Whahuh? 2TB per array? :confused:

[pissboy]

Accessing it over the network works just fine. File sharing doesn't care what file system it's read off of or its partition table.

 

[imzjustplayin]

Accessing it over the network works just fine. File sharing doesn't care what file system it's read off of or its partition table.

So you're saying that when you're dealing with a network share, the reported space by the client machine (not the hosting server) will be incorrect but it'll still be able to write files to it even if it exceeds the 2TB limit?

 

[unhappy_mage]

So you're saying that when you're dealing with a network share, the reported space by the client machine (not the hosting server) will be incorrect but it'll still be able to write files to it even if it exceeds the 2TB limit?

Not even that. The size will be reported properly, and you'll be able to write large files just fine. The reason for this is that the network share doesn't tell you about the underlying filesystem directly, it takes requests like "write this data to this file" and then interprets that to the file system. So there's no limitation on the network side of things; you can create as many files as the underlying filesystem will allow, and make them as big as you want. I think there's actually a limitation on how big files can get, but it's more than 100GB IIRC. I think that's as big as I've gone... could be more. In any case, for most people it's not a problem.

 

[imzjustplayin]

Not even that. The size will be reported properly, and you'll be able to write large files just fine. The reason for this is that the network share doesn't tell you about the underlying filesystem directly, it takes requests like "write this data to this file" and then interprets that to the file system. So there's no limitation on the network side of things; you can create as many files as the underlying filesystem will allow, and make them as big as you want. I think there's actually a limitation on how big files can get, but it's more than 100GB IIRC. I think that's as big as I've gone... could be more. In any case, for most people it's not a problem.

Ok, that'd be true for a NAS, what about a DAS?

 

[unhappy_mage]

Ok, that'd be true for a NAS, what about a DAS?

With direct attached storage (or a SAN - storage area network) you're limited by whatever protocol you're using (although this probably translates into "no limit), the host bus adapter (if it has 48-bit or higher LBA, this isn't a limit for most uses), and the filesystem. If you're running NTFS on a recent sata raid 5 card, you're likely to hit no limitations at all. The NTFS implementation allows for up to 256 TiB filesystems, and 16 TiB files.