows one array. Will post back

DELL-Charles R · Answer

Hello grahambrown,

I was not aware the Sas6/ir required 2 drives to create an array : https://dell.to/3wkn0yG

Page 43: There must be at least 2 physical disks in a virtual disk.

Unplugging one drive from your RAID0 will just fail the array.

Might as well delete the RAID0 an make a RAID1 of the two 2TB drives. That will keep you within the 2TB MBR limit.

DELL-Charles R · Answer

Hello grahambrown,

You can use SAS or SATA hard drives.

Page 16 https://downloads.dell.com/manuals/all-products/esuprt_ser_stor_net/esuprt_dell_adapters/dell-sas-6ir-intgtd-and-adptr_user%27s%20guide_en-us.pdf

grahambrown · Answer

Hmm just thinking

The problem seems to be with Windows 2012r2 installer not accepting 4tb. What if I put a small sata disk or SSD to the motherboard and install windows to that then put the two sas drives back in and set them to raid0.

Will this accept two different types of hdd? I know (?) sata and sas can't be in the same array

Will that format my drives to 4TB and still boot?

DELL-Shine K · Answer

What controller you have on the server? Most of the PERC controller support having SAS and SATA drives. You need to create separate virtual disk from SAS and SATA drives as we can not mix SAS and SATA drive on same virtual disk. Also note SSD drives are not supported on T105.

As T105 does not support UEFI, your boot VD need to be less than 2TB.

You can create another virtual disk with more than 2TB and you can initialize the drive in windows as GPT partition to have more than 2TB size. You can refer below link for more details on that

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/storage/disk-management/initialize-new-disks

grahambrown · Answer

The controller is a sas6ir so only two drives allowed.

I have found a spare wd blue 500gb sata drive so am thinking connect that directly to motherboard with no raid. This will op sys.

Connect sas and raid 0 them.

I then boot to sata wd and use the 4tb as storage.

Does that sound right

DELL-Joey C · Answer

Hi @grahambrown,

I don't think it would work, as you need to create a RAID for the controller to work. Without any RAID created with the spare WD disk, the OS installation may not detect the disk. I might be wrong, give it a try and let us know if it works.

grahambrown · Answer

Spot on.

I put the wd500 sata drive in and the t105 cannot see it. Bios will not allow me to enable the sata port.

If i unplug the sas6ir from the motherboard the wd500 is seen and does boot.

So it looks like without uefi i can either have 2tb sas or the sata drive but not both

Not what i wanted but i think thats the conclusion.

Graham

PowerEdge HDD/SCSI/RAID

T105 convert MBR to GPT 2TB limit on virtual disk.

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