Setting up iSCSI on an external hard drive with 4K sector size

Question

I have a WD My Book 3TB external hard drive connected to a Windows Server 2008 R2 machine. I'm trying to make that machine an iSCSI target. Everything is set up, but I can't create a virtual hard disk on that external drive (although I can successfully create it on C). It gives me this error:

The virtual disk cannot be created on the selected volume. The parameter is incorrect.

I can't create a VHD via Disk Management either. From what I found out, Windows Server 2008 R2 doesn't support virtual disks on a 4K sector hard drive (which is what my external drive is). Is there any workaround to this?

You're trying to expose an external consumer-grade, USB-connected hard drive via iSCSI? That's....a bad idea. — EEAA, Jan 09 '14 at 04:23
ServerFault is for professional production technologies and environments. Development and Experimental networks, hardware, and technologies are off-topic here. — Magellan, Jan 09 '14 at 04:42
@PoweredByOrange - you might have better luck with StarWind products if you're serious about this (not that I recommend doing iSCSI extents on a USB drive) as they don't use VHD's but their own files. — Mark Henderson, Jan 09 '14 at 20:46

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 09 '14 at 05:07

0

Is this a native 4k drive? Run Fsutil fsinfo ntfsinfo x: (where x: represents the drive that you are checking).

If Bytes per Sector and Bytes per Physical Sector are the same, then it's a native 4K drive and you're out of luck and will need to move to Server 2012 or later.

answered Jan 09 '14 at 05:07

Mark Henderson

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It's a 4K native. I guess there's no way then... – PoweredByOrange Jan 09 '14 at 20:20

Setting up iSCSI on an external hard drive with 4K sector size

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