How to make a Dedicated Server's +2TB Drive(s) fully utilizable on Windows/Linux (Legacy-BIOS - MBR Disk type Workaround)
Recently Updated Updated on 2024-10-25Are you looking to reinstall or switch the operating system on your Dedicated Server to Windows/Linux with a Hard Drive larger than 2TB using a .iso or HPE IP on Legacy BIOS? If you've encountered the MBR Disk type limitation (for Legacy BIOS boot mode) which supports only up to four primary partitions and a maximum size of 2 terabytes per Disk, or if you want to avoid ending up with a Windows/Linux Fresh Installation with only a usable Drive size of 2TB on a, for example, 3/4TB HDD Drive, then you've come to the right place.
IMPORTANT: Only follow this guide if you have the Legacy BIOS but not the UEFI BIOS as a boot mode option on your Dedicated Server firmware.
With that stated, I will demonstrate in a step-by-step guide with pictures, how to create 2 or more logical drives per 1 Physical Drive (using RAID) with MBR style to fully utilize the larger-than-2TB capacity of an HDD within a Windows/Linux system, for example, 4TB.
This how-to guide will use HPE Intelligent Provisioning on an HP ProLiant Gen8. However, you may be able to use your RAID configuration utility (as long as you have a RAID controller), which can be accessed normally through the Remote Management Tool (e.g. IPMI and iDRAC) and/or the BIOS.
For Dell PowerEdge, Supermicro, or other server models, please ensure that they have a RAID/Storage controller installed (equivalent to HPE's Smart Array P420i controller) before proceeding with this guide.
What is HPE's Intelligent Provisioning (IP): HPE's Intelligent Provisioning is a tool designed to simplify the server deployment process. It allows users to quickly install and configure operating systems and firmware on HP ProLiant servers without needing additional media, streamlining the setup and management of server environments.
1. First, go ahead to your iLO4 Remote Management Interface, under Virtual Media, go to Boot Order, scroll down to "One-Time Boot Status" and under "Select One-Time Boot Option", choose Intelligent Provisioning and click Apply:
2. Now reset/reboot your Dedicated Server and you will boot into the Intelligent Provisioning automatically without the need to press the "F10" key during the server's startup process.
3. Once in Intelligent Provisioning, navigate to "Perform Maintenance" and select "HPE Smart Storage Administrator" (SSA) to configure your RAID setup. The objective is to set up RAID0 for the large-than-2TB HDD drives. This will enable you to divide the large drive into two or more logical drives so that your operating system can detect them properly while bypassing the MBR Disk style limitation of 2TB.
4. In the SSA, under Smart Array Controllers, choose your Smart Array Controller (Smart Array P420i in this example) and select "Configure".
5. Now select the Controller (in this example the Smart Array P420i), click "Clear Configuration" and then "Clear" to reset the controller's configuration to its default state and remove any existing Logical Disks (WARNING: This will delete all arrays and all the data on the Logical Disks), click "Finish".
6. Now, click "Create Array" to create an array from a group of selected physical drives.
7. Select the Physical Drive(s) for the New Array, as shown in the picture below, I will select a 4TB SAS HDD, but you can select a 3TB or More HDD, and click "Create Array".
8. In the "Create Logical Drive" window, you can leave the options as they are except for "Size". Select "Max for MBR Partition Table: 2097152 MiB (2 TiB)" or choose "Custom Size" and specify the desired size, for example, For a 4TB drive, you can create two drives, one is 2TiB and the other 1.6TiB each. Click "Create Logical Drive".
9. Once again, click "Create Logical Drive" and follow the same steps for this Logical Drive. Select the "Maximum Size" if the remaining Unused Space is 2TB or less. In this example, we are using a 4TB SAS HDD, so only 1.6 TiB is shown as available, as shown in the picture. Click "Create Logical Drive".
10. Finally, click "Finish" to complete the creation of the Logical Drives within the Smart Array. The final result for 2 Logical Drives will appear as shown in the last picture.
11. After configuring the RAID0, restart the server and go back into Intelligent Provisioning for OS installation (Not Recommended - Only Older OS's) or boot into your .iso installation file directly (Recommended). If choosing Intelligent Provisioning, This time, choose Deploy Operating System from the main menu.
12. In the Operating System Installation wizard, select either Windows or Linux as per your requirement. Follow the on-screen instructions, and when prompted for the disk selection, ensure both logical drives created earlier are visible.
13. Install the operating system on the first logical drive, leaving the additional logical drives available for the maximum storage capacity possible. This way, the MBR limitation will be bypassed as the system will treat each logical drive as separate partitions, each within the MBR size limit of 2TB.
14. Once the OS installation is complete, boot into your operating system. Check under Disk Management (for Windows) or fdisk or lsblk (for Linux) to confirm that both logical drives are recognized and fully utilized. You should now have a fully functioning system with 2 or more logical drives, each properly utilizing your total HDD/SSD capacity beyond the 2TB limitation.
15. If you need to manage additional partitions or extend volumes later, you can do so within the operating system. In Windows, use Disk Management to extend volumes or create new partitions. For Linux, tools like GParted or command-line utilities such as parted can assist in resizing or creating new partitions on your logical drives.
Conclusion
By following this step-by-step guide, you have successfully configured your Overlaxed Dedicated Server with an HDD/SSD larger than 2TB in a way that allows you to bypass the limitations of the MBR disk type. With RAID0 and logical drives, you can fully utilize the storage space, making your system more efficient and ensuring that all available disk space is used effectively.
Whether you're installing Windows or Linux, HPE's Intelligent Provisioning simplifies the process, making it faster and more streamlined. If you're using other server brands like Dell PowerEdge or Supermicro, their RAID utilities could offer similar configurations, allowing you to achieve the same outcome.
For any further assistance, feel free to check out our Help Center or reach out to our expert technical support department to guide you through specific configurations tailored to your server setup.
