is a MBR disk? the maximum size of MBR disk can support is 2TB, so you are alowed to use 2tb,even the disk is 3TB. to take full use of the space, you can use disk management to convert to GPT, but if there are data on hard drive, you should delete all the partition and then you can do the operation. if you don't want to delete data, you can use third party software-AOMEI Partition Assistant. before you do the conversion, please make sure the motherboard of your computer supports UEFI, because the system installed on GPT can be booted from computer who supports UEFT
If memory serves, I think that I fooled around with GPT in an MBR system several years ago--before the advent of UEFI, IIRC. You can use it in an older system (MBR-exclusive) but you cannot boot from a GPT partition. So, your boot partition--say you create one that's .5 GBs (500megs) and use it to install Windows, all of your drivers and all of your utilities, would have to be standard MBR. The rest of the drive--~2.5GB's or so--could be formatted as a GPT partition, no problem, as I recall. (If my memory is wrong here, I beg forgiveness...) However, I gotta' tell you that I can't recommend that anyone ever use such giant partitions because it's just poor organizational policy, imo. Whether you use MBR or GPT, my sincere advice is to chop that baby up into as many partitions as you might see a need for (you could have one partition labeled "Games," another partition labeled "Movies," another labeled "Work," and another labeled "Paint" & another labeled "Whatever" & etc. ad infinitum.) That way, if a read-write error takes down your "Games" partition all of your other partitions stay up, their data intact, and you have only the one "Games" partition to repair. Picture the same thing happening inside a single, giant 3GB partition--everything goes down--you can't boot anymore and it's very possible most or all of your other data and program installations go down as well. Basically, organizing your systems intelligently can save you a world of hurt later on, should disaster strike...! I've been doing it like this since my first 40MB Great Valley Scsi Hard Drive inside my Amiga 2000... Back then, especially in the early days when C= was using a FAT file system on its hard drives--disaster could and would strike often... Things are much better today, of course, but things can still happen and partitions can still be made to fall. Just my two cents, here... Edit: I meant to add that it's also far easier to back up your data if it's intelligently partitioned. There's really very little upside to using giant TB-sized partitions, imo.
Sorry to ask what is probably a dumb question. I have a PC running Windows 8.1 with the drive c: 1TB formatted as MBR. I also have an external USB 3TB drive in one partition. When I run the list disk command the external drive is shown as 2794 GB but no entry in the GPT column. Is this because GPT does not apply to external drives? or maybe the 2TB limit only applies to internal or boot drives?
I am not querying the fact that a 3TB drive is shown as 2794 GB, that DISKPART LIST DISK shows it as 2794GB but no mark in the GPT column. I have only used 1.51TB GB but Properties shows 1.2TB GB free and a capacity of 2.72TB. Surely this implies that a non GPT disk is working over 2TB. If I am missing something please tell me where I am going wrong.
I have run Disk Management and get this - The external disk is I: and it calls it NTFS. I only asked this question as I was reading all the earlier entries and found them informative, especially the DISKPART and LIST DISK commands. I now feel confused and my knowledge is going backwards. I have just added my second 3TB external drive (SEAGATE) drive H: which shows the same in LIST DISK and DISK MANAGEMENT shows more or less the same as when only one external drive was attached. Sorry if I am being stupid.
lol yes I saw it man. I was looking at the web about this topic and my info is correct but not in practice as I've never had a drive larger than 2TB
I am thinking it is the bytes per sector. 4096 [Advanced Format] vs the old 512. Code: Hard Disk Summary Hard Disk Number,4 Interface,SAT Standard USB/ATA Hard Disk Model ID,ST4000DM000-1F2168 Firmware Revision,CC54 Hard Disk Serial Number,Z301G5KE Total Size,3815437 MB Power State,Active Logical Drive(s) Logical Drive,I: [MSDN] ATA Information Hard Disk Cylinders,7752021 Hard Disk Heads,16 Hard Disk Sectors,63 ATA Revision,ATA8-ACS.31 Transport Version,SATA Rev 2.6 Total Sectors,976754646 Bytes Per Sector,4096 [Advanced Format] Multiple Sectors,16 Error Correction Bytes,4 Unformatted Capacity,3815448 MB Maximum PIO Mode,4 Maximum Multiword DMA Mode,2 Active Multiword DMA Mode,2 Maximum UDMA Mode,6 Gbps (6) Minimum multiword DMA Transfer Time,120 ns Recommended Multiword DMA Transfer Time,120 ns Minimum PIO Transfer Time Without IORDY,120 ns Minimum PIO Transfer Time With IORDY,120 ns ATA Control Byte,Valid ATA Checksum Value,Valid
EFA11 - Thanks for this explanation. I get the same as your example. MBR - Capacity 2861585MB. So the 2MB rule only applies to older drives and systems. I am using all these drives on WIN 8.1, and I do not run any other operating systems. I hope I don't get into more trouble for saying that 8.1 works brilliantly, and I cannot understand the objections. I agree that 8.0 was rubbish. Great pity for Microsoft that they released 8.0 and did not wait until 8.1. I am not a lover of smart phones and tablets etc., still thinking fondly of the DOS era, and I am a bit worried as to whether 8.1 will be the last "proper" operating system. I am waiting for 10 to be a bit more finished before trying it.
The 2.2TB rule applies to all drives equally, either old or new ones. It appears the trickery relies on the GoFlex dock technology as you can read in the last paragraph.
Still Puzzled I have read the article, and not a great deal wiser. I am not an expert like you, but I must stress that one of my 3TB drives is a Seagate, and the other is a Western Digital. Are you saying that the GoFlex technology is used by all manufacturers. A new laptop that I bought a couple of weeks ago came with 8.0 and GPT, and I could not boot with a KILLDISK bootable CD. I also wanted to use Partition Manager from a bootable CD. I always run Killdisk as I want to get rid of all the crap that comes with new PCs. I was able to preserve my serial number using the helpful articles on this forum. After KILLDISK I used the 8.1 DVD with updates and all went well. I do not see many references to KILLDISK on here, and if there is a decent alternative I would be interested to hear. After playing around with BIOS I got it back to MBR and the CD/DVD drive was then recogized. Before running KILLDISK the bootable Windows 8.1 disk worked in GPT mode, but would not let me format the hard disk, and I ended up with an update from the original 8.0 to 8.1. There was loads of rubbish such as \WINDOWS OLD folder, and I did not want all this rubbish. The update procedure from 8.0 to 8.1 was incredibly slow. The new installation of 8.1 after running KILLDISK was quicker and the machine now runs very well. To sum up - the Bootable Windows 8.1 DVD works in both GPT and MBR modes, but other stuff seems to want MBR.
Firstly I am not an expert and much less in HDD drives whatsoever. Secondly, I said "it appears or it seems" the trickery relies on Seagate's dock technology. That's it. It's neither an ultimate nor definitive statement by me. I don't know whether another manufacturers use kind of same technology for their solutions.