>BTW Did you ever resolve your >2TB issue
Yes, I was able to build a VM from a 3TB dd image. See http://communities.vmware.com/message/2163853#2163853
With 25 Replies in that thread I must have completely missed that reply, thanks for the link. I'm glad you were able to work around it even though I know you didn't want to have to go the full sized image route.