Unable to create 6TB (2 x 3TB) striped or spanned array in Windows 2k8

[PJBonoVox]

Hi there.

Running Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard. Have two 3TB disks in the machine (plus a separate boot volume), both correctly recognised as 3794.49GB. Have initialised both with GPT.

If I try to create a spanned or striped array (adding both disks to the right and column), the 'maximum available space' is limited to the size of one of the disks, not the full 6TB. [image attached]

Have I hit some sort of limit here? Any help much appreciated.

[MANEMAN]

Only a guess on my part. (I'm more of a hit a home computer with a hammer type of guy. )

It sounds as though it could well be corrupt header information, and that you may have to go through the initializatation program once again.

Just in case you missed a step (And for the information of anyone else reading this post) Here is the correct procedure:

"Once a new disk has been installed into a Windows Server 2008 system it must be initialized before any partitions can be created on it. This is performed using the Initialize Disk Wizard which can be accessed from the Disk Management snap-in. This can be accessed either from the Server Manager or Computer Management tools. To launch the Server Manager open the Start menu and click on the Server Manager option, or click on the Server Manager icon in the task bar. Alternatively launch Computer Management from Start -> All Programs -> Administration Tools -> Computer Management or run compmgmt.csc.

With either the Server Manager or Computer Management tools running, select the Storage option from the left hand panel followed by Disk Management. The Disk Manager will subsequently appear. Ensure that the top pane is displaying the Disk List so that the new drive is visible. This is configured by selecting the View->Top-Disk List option from the top menu bar. Any uninitialized disks will be listed in the disk view as Offline and with a red down arrow on the disk drive icon in both the list and graphical views. In addition, the disk space will be indicated as unallocated in the graphical view."

Worth noting also is: 32-bit systems can only boot from MBR based disks and 64-bit systems can only boot from GPT disks. (I'm not sure how that pans out for the actual recognition that you are looking for, but I thought I'd add it just in case you'd got your knickers in a twist betwixt and between 32 Vs 64 bit.)

Corrupt GPT Header can sorta - well,.............. mess with your head sometimes though.

Disk space seen but not recognised sort of scenario.

Like I say. I'm only guessing on the info. you supplied. There is probably someone more knowledgeable about servers than me on here if you wait around a while.

John.