problems with filesystems > 1TB

hello...

i have been trying (for many moons now) to create a filesystem larger than
1TB. I've had a variety of RAID controllers in my boxes, and I have 250GB
drives, so it adds up quick. I've also tried doing this with vinum, but
that fails too.

i've searched for help on this topic, and i've found lots of info, but
nothing substantial. I've read everything from it being a sysinstall
issue, to needing new versions of the CLI tools (newfs, dd, disklabel), to
newfs using the wrong variable type to store fssize, to having to update
to fbsd 5.x to use UFS2. Other reports say it's a softlimit imposed
somewhere, some say to make the frag size in newfs to 1024B for a 2TB max
volume, it has to be dedicated, it has to be non-dedicated... the list of
suggestions goes on and on.

none seem to work.

I can't find anything in the handbook regarding filesystems over 1TB. I
even asked around on IRC, nobody could help.

I'm sure I'm not the only one making a filesystem over a terabyte, it
doesn't seem that hard.

can anybody provide me with good information regarding this issue?? Or
maybe point to a good website that explains it (if such a beast exists).

please help. LaCie just released a 1TB drive. It's only a matter of time
before others follow suit. This process/softlimit/bug/documentation error
should be hammered out so we can all benefit.

thanks for any help

/eric