3TB hard drive as boot drive

[cooltrain7]

Hello


So Ive got a Seagate 3TB hard drive and i was hoping that i could move everything from my current 1Tb drive onto the 3Tb drive and then boot off it. But ive been reading about how windows 7 boots off a 3Tb drive only using 2TB, so i looked into my motherboard(MSI-Z77-G43) having support for 3Tb drives, and it does list it as having support for booting off 3Tb drives.

In addition to supporting the latest 3TB hard drives, MSI 3TB+ Infinity technology can use the 3TB hard drive as boot disk when installing a 64-bit operating system.

So does this mean i can simply transfer all my stuff from one drive to the other and then boot off it, or will i need to convert it to a GPT drive first ?

Sorry for any spelling, gamma mistakes.

Thanks in advance.

 

[BigUglyMotha]

Make sure that you don't have to do a bios update first.

Honestly, it would make a lot more sense to use a small ssd for you system and use your 3tb drive for you programs and storage space. It's easy to do and I've been very happy. This will also make it easier in case you want to install more hard drives later.

But if you are thinking of your initial plan, It's important that you use a "ghost" program that makes an identical copy of your 1TB hard drive over to your 3TB hard drive. Seagate has a free program that does exactly this. This is very important if you don't want to have problems with your system not installing properly.

 

[cooltrain7]

Make sure that you don't have to do a bios update first.

So your saying that i should check for a bios update first ?

 

[BigUglyMotha]

yes

 

[cooltrain7]

So my drive has arrived and ive got it plugged in now, its reading up as a 2gb as well as the 800mb in computer management. I can save files and such to the 2gb but i can't save or partition any of that 800Mb, any idea's?

 

[Paperdoc]

There are four things you need to arrange to make this work.

1. To use ALL of a 3 TB drive in one large volume, it MUST be Partitioned with a GPT system, not MBR. What you appear to have done already is set it up with an MBR Partitioning scheme. You will have to wipe that HDD clean (losing all data you have on it now) and start again.
2. To use a HDD with GPT Partitioning, you MUST be using a 64-bit version of Windows. I suspect you are not, but maybe you are. The issue is that Microsoft only provides device drivers for GPT-Partitioned drives for its 64-bit versions, and NOT for any of its 32-bit versions of Windows.
3. You'll need a cloning program able to clone from your old HDD to your new one AND ensure that the new one is partitioned under GPT. Check with the HDD manufacturer's website for a free utility for this.
4. To boot from this HDD, your mobo must support UEFI, which your post says it does, AND you may need to configure a BIOS Setup screen to set the port for this drive to use that UEFI capability. After you have cloned old drive to new, don't forget to adjust the Boot Priority Sequence to use the new 3 TB unit, and not your old drive.

 

[Hawkeye22]

^
2 above is incorrect. 32 bit windows can access GPT drives with no problem. They just can't boot from them.

Can Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows Server 2008 read, write, and boot from GPT disks?

Yes, all versions can use GPT partitioned disks for data. Booting is only supported for 64-bit editions on UEFI-based systems.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/dn640535%28v=vs.85%29.aspx

UPDATE:
I didn't mean to nitpick. I was just correcting some information. This is no way effects the solution that Paperdoc has provided.

 

[Paperdoc]

Thank you, Hawkeye22, for pointing out the correct info. So Windows from Vista forward, whether 32-bit or 64-bit versions, CAN use GPT-partitioned HDD's for data only. But for BOOTING from such HDD's you need the 64-bit versions, as well as UEFI support in BIOS. I note also in those items you referenced, when you do set up your machine to use UEFI support in BIOS, then the bootable HDD unit (the one Windows is Installed on) needs to be a GPT drive, not an MBR one if you have mixed drive types.

To OP: this actually does not change much about what you need. Since you want to BOOT from the 3 TB unit, you will need it to be Partitioned using GPT AND you will need to use a 64-bit Version of Windows.