Understanding the 2 TB Limit in Windows Storage

There are actually three different 2 TB limitations that are commonly hit...

Partition size

Number of clusters

SCSI goo

Partition Size Limitation

The partition size is pretty straight forward. On an MBR (Master Boot Record) disk, the
locations where the partition sizes are stored are only 4 bytes long. Since this is in
hexadecimal, the largest value we can stuff in there is all Fs. So the max value would
4,294,967,295 in decimal.
FF FF FF FFh = 4294967295d
This maximum partition size is not in bytes, it is in number of sectors. Since currently
sectors are limited to 512 bytes, the maximum size ends up being 2 TB.
4,294,967,295 sectors * 512 bytes/sectors = 2,199,023,255,040 bytes or 2TB.
Number of Clusters
The second limitation is harder to spot. It is a limitation of NTFS. NTFS is limited to
(2^32 -1) clusters.no matter what. The smallest cluster size possible is 512 bytes (1
sector). So again the math leaves us at 2,199,023,255,040 or 2TB.
(2^32)-1 = (4,294,967,296)-1 = 4,294,967,295 clusters
4,294,967,295 clusters * 512 bytes/cluster = = 2,199,023,255,040 bytes or 2TB
Here is a quick reference chart to help you see the maximum NTFS size for each cluster
size.
Cluster size

NTFS Max Size

512 bytes

2,199,023,255,040 (2TB)

1024 bytes

4,398,046,510,080 (4TB)

2048 bytes

8,796,093,020,160 (8TB)

4096 bytes

17,592,186,040,320 (16TB) Default cluster size

8192 bytes

35,184,372,080,640 (32TB)

16384 bytes

70,368,744,161,280 (64TB)

32768 bytes

140,737,488,322,560 (128TB)

65536 bytes

281,474,976,654,120 (256TB)

Cluster size really depends on your needs. While 512 is fine if you just have a bunch of
tiny files, it isnt as efficient for say a volume with just SQL DBs. Also, a tiny cluster size
can adversely affect VSS. But that is a topic for another time.
SCSI Goo
This is by far the hardest to understand as it requires some basic SCSI knowledge.
Microsoft Windows operating systems support two different SCSI standards when it
comes to reads and writes. There is a third but it is very old and is mostly just used on
tape devices. So lets just forget about that one and stick to the two that are relevant.
These two standards are Read10/Write10 and Read16/Write16. This all has to do with
the way the CDB (Command Descriptor Block) is structured.
Read10/Write10 This standard reserves bytes 2-5 to define the LBA (Logical Block
Address). Think of LBA as sector numbers.it makes it easier on your brain. So we
have 4 bytes that can define the addressable sectors. Just like in the partition size
limitation we are back to dealing with a 4 byte number used to define all the addresses
on the drive.
FF FF FF FFh = 4294967295d
And just like before, the above is just the possible number of address (number of
sectors). Multiply by the standard sector size of 512 bytes and we get
4,294,967,295 sectors * 512 bytes/sectors = 2,199,023,255,040 bytes or 2TB.
What this all means is that when Windows is using the Read10/Write10 standard, then
the biggest drive that will be supported is 2TB.
Read16/Write16 Sometimes called LBA64 by some vendors, this standard reserves
bytes 2-9 to define the LBAs. That would be 8 bytes, each byte being 8 bits in size. Now
here is where we start getting into some really big numbers. The approximate size
comes out to be around 8ZB (zettabytes). Heres a quick chart to put it in some
perspective.

1024KB = 1MB (megabyte)

1024MB = 1GB (gigabyte)

1024GB = 1TB (terabyte)

1024TB = 1PB (petabyte)

1024PB = 1EB (exabyte)

1024EB = 1ZB (zettabyte)

So it is going to be a while before we have to worry about running into the limitation of
Read16/Write16.
2

Exceeding the limitations

Each limitation has a way of getting around it. Otherwise wed still be stuck at 2TB.
Partition size limitation There are actually two ways around this. The first way is to
convert your disks to dynamic disks and create volume sets. This functionality has been
around since Windows 2000. This doesnt really allow you to increase the partition
size. What it does is give you the ability to chain your partitions together to form larger
volumes. So I could use two drives of 2TB and create a volume of roughly 4TB in size.
The second method to bypass the partition size limitation is to use a GPT (Guid Partition
Table) configuration. In Windows 2003 SP1 Microsoft introduced its implementation of
the GPT. A disk configured to be GPT rather than the MBR style would have a 32 sector
partition array instead of a tiny 64 byte partition table.
NOTE: 32 sectors is equal to 16,384 bytes
The partitions that can be defined on a GPT disk can be up to 16EB in size.
Number of clusters There really isnt a way around this limitation. NTFS is currently
still limited in its number of clusters. However, you can get past 2TB by making sure
your cluster size is larger than the minimum size of 512 bytes.
It is important to note that for the most part, if you create a FAT partition and then
convert it to NTFS the cluster size will come out as 512 bytes. There are ways around
this but most of them require that you know ahead of time that you are going to be
converting your FAT partition to NTFS.
SCSI goo There isnt anything in Windows you can do to get around the limitation of
Read10/Write10 as Windows is already able to use Read16/Write16. However, the
hardware MUST support it as well. Windows will query the storage devices and
negotiate if Read10/Write10 or Read16/Write16 is to be used. When in doubt, check
with your storage vendor.