Max size for raw (disk) VMDK?

[spjakob]

I'm trying out VB 2.0 and get a hard crash in the guest os when I try to access a disk. This disk is mapped to a raw device that is 2.5TB large.
Could the size be a problem? I read somewhere (in vmware forum) that the max size for a VMDK file was 2TB, but does this also apply to VB (and raw disks)?



BR
spjakob

[TerryE]

We have stability problems and crashes with 2.0 on some disk sizes. Some of the new features aren't stable yet. 1.6.6 is a lot more stable but lacks these features. Also VBox doesn't yet support the VMware Fusion version VMDKs. The older VMware Server 1.0 formats work fine.

[spjakob]

Unfortunally I need 2.0 for features like 64bit support.

I may be able to reduce the volume to just below 2TB, is this something that would help me?

[TerryE]

If you look at version histories the team usually focus on the main stability issues in a .2 release and get it out 30-60 days after the base x.y release. Additional functionality will not be a priority for 2.0.2. Since no VMDK improvements were added in 2.0, you are looking at 3 months minimum before the team might address this.

I was amused by your "I may be able to reduce the volume to just below 2TB" (my ital). Research the differences between the various VMDK formats. Consider migrating your bulk file systems to iSCSI or native VDI.

[spjakob]

Since my disks are local, iSCSI does not seem to be an option and converting a 2.5TB volume to VDI is hard for me to do (and would probally give me lower performance.

Anyway I do not belive that the stability problems I'm having is due to large volumes. I have removed the volume and I still having stability issues.
I'm using Ubuntu (2.6.27) as host and Debian (2.6.26) as guest. I have now read reports that tere should be a known problem with these kernels;

http://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/1875

Probally this is the same problems as I have. I guess I just have to wait for 2.0.2