Hi,

I'm ordering a new Dell file server with 10TB of space, I need to create
some big partitions and wondered what's the biggest I can create?

Re: How big can a partition be on Windows 2003? by Meinolf

Meinolf
Thu Jul 10 02:17:00 PDT 2008

Hello cyborg,

See this discussion, last entry from Morgan Che:
http://forums.technet.microsoft.com/en-US/winserverfiles/thread/9e8ef71f-02c4-402c-b9b8-16d32b6cb8a2/

Best regards

Meinolf Weber
Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers
no rights.
** Please do NOT email, only reply to Newsgroups
** HELP us help YOU!!! http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm

> Hi,
>
> I'm ordering a new Dell file server with 10TB of space, I need to
> create some big partitions and wondered what's the biggest I can
> create?
>



Re: How big can a partition be on Windows 2003? by Cyborg

Cyborg
Thu Jul 10 02:44:22 PDT 2008

That link didn't seem to show much :(

"Meinolf Weber" <meiweb(nospam)@gmx.de> wrote in message
news:ff16fb66a34548cab0959bac44f0@msnews.microsoft.com...
> Hello cyborg,
>
> See this discussion, last entry from Morgan Che:
> http://forums.technet.microsoft.com/en-US/winserverfiles/thread/9e8ef71f-02c4-402c-b9b8-16d32b6cb8a2/
>
> Best regards
>
> Meinolf Weber
> Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and
> confers no rights.
> ** Please do NOT email, only reply to Newsgroups
> ** HELP us help YOU!!! http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I'm ordering a new Dell file server with 10TB of space, I need to
>> create some big partitions and wondered what's the biggest I can
>> create?
>>
>
>


Re: How big can a partition be on Windows 2003? by Edwin

Edwin
Thu Jul 10 02:46:48 PDT 2008

Max Partition on a MBR disk is 2TB
Max Partition on a GPT disk is about 8589934592 TB (in theory) there are
some limitations.... which effectively will bring this to about 18 ExaByte

Please note a partition is on a single phisical disk.

Once you start using dynamic disks, you can actually create NTFS Volumes
much larger than a single partions....

In theory, the maximum NTFS volume size is 2 ^ 32 clusters. However, even if
there were hardware available to supply a logical volume of that capacity,
there are other limitations to the maximum size of a volume.

One of these limitations is partition tables. By industry standards,
partition tables are limited to 2 ^ 32 sectors. Sector size, another
limitation, is a function of hardware and industry standards, and is
typically 512 bytes. While sector sizes might increase in the future, the
current size puts a limit on a single volume of 2 terabytes (2 ^ 32 * 512
bytes, or 2 ^ 41 bytes).

The maximum number of files on an NTFS volume is 2 ^ 32 - 1.



Please be carefull, do you really need such a large SINGLE volume ?

Have you considered how long it will take to run CHKDSK ? how long to backup
? how long to restore ?

Would you not be better off having multiple smaller partitions/volumes ?










"Meinolf Weber" <meiweb(nospam)@gmx.de> wrote in message
news:ff16fb66a34548cab0959bac44f0@msnews.microsoft.com...
> Hello cyborg,
>
> See this discussion, last entry from Morgan Che:
>
http://forums.technet.microsoft.com/en-US/winserverfiles/thread/9e8ef71f-02c4-402c-b9b8-16d32b6cb8a2/
>
> Best regards
>
> Meinolf Weber
> Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and
confers
> no rights.
> ** Please do NOT email, only reply to Newsgroups
> ** HELP us help YOU!!! http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm
>
> > Hi,
> >
> > I'm ordering a new Dell file server with 10TB of space, I need to
> > create some big partitions and wondered what's the biggest I can
> > create?
> >
>
>



Re: How big can a partition be on Windows 2003? by Cyborg

Cyborg
Thu Jul 10 03:16:34 PDT 2008

Wow that is detailed!

So best to stick to 2TB partitions?

"Edwin vMierlo [MVP]" <EdwinvMierlo@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
message news:eHaigHn4IHA.1056@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> Max Partition on a MBR disk is 2TB
> Max Partition on a GPT disk is about 8589934592 TB (in theory) there are
> some limitations.... which effectively will bring this to about 18 ExaByte
>
> Please note a partition is on a single phisical disk.
>
> Once you start using dynamic disks, you can actually create NTFS Volumes
> much larger than a single partions....
>
> In theory, the maximum NTFS volume size is 2 ^ 32 clusters. However, even
> if
> there were hardware available to supply a logical volume of that capacity,
> there are other limitations to the maximum size of a volume.
>
> One of these limitations is partition tables. By industry standards,
> partition tables are limited to 2 ^ 32 sectors. Sector size, another
> limitation, is a function of hardware and industry standards, and is
> typically 512 bytes. While sector sizes might increase in the future, the
> current size puts a limit on a single volume of 2 terabytes (2 ^ 32 * 512
> bytes, or 2 ^ 41 bytes).
>
> The maximum number of files on an NTFS volume is 2 ^ 32 - 1.
>
>
>
> Please be carefull, do you really need such a large SINGLE volume ?
>
> Have you considered how long it will take to run CHKDSK ? how long to
> backup
> ? how long to restore ?
>
> Would you not be better off having multiple smaller partitions/volumes ?
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> "Meinolf Weber" <meiweb(nospam)@gmx.de> wrote in message
> news:ff16fb66a34548cab0959bac44f0@msnews.microsoft.com...
>> Hello cyborg,
>>
>> See this discussion, last entry from Morgan Che:
>>
> http://forums.technet.microsoft.com/en-US/winserverfiles/thread/9e8ef71f-02c4-402c-b9b8-16d32b6cb8a2/
>>
>> Best regards
>>
>> Meinolf Weber
>> Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and
> confers
>> no rights.
>> ** Please do NOT email, only reply to Newsgroups
>> ** HELP us help YOU!!! http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm
>>
>> > Hi,
>> >
>> > I'm ordering a new Dell file server with 10TB of space, I need to
>> > create some big partitions and wondered what's the biggest I can
>> > create?
>> >
>>
>>
>
>


Re: How big can a partition be on Windows 2003? by Edwin

Edwin
Thu Jul 10 04:04:06 PDT 2008


"Cyborg" <apollo13@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:uopCJYn4IHA.1428@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> Wow that is detailed!
>
> So best to stick to 2TB partitions?
>

Depends on your business requirements (remember downtime to backup, restore,
run chkdsk)