Storage Setting

[dylphil]

I am having a problem getting the Disk Provisioning to go over 256 gig. I am trying to install Server 2008 R2, which I have done with an 80 gig size. Now I would like to do this with 700 gig. I have about 956 gig on a Dell server T410. The 700 gig will be my file server and the rest will be to play with. Is there a way to go beyond the 256 gig?

[jordan57]

This is due to the block size selected when you formated the datastore. You currently have a 1mb block size. To get a 700gb file you would need to reformat your datastore with a 4mb block size to allow for up to 1tb file size.

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[AndreTheGiant · Accepted solution]

For block size question see this KB:

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1003565

You have to create a new datastore with the right block size.

Or backup your data, rebuild your datastore and restore your data.

Andre

[admin]

You need to reformat the datatore with 4MB(1TB) or 8MB(2TB) block size to support a storage larger than 700GB.

BTW, VMware support only 1 vmfs on a device. In your case, you might want to create one 700GB and one 200GB device on local RAID.

[dylphil]

That is helpful between everyone. I am going to try to reinstall VMware ESXi 4.0 this evening. I will reply later with a follow up.

[a_p_]

You don't need to reinstall, as there is no way to select the block size during installation.

Just delete the current datastore and create the new one choosing the 4MB block size.

Caution: All data on the current datastore will be lost!!!!

André

[dylphil]

I deleted the datastore and recreated it. The KB that AndreTheGiant sent was the most help, but the others put me on the right path. How should I hand out the points?

[AndreTheGiant]

How should I hand out the points?

It's up to you.

You can give for each thread 2 helpful points (6 points) and 1 answered point (10 points)

Andre