I hit the same issue recently when I used 4 x 1TB Samsung F1s on an Areca 1210.
The solution I went with (mainly to allow certain disk utilities to function) was to split the RAID into 2 volumes. Initially I went with 2 x 1.5TB volumes but later re-did it due to a complex sets of requirements (I have XP, Vista, Ubuntu and OS X Leopard all multi-booting off of the RAID array) Jason Tozer -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Brian Weeden Sent: 30 October 2008 23:59 To: hwg Subject: [H] Questions about volumes greater than 2TB on a RAID array As I've discussed on here before, I'm running a RAID 5 array on my HTPC. Just last week I added a 4th 1 TB drive to bring the total usable space to just under 3 TB. But I'm quickly venturing into unknown territory and I wanted to see if there was anything I should be on the lookout for from those of you who have had arrays that big before. Right now I have it as one single 3 TB volume mounted under windows (32-bit Vista to be exact). followed the directions in the Areca manual (as well as located here<ftp://ftp.areca.com.tw/RaidCards/Documents/Manual_Spec/Software/Ove r2TB_080612.zip>) for enabling greater than 2TB access when I originally built the array. I used the LBA64 method. But I noticed when I went to install Acronis Disk Manager it gave me the following warning: "Acronis Disk Director Suite has detected unsupported hard disk drives. Acronis Disk Director Suite does not support Windows Dynamic Disks, EZ-Drives, etc.Acronis Disk Director Suite will not be able to access these hard disk drives" When I brought it up it saw all the drives and partitions on the system except for the 3 TB RAID array. I was able to see the array under the Disk Management snap-in under Administrator Tools and used that to expand it from 2 TB to 2.8 TB when I added the new drive. It lists it as a "basic, simple, NTFS, primary partition". My concern is that I've done something which means I will only be able to access this array when it's attached to a Windows machine. Could that be true? Are there other "gotchas" I should be on the lookout for? Also, I've been reading some articles and papers lately about concerns on RAID 5 arrays, specifically that when a single drive fails they take so long to rebuild that there's a good chance another drive will fail before the rebuild is complete, meaning you lose everything. I'm considering switching it to RAID 6 which is tolerate to 2 failures. Any thoughts on that? Right now I have no other backup for the data outside of the array. --------------------------- Brian Weeden Technical Consultant Secure World Foundation <http://www.secureworldfoundtion.org> +1 (514) 466-2756 Canada +1 (202) 683-8534 US This message and any attachment are confidential and may be privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure. If you are not the intended recipient, please telephone or email the sender and delete this message and any attachment from your system. If you are not the intended recipient you must not copy this message or attachment or disclose the contents to any other person. Clifford Chance LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England & Wales under number OC323571. The firm's registered office and principal place of business is at 10 Upper Bank Street, London, E14 5JJ. For further details, including a list of members and their professional qualifications, see our website at www.cliffordchance.com. The firm uses the word 'partner' to refer to a member of Clifford Chance LLP or an employee or consultant with equivalent standing and qualifications. The firm is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. The Authority's rules can be accessed by clicking on the following link: http://www.sra.org.uk/code-of-conduct.page Clifford Chance as a global firm regularly shares client and/or matter-related data among its different offices and support entities in strict compliance with internal control policies and statutory requirements. Incoming and outgoing email communications may be monitored by Clifford Chance, as permitted by applicable law and regulations. For further information about Clifford Chance please see our website at http://www.cliffordchance.com or refer to any Clifford Chance office.
