Link to home
Start Free TrialLog in
Avatar of sglee
sglee

asked on

Creating biggest partition Using 4TB

User generated imageHi,
 
 I have HP Proliant ML 110 G6 (test server) with two 4TB hard drives on a LSI MegaRAID controller. I created RAID 0 for each 4TB in RAID BIOS. This server does not have UEFI boot option. I installed Windows Server 2016 on 150GB partition. After OS install was completed, I ran diskmgnt. It asked me if I wanted GPT or MBR on "disk1" and I selected GPT and I see 3725GB as one drive (F:) in Disk1. But In Disk0 where I created 150GB OS partition, it shows two unallocated partitions (1900GB & 1677GB). How can I combine these two partitions into one?

Thanks.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
Avatar of Tom Cieslik
Tom Cieslik
Flag of United States of America image

Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
Avatar of sglee
sglee

ASKER

Is there a free partition management software out there where I can combine these two partitions?
You can't combine since MBR maximum size is 2TB
You not going to be able create any partition on MBR disk bigger than 2TB

All you can do is delete both partition and release to get Free disk space but you not going to be able to use it.
Avatar of sglee

ASKER

User generated imageI created a new simply volume on 1900GB partition and the computer assigned D: drive. When I tried to create another volume on 1677GB partition, "New simply volume" option is recessed.
Yes because Like I said, maximum size for MBR is 2TB and you've already used this space for System Reserve+C drive+D drive. No more free space in MBR left
Avatar of sglee

ASKER

I should be able to get two 2TB partitions in MBR, right?
Should I go back and reinstall Windows Server 2016 and select entire 2TB for OS partition (at least to use all 2TB space)?
SOLUTION
Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
SOLUTION
Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
Call your hardware manufacture support and ask them if they have any new BIOS with UEFI GPT boot option
SOLUTION
Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
Avatar of sglee

ASKER

"consider adding a small drive (250G)" --> That is a good idea. Let me add that to the RAID.
"An option would be to split your Array into 2 separate virtual volumes, provided your controller supports that" --> I created 200GB partition out of 4TB virtual drive in RAID BIOS and when I installed OS on that 200GB, it does not show the rest of the space(3800GB) in diskmgmt. In RAID BIOS, I could not find the option to create 2nd volume for the rest of the space either.
I'm not talking about partitions. You need to split the array into two separate volumes. Not all controllers support this though. and sometimes they need additional options which you have to buy before they support this. The volumes must appear as separate disks to the OS, and not as one large disk with partitions.
Avatar of sglee

ASKER

User generated image"I'm not talking about partitions." -->You are right, my bad.
As you can see in the screenshot, I don't see an option to create additional volume for "Total Free Capacity: 3.443TB". I need to confirm this with LSI people.
Avatar of sglee

ASKER

@Tom "Call your hardware manufacture support and ask them if they have any new BIOS" --> They have a new BIOS, but requires active support contract in order to download the file. This server is very old and I don't have a support contract from HP.
SOLUTION
Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
Avatar of sglee

ASKER

User generated imageI just added 1TB HD to RAID controller and going to use it for OS volume. Hopefully I would be able to format them (the other two 4TB drives) in GPT.
Avatar of sglee

ASKER

Adding 1TB as OS drive did let me see two  4TB HDs as full 4TB drives in Windows.

Thanks for your help!