Server 2008 R2 - Enterprise defaults to GPT partitions but Standard doesnt?

[ZEROarmy]

Pretty simple setup: Dell R410 with 4x 1TB SATA drives. I want them in RAID-5 with the included Dell PERC 5/i. I'll be using "advertised" drives sizes for simplicity's sake.

The higher ups told me to throw on 2008 R2 Enterprise (with SP1), which I did after creating the RAID-5 array. I did not convert the disc to GPT prior to installation, everything was left default. The installer saw a single 3TB partition available, which I installed to without issue. Once in Windows the OS also showed the correct 3TB total size for the C: drive.

However, the next day the higher ups told me they actually want 2008 R2 Standard installed. Since I barely did anything with the original install, I went ahead and started the Standard install. I was using the same disc for both installs, as the disc includes all versions of 2008 R2. At the disk selection I deleted all the partitions to get back to the original single 3TB, but after doing so, I was left with a 2TB Disk 0 and a 1TB Disk 1. Neither could be deleted. So I went back in the RAID manager and deleted and recreated the array. In the Standard installer it again saw 2 separate disks. Getting frustrated I installed Enterprise again to confirm I wasn't seeing things. It was able to see a single 3TB disc and could install to it.

What gives? I know there is a 2TB limit without a UEFI BIOS and making the disc GPT, but I don't get why Enterprise could see the array as 3TB without those steps. Does it automatically use GPT for partitioning while Standard uses MBR? Or only when it detects 2TB discs?

[olger901]

It might have to do with the version of your boot.wim. Is your installation source of the Standard R2 disk using the latest boot.wim? This is the file loaded prior to the installation and independant of whether you're installing Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard or Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise.

[n_K]

'I was left with a 2TB Disk 0 and a 1TB Disk 1'

That sounds more like your RAID configuration has messed up. I don't think windows would detect a 4TB partition as 2 drives :s.

Reboot server, press CTRL+A or E or whatever key it is when prompted to enter the PERC RAID settings, reinitialise the drives and try again.

[olger901]

'I was left with a 2TB Disk 0 and a 1TB Disk 1'

That sounds more like your RAID configuration has messed up. I don't think windows would detect a 4TB partition as 2 drives :s.

Reboot server, press CTRL+A or E or whatever key it is when prompted to enter the PERC RAID settings, reinitialise the drives and try again.

That could be a problem too, if this is the case you might also want to check for firmware updates for the disks and RAID controller and check whether the disks are actually supported.