[NTLUG:Discuss] 4.5TB volume formats out to 95Gig DOH!!!

[Richard]

Info on the problem child/server: Slackware 10.0, kernel 2.6.17.6, updated
3ware drivers (via the kernel) AND firmware (as of today's date), updated
motherboard BIOS (Tyan Tiger K8SSA), udev version 0.64, lvm2 version
2.00.15, CPU is an AMD Opteron (in case it matters), Drive array
w/problem: Twelve 500Gig Seagate SATA II with two configured as hot
spares.

----

What am I missing?  I FINALLY got the new 3Ware 9550SX-12 controller
installed on the upgraded motherboard (thank you PCI-X) and I got the new
controller co-existing with my 9500S-8.  The new 4.5TB array is built and
configured as an LVM volume and I'm only seeing 95Gigs!

You can see some screenshots/logging at  http://pastebin.ca/162852

I knew there was something fishy when I tried to partition the entire
array into a 4.5TB partition.  Returning to fdisk (or cfdisk) showed that
the 'entire' partition was no longer the 'entire' disk.

I went ahead with configuring LVM2 on this array and was pleased to see
that LVM2 reported the correct size for everything.  PhysicalVolumes,
VolumeGroups, and LogicalVolumes all showed the correct size.

After I formatting the drive with ext2/3, I came up short on disk space.

The weird thing is that my 3Ware 9500S-8 controller has several 250Gig
drives hanging off of it (only one is listed in the screen captures) and
those are reporting correct disk/volume sizes > 95Gig.

I think I'm too close to the problem at this point.  I've been working on
this for too long and I'm just 100% confident that I've read every readme
file to ensure that every option and update is covered and yet it isn't
working.

Can anyone tell me why there is that fdisk partitioning issue or spot
anything else that looks suspicious? The only thing that I can think of is
that the gods must not be pleased.

-- 
Richard