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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?
