Cannot Create Datastore, No Hdd Found

[Veilus]

Hi. I currently have a esxi 5.1 server with a sata 1TB hard drive that's using vmfs5 as a datastore. I wanted to test 5.0, so I installed it on a fresh flash drive.

The problem is that I cannot find any storage device to create a datastore even though its physically connected the same way when im using 5.1, even changing hard drives it never appears. I have tried listing the devices with no success. I would like to add it as an existing datastore to 5.0

What could be the problem?

[a_p_]

Welcome to the Community,

I assume you are installing ESXi on a Whitebox, i.e. not officially supported system? The reason you cannot see the drive/datastore is most likely due to an unsupported controller in your system (see http://www.vmware.com/go/hcl). In some cases it's possible to make it work with changing BIOS settings.

What you could do is to check what type of controller is detected in ESXi 5.1 and check whether there's a driver available for 5.0 too.

André

[Veilus]

Thanks for that, it solved the problem, it was indeed a different controller.