Two-Node Hyper-V Failover Cluster Part 8 of 15: Configure iSCSI Initiator (CHAP, Disks)
SAN built in Part 7. Now we connect the cluster nodes. Same pattern as the SQL FCI series — bind iSCSI Initiator to the Storage NIC, log in with CHAP,…
Tag: Disk Management
Two-Node Hyper-V Failover Cluster Part 5 of 15: Add 500GB VHDX to the iSCSI VM
The iSCSI VM has its OS disk (40 GB) but nothing to share yet. This part adds a 500 GB Fixed VHDX as the storage pool, attaches it to the…
SQL Server FCI Part 4 of 13: Configuring iSCSI Initiators (and the Cardinal Rule)
SAN built in Part 3; now we connect the nodes to it. The iSCSI initiator on each node binds to its Storage NIC, discovers the target portal, logs in, and…
Hyper-V: Two Paths to Add Storage to a VM (VHDX File vs Pass-Through)
You need to give a Hyper-V guest more storage. Two paths get you there: create a VHDX file on the host and attach it to the VM, or claim a…
Convert MBR to GPT without Data Loss
MBR caps at 2 TB per disk and four primary partitions; GPT lifts both ceilings (9.4 ZB, 128 primary partitions). For data disks on a running Windows Server, the right tool is DiskGenius - free, online, three clicks per disk, no data movement, no reboot. This article walks the workflow: identify MBR disks with Get-Disk, convert with DiskGenius (right-click - Convert To GUID Partition Table - Save All - Yes), repeat for each disk, verify with Get-Disk, restart the server when the maintenance window allows. Includes why mbr2gpt.exe is the wrong tool for data disks (it is system-disk-only and requires WinPE), the gotchas (skipping Save All, converting from the wrong DAG node, BIOS-only servers and the system-disk constraint), and the difference between the in-place metadata-only conversion DiskGenius does and the copy-everything-over fresh-GPT-disk migration Microsoft suggests.
Configure Disk and Volumes in Windows Server
How to add a new disk to a Windows Server, bring it online, initialize it as GPT, create one or more volumes (NTFS / ReFS), and the design choices that decide whether the storage stays predictable or gets weird six months later. Walks the Hyper-V add-disk flow, the Server Manager bring-online + initialize + New Volume Wizard procedure, the NTFS vs ReFS trade-off (general purpose vs resilient / VM-host / backup), the PowerShell equivalent (Get-Disk / Initialize-Disk / New-Partition / Format-Volume), and 7 common pitfalls (MBR by accident, Disk Management on Storage Spaces, wrong file system, forgot Bring Online after reboot, drive-letter collision).