FreeBSD and large harddrives

[Andy Wodfer]

 [snip]

> > 1. Which FreeBSD version should I install? (it must support large
> drives).
> > I'm currently using the standard FreeBSD 8.1 (STABLE) on several servers,
> > but this is a 32bit version, right? I suppose I need a 64bit version when
> I
> > use large harddrives?
>
> Freebsd has been 64 bit for a long time. It supports multiple
> architectures. You want amd64 (yes, even on an intel 64bit)


Thanks! I didn't know I could use amd64 on Intel servers. Then my next
questions will be: How about the ports collection - does the 64bit version
have most of the ports? I need ffmpeg, php, apache, mysql, imagemagick,
ghostscript, exiftools and a few more small ones.


> >
> > 2. I know that the 3ware Raid controller supports larger drives than 2TB
> (or
> > was it 1TB?). The Highpoint controller I'm not so sure of, but I've had
> good
> > experience with these on a few Windows servers and on one FreeBSD server.
> My
> > setup would be to use the entire disk for both operating system and
> > filestorage (in version 1). How can I create this huge partition/slice? I
> > don't think the installer (atleast on the standard FreeBSD version)
> supports
> > these large drives?
> >
>
> You can use vinum or ZFS.
>
Excellent. I'm using ZFS on a FreeNAS installation. Is ZFS still considered
experimental on FreeBSD or is it now production ready? What tool or command
is used to partition/format/create a large ZFS drive?

Thanks and best regards,
Andy