TeraSation III iSCSI and Windows 2003 Server 2Tb limitation

[BrooksNorton]

We just purchased two TeraSation III iSCSI 4Tb devices to use with a Windows 2003 Server.  They come factory setup RAID5.  So out of the box I should have about 2.7Tb of usable space.  After setting them up using the setup guide, Windows Disk Manager shows the disk in two partitions.  The first volume was automatically set to 2Tb.  I was able to create a new partition and format it and use the space. 

 

The 2nd volume, the remaining 0.7Tb of space is not configurable.  When I right click on it ... "New Partition" is grayed out.

 

I Googled this problem and did not find the solution.  What is the procedure for configuring Windows 2003 Server to have all of the disk space available?

 

Thanks,

Brooks 

[BrooksNorton]

I also tested this with Windows 7 Professional and Windows Vista 64bit with the same result.

 

Without a method for using all the disk space I'll have to box these back up and return them to the vendor.

 

Thanks,

Brooks

[Dustrega]

How many volumes did you setup within the GUI of the iSCSI unit?  What size?  Is the iSCSI service started?  Which firmware version are you running?

[BrooksNorton]

I didn't create any volumes. 

I ran the setup program and installed the iSCSI Connection Tool.

I ran the iSCSI Connection Tool and set the static IP, registered the iSCSI Disk, selected  Connect on Startup, and Connect.

The drive then shows up in Disk Manager as a 2.7Tb Basic disk.

It shows up as two unallocated disks.  The 1st is 2Tb.  The 2nd .7Tb.

 

In the Web Interface:

Under the iSCSI Volumes tab there is one connected Volume Array-1 and it is 2751Gb in size.

As an experiment,  I deleted that volume and tried to create two smaller volumes.  But the interface will only allow using the total space available.

Now I am back with one 2751Gb volume.

 

The iSCSI service is started.

 

Firmware version is 1.30

 

Long answer.  Sorry.  Thanks for your help.

Brooks

[BrooksNorton]

Good Morning,

Any ideas how to proceed?

Thanks,

Brooks

[Jason]

It's a known limitation with server 03. Only Vista, 7  and Server 08 are able to use more than 2TB of a directly attached external volume if it's raided-which is how it sees the ISCSI connected terastation. Simply log into your TS and split the volumes up yourself into two smaller volumes of your choosing ahead of time. Make one 1.9 TB and the second the remaining space for example. Then you should be able to mount and use the volumes without a problem.

 

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/storage/LUN_SP1.mspx" target="_blank">http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/storage/LUN_SP1.mspx

 

This only applies on a 32 bit install however. If you're on 64 bit then all you need to do is make sure to initialize it as a GPT volume, NOT MBR. Then you can use the whole thing.

[BrooksNorton]

I was missing the LVM enable step.  After enabling LVM for the array, I was able to create 2 volumes. 

 

Head scratcher 1:  After getting the Terastation configured, I switched to Disk Manager.  It was already open.  The 2 new volumes show up fine, but uninitialized.  I had to close Disk Manger and reopen it to initilize them.  Not intuitive, I guess you just have to know that.

 

Head scratcher 2:   I attempted to use a 64bit Vista machine and had the same 2TB limitation. 

 

I'm glad this is resolved, but it seems the documentation should specifically detail these steps for Windows 2003 Server users.  For new iSCSI users like me, the process was not easy to find out.  Calls to tech support and this forum took several days to get it resolved.