3TB hdd only showing 746.52GB capacity after deleting previous partitions

[diquinn]

I've got a 500GB ssd for Windows7 and a 3TB hdd for storage. I originally added a 2TB partition and a the remainder as a "backup" partition.
I had to make some changes and went to delete the partitions, however after doing that, I only have 746.52GB capacity, no matter what I do. I can convert to GPT and Format the drive, but it still only shows up as a 746.52GB partition. Deleting the volume results in 746.52GB unallocated.

I used Minitool Partition Wizard 9 to wipe the disk. Even after this, the disk still only has 746.5GB of unallocated space. I'm not sure what to do at this point. I also did a DISKPART clean and tried reinitializing the disk in Disk Managment with GPT, this time it came out with 746.39GB unallocated.
I'm not sure how to get it back to where I have 3TB of capacity even as a GPT disk. I'm sure it's something simple, but every where I look it tells me my 3TB drive is now a 746.52GB drive.

I've tried going pretty deep in Google searches and pretty much every suggestion is "Use GPT", which doesn't really help me at this point.

OS: Windows 7.1
HDD: TOSHIBA DT01ACA300 3TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5
SDD (OS): Samsung 850 EVO 500GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Internal SSD

 

[Reyaz123]

Did you try opening disk management and extending your partition with that unallocated space?

 

[photonboy]

*In Disk Management if you DELETE the entire volume so it's a single unallocated space how much capacity is listed?

a) If it's still only 746GB your drive may be broken,
b) If it shows the proper capacity then you still may have a glitch if you can't proper add volumes.

Either way,
1) Download Seatools (works with other drives) and run the DST Short test to start. Then (even if it fails)
http://www.seagate.com/ca/en/support/downloads/item/seatools-win-master/
2) Use ADVANCED (F8 when prompted) in Seatools and write zeros (six hours?)
3) Go back to Disk Management and try to initialize, format etc. Try a SINGLE VOLUME only first (GPT, then Format NTFS "quick")
4) Now do a full CHECKDISK with /f /r /x http://www.tekrevue.com/tip/how-to-scan-fix-hard-drives-with-chkdsk-in-windows-8/
or use Seatools DOS (overnight)

You can SKIP most of this if it you figure it out, though if you never did a full scan for bad sectors that's a good idea. When I use DOS I unhook all drives except the one I plan to work on just to be safe (shutdown, unhook both cables from rear).

 

[photonboy]

Other:
I never partition secondary drives. I just use folders. If using LINUX or other OS on one of the partitions that's a good reason to partition but otherwise I'm not sure what benefit there would be.

 

[diquinn]

Did you try opening disk management and extending your partition with that unallocated space?

I did and the only option I have in there is to Shrink it.

Other:
I never partition secondary drives. I just use folders. If using LINUX or other OS on one of the partitions that's a good reason to partition but otherwise I'm not sure what benefit there would be.

I realized that after I created the two partitions I'd pretty much just be wasting a bunch of space so I removed them and this popped up.
After deleting the entire volume, the amount of unallocated is at 746.52GB.

I've got seatools in hand and will try it out when I get off work tonight and report back. Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[diquinn]

So, the frustration hasn't waned. I tried out the Seatools and it does show the drive as being 3000GB and passed all tests. Unfortunately, it wouldn't let me do a zero fill because it only supports it on Seagate (and another company I can't remember) drives. But the fact that it passed all tests was encouraging.

I tried using the MiniTool Partition Wizard to do a zero fill but it didn't seem to change anything after initializing with GPT. Still says 746.5 GB. I'm going to try and track down a third party disc utility that will let me do a zero fill from a boot disc.

Any suggestions on a good 3rd party disc utility?

To add on to this, booted to GpartedLive CD and first thing GParted asked when I opened it up was to fix GPT on a volume. I did, and now everything is peachy.
Drive is showing up in windows as formatted with 2794.39GB.
Thanks All!!!

http://gparted.org/livecd.php

 

[photonboy]

ultimatebootcd

Burn a DVD or to USB and use the appropriate tool.

 

[photonboy]

https://www.backblaze.com/blog/3tb-hard-drive-failure/

"As of March 31, 2015, just 10% of the Seagate 3TB drives deployed in 2012 are still in service."

Another useful link:
http://www.neowin.net/news/seagate-hard-drives-exhibit-surprisingly-high-failures-rates-in-reliability-test-hitachi-leads-the-pack

I just bought a HITACHI drive.

 

[Bountman]

>>Drive is showing up in windows as formatted with 2794.39GB. <<

Be aware! That ^^^ means nothing in this case!!!

you will probably run into trouble when you reach the 746 GB-"border", and cannot write any more data to the drive!
Even worse, you might get irritating read errors (of the data source!) showing up, when in fact the os can't write to your
target drive that will still show more than 2TB free space.
The last files copied there near that 746 GB-"border" will be empty or corrupted, which you will find out later when you want to read them.
I hope you manage to read this before that point is reached and find a true solution.