Can't see Linux fdisk created GPT disk partitions in Windows 7 (64-bit)

Question

I just added 2 new disks (only for data, no OS booting) and had them set up equally with GPT and equal partitions, to use the partitions as RAID1 in Arch Linux, and the rest of the storage for Windows. It works as expected in Linux (I guess), but Windows shows them as "Not Initialized" (see picture: http://s2.postimg.org/a63qwgmg9/disks.png). I wonder if anyone knows how I can fix this?

I first created the RAID partitions using fdisk and later the Windows partitions using gdisk.

The output of "fdisk -l":

Disk /dev/sdc: 1.8 TiB, 2000398934016 bytes, 3907029168 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: xxx-random-identidifier-xxx

Device          Start        End    Sectors  Size Type
/dev/sdc1        2048 3450000000 3449997953  1.6T Linux RAID
/dev/sdc2  3450001408 3907029134  457027727  218G Microsoft basic data

.

Disk /dev/sdd: 1.8 TiB, 2000398934016 bytes, 3907029168 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: xxx-random-identidifier-xxx

Device          Start        End    Sectors  Size Type
/dev/sdd1        2048 3450000000 3449997953  1.6T Linux RAID
/dev/sdd2  3450001408 3907029134  457027727  218G Microsoft basic data

The output from "gdisk -l":

# gdisk -l /dev/sdc
GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.0

Partition table scan:
  MBR: protective
  BSD: not present
  APM: not present
  GPT: present

Found valid GPT with protective MBR; using GPT.
Disk /dev/sdc: 3907029168 sectors, 1.8 TiB
Logical sector size: 512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): xxx-random-identidifier-xxx
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
First usable sector is 2048, last usable sector is 3907029134
Partitions will be aligned on 2048-sector boundaries
Total free space is 1407 sectors (703.5 KiB)

Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name
   1            2048      3450000000   1.6 TiB     FD00  
   2      3450001408      3907029134   217.9 GiB   0700  

.

# gdisk -l /dev/sdd
GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.0

Partition table scan:
  MBR: protective
  BSD: not present
  APM: not present
  GPT: present

Found valid GPT with protective MBR; using GPT.
Disk /dev/sdd: 3907029168 sectors, 1.8 TiB
Logical sector size: 512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): xxx-random-identidifier-xxx
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
First usable sector is 2048, last usable sector is 3907029134
Partitions will be aligned on 2048-sector boundaries
Total free space is 1407 sectors (703.5 KiB)

Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name
   1            2048      3450000000   1.6 TiB     FD00  
   2      3450001408      3907029134   217.9 GiB   0700  

Answer 1

It seems them BUT:

1) windows does NOT natively see linux filesystems

2) Being raid they are combined so they won't show up (assumes apparent raid 5 or 6)

Answer 2

First, I recommend you check the partition table type in Windows -- that is, as seen by the Windows OS, not by any particular partitioning tool. One way to do that is described here. If Windows reports that the disk is using something other than GPT, it's conceivable that Linux fdisk created a GPT that Windows doesn't like. If so, that's probably a bug in Linux fdisk. (Note that fdisk acquired the ability to handle GPT very recently. You're probably better off using gdisk or something based on libparted, such as parted or GParted.)

To further this point, you might try using the v option in gdisk (or sgdisk -v) to check the integrity of the GPT data structures. There's no guarantee that this command will detect everything that might give Windows fits, if that's what's happening, but it should detect most blatant GPT problems, and the problem report may give you a clue about how to fix it.

Another point is that Windows sees certain removable disks as "superfloppies" -- they're used either unpartitioned or, if they're partitioned, only the first partition on each disk is accessible. It could be you're running into this problem, although you really shouldn't be on a real hard disk. (Normally, only USB flash drives, SD cards, and the like are treated as superfloppies.) If this is the issue, you'd be better off putting the partitions you want Windows to see first on the disk.

Another thing to try is creating an NTFS or FAT filesystem on the second partition on each disk. Do this from Linux. When you reboot to Windows, it should recognize the new filesystems. My thinking here is that the Windows-accessible partitions are so small compared to the Linux RAID partitions that the Windows partitions might just not be showing up in the GUI disk utility, but they might be registered and would be accessible if they had filesystems on them.

Using the Windows DISKPART utility is worth trying, too. I'm not familiar with DISKPART, but the preceding link should be helpful in getting you up to speed. If DISKPART shows results consistent with what you've posted, then the problem is most likely not a problem with what fdisk created, but something else. If DISKPART complains that it can't understand the partition table, then there's probably an fdisk/Windows incompatibility, at least in your specific case.