s5000vsa & Win 2k8R2 on GPT(efi boot) Is it possible?

[ICust58]

I have the s5000vsa based server and 6x2TB HDDs. I use built-in ESRT2 and RAID 10.

I failed in creating 2 virtual disks (or LUNs) - one for system (100GB) and another one for file storage - it seems ESRT2 doesn't allow to do this.

I tried to boot (like MS recommend) using \EFI\boot\bootx64.efi and got the error: "bootx64.efi doesn't recognized as a internal or external command, operable program or batch file".

I don't have any ideas what else to do.

So, my question is how to install windows on >2TB disk?

Please, help me. Thank you!

[AP16]

Yes, ESRT2 on 5000 series do not support over 2 Tb disks/arrays - http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/server/sb/CS-023017.htm Server Products — Maximum logical drive capacity supported on Intel� SAS RAID controllers

[ICust58]

No, ESRT2 supports arrays > 2TB. The limitation is for physical drive capacity. I have 2TB disks, so I am able to configure 6TB RAID10. The issue is that I cannot install Windows.

I still don't understand how to use efi boot.

I have an idea to configure two arrays: 2TB RAID1 and 4TB RAID10 but it is not the best way I think.

[Edward_Z_Intel]

Unfortunately ESRT2 doesn't support UEFI boot, which means you can't boot from a VD larger than 2TB. For RAID 10, only one VD can be defined for the entire array.

AXXRAKSW5 provides ESRT2 RAID 5 capability, and you can create two VDs for the same RAID 5 array. Otherwise the only solution is like you said, 2TB RAID 1 and 4TB RAID 10.

[idata]

I have a similar problem, but with Linux. I have got a workaround.

This may be very unviable, but works: Use an USB drive to store the bootloader.

In almost any linux distribution, you can store grub and the /boot/efi folder wherever you want, including USB drives.

On Windows, you can try this: http://www.wintobootic.com/ WiNToBootic - the ultimate Windows 7/8 USB Boot Disk Maker