Hi all,
i've readed the faq about the question of adding a local disk, but unfortunately, for me this trouble persist.

Here are what i found on my host:

fdisk -l


Disk /dev/disks/vmhba000:0:0:0: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/disks/vmhba000:0:0:1 1 19457 156288288+ fb VMFS

Disk /dev/disks/vmhba0:1:0:0: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/disks/vmhba0:1:0:1 1 19457 156288321 fb VMFS
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^THIS IS the DISK

Disk /dev/disks/vmhba0:0:0:0: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/disks/vmhba0:0:0:1 1 523 4193280 6 FAT16
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/disks/vmhba0:0:0:2 523 537 112640 fc VMKcore
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/disks/vmhba0:0:0:3 537 19458 151984952+ fb VMFS

Disk /dev/disks/vmhba32:0:0:0: 4026 MB, 4026531328 bytes
64 heads, 32 sectors/track, 3839 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 2048 * 512 = 1048576 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/disks/vmhba32:0:0:1 5 750 763904 5 Extended
/dev/disks/vmhba32:0:0:4 * 1 4 4080 4 FAT16 <32M
/dev/disks/vmhba32:0:0:5 5 52 49136 6 FAT16
/dev/disks/vmhba32:0:0:6 53 100 49136 6 FAT16
/dev/disks/vmhba32:0:0:7 101 210 112624 fc VMKcore
/dev/disks/vmhba32:0:0:8 211 750 552944 6 FAT16

Partition table entries are not in disk order
/dev/disks #

When i try to format, here is the output:

/dev/disks # vmkfstools -C vmfs3 -S datastore3 /vmfs/devices/disks/vmhba0\:1\:0\:1
Creating vmfs3 file system on "vmhba0:1:0:1" with blockSize 1048576 and volume label "datastore3".
Usage: vmkfstools -C vmfs3 /vmfs/devices/disks/vmhbaW:X:Y:Z
Error: Bad file descriptor
/dev/disks #


ANd thi is the erro on /var/log/messages:
Sep 18 20:03:53 Hostd: Error : Warning: /dev/disks/vmhba0:1:0:0 contains GPT signatures, indicating that it has a GPT table. However, it does not have a valid fake msdos partition table, as it should. Perhaps it was corrupted - possibly by a program that doesn't understand GPT partition tables. Or perhaps you deleted the GPT table, and are now using an msdos partition table. Is this a GPT partition table? Error: The backup GPT table is not at the end of the disk, as it should be. This might mean that another operating system believes the disk is smaller. Fix, by moving the backup to the end (and removing the old backup)? Warning: The format of the GPT partition table is newer than what Parted can recognise. Please tell us! bug-parted@gnu.org Unable to read partition table for device /vmfs/devices/disks/vmhba0:1:0:0

Thanks for any help.

Michele

What sort of controller are the disks connected to?

That are a normal SATA disk.
The ESXi is installed on a usb pen, but those disks are the storage where virtual machines lives.

I guess David asking which motherboard do you have ?

HW is an HP proliant ML310G5, with 4 slot SATA hot-plug.

What sort of error do you get if you try the VI client? Also what output do you get for lspci -p?

~ # lspci -p
Bus:Sl.F Vend:Dvid Subv:Subd ISA/irq/Vec P M Module Name
Spawned bus
00:00.00 8086:29f0 103c:31f9 V
00:01.00 8086:29f1 0000:0000 255/ /0x71 A V
00:06.00 8086:29f9 0000:0000 255/ /0x71 A V
00:28.00 8086:2940 0000:0000 255/ /0x71 A V
00:28.02 8086:2944 0000:0000 255/ /0x79 C V
00:28.03 8086:2946 0000:0000 255/ /0x81 D V
00:28.04 8086:2948 0000:0000 255/ /0x71 A V
00:28.05 8086:294a 0000:0000 255/ /0x89 B V
00:29.00 8086:2934 103c:31fe 5/ 5/0x91 A V usb-uhci
00:29.01 8086:2935 103c:31fe 5/ 5/0x91 B V usb-uhci
00:29.02 8086:2936 103c:31fe 5/ 5/0x91 C V usb-uhci
00:29.03 8086:2939 103c:31fe 5/ 5/0x91 D V usb-uhci
00:29.07 8086:293a 103c:31fe 5/ 5/0x91 A V ehci-hcd
00:30.00 8086:244e 0000:0000 001 V
00:31.00 8086:2916 0000:0000 V
00:31.02 8086:2920 103c:31fe 7/ 7/0x99 B V ide vmhba0
00:31.05 8086:2926 103c:31fe 7/ 7/0x99 B V ide vmhba1
01:02.00 1002:515e 103c:31fb 5/ / A V
01:04.00 0e11:b203 103c:3305 10/ 10/0xa1 A V
01:04.02 0e11:b204 103c:3305 11/ 11/0xa9 B V
01:04.04 103c:3300 103c:3305 11/ 11/0xa9 B V usb-uhci
01:04.06 103c:3302 103c:3305 10/ 10/0xa1 A V
02:00.00 1166:0103 0000:0000 003 V
03:04.00 14e4:1678 103c:703e 11/ 11/0x71 A V tg3 vmnic0
~ #


From Vi-client it is simply:

I'd suggest using fdisk at the console to delete any partition info on it.

HI Dave,
like you can see at the first post, i've already DO IT!!!

Yes, if i delete, the system doent's recognize it.
If i create, the system doens'nt recognize it.
It is very very strange.
I do not know solution , but i think it is regarded on the GPT message.

Any other suggestion ?

Here it is something more:

/var/log # partedUtil get /dev/disks/vmhba0\:1\:0\:0

Warning: /dev/disks/vmhba0:1:0:0 contains GPT signatures, indicating that it has a GPT table. However, it does not have a valid fake msdos partition table, as it should. Perhaps it was corrupted - possibly by a program that doesn't understand GPT partition tables. Or perhaps you deleted the GPT table, and are now using an msdos partition table. Is this a GPT partition table?
Error: The backup GPT table is not at the end of the disk, as it should be. This might mean that another operating system believes the disk is smaller. Fix, by moving the backup to the end (and removing the old backup)?
Warning: The format of the GPT partition table is newer than what Parted can recognise. Please tell us! bug-parted@gnu.org
Unable to read partition table for device /dev/disks/vmhba0:1:0:0

/var/log # partedUtil get /dev/disks/vmhba0\:1\:0\:1
19455 255 63 312560095
1 63 312544574 251 0
/var/log #


Srarting from the first fdisk -l you can see at top, the disk is recognized like the first one (0 final) but it is wrong.
The right disk is the 1 final.

Into the VIclient the problem is reproducede well, it is looking for the wrong disk.

So, can i FORCE the system to use the second one like i do manually with partedUtil?