Question 4TB External SSD - split into 2 separate 2TB disks by Windows

[Bob999]

I have bought an external USB connected SSD of 4TB capacity. When I plugged it into my Win10 64bit computer it was split into 2 separate 2TB disks. My computer already has an older 4TB external Hard Drive and 'sees' that as 1 separate disk. This new SSD device was bought to replace it. I have plugged it into another Windows 7 64 bit PC and it appears as the same 2 separate disks (different drive letters). I cannot find anything that covers this situation in your Help or Q&A sections - hoping someone can advise if they know how to fix this issue.

Please note:
It is not setup as a 2TB disk and the remainder of the disk is unallocated.
It is also not split into two partitions – it has been split as 2 separate 2TB Disks (Disk 1 and Disk 2) - I cannot attach a picture to show disk manager.
In the picture it says there is disk 1 and disk 2 connected – but they are the same single 4TB SSD device.

Cheers - Bob.

 

[MrLitschel]

Not much to work with. Make and Model of the external USB device would help. Some External enclosures only support 2TB Max Drives and auto split larger drives.

Make sure the drive is formatted for GPT. If it reads MBR, windows may limit to 2TB Max.

 

[USAFRet]

1. Make and model of this device?
2. Upload your pic to imgur.com, post the link here.

 

[Bob999]

Hi thanks for reply. Bought on ebay - chinese no brand name - only label is Type-C. Checked format and it is GPT.
Do you know if I can somehow plus it into a pc and wipe everything and start again. When I have tried Win7 and win10 laptops only allow me to format each drive - I cannot find any way to get rid of the initialisation done to it.

 

[fzabkar]

It sounds to me like you may have purchased a fake. Sometimes these fakes will consist of a USB hub plus two or more low capacity flash drives.

What does CrystalDiskInfo report?

 

[Chicano]

Hi thanks for reply. Bought on ebay - chinese no brand name - only label is Type-C. Checked format and it is GPT.
Do you know if I can somehow plus it into a pc and wipe everything and start again. When I have tried Win7 and win10 laptops only allow me to format each drive - I cannot find any way to get rid of the initialisation done to it.

Before formatting the 2TB disk, try deleting it from the Disk Manager... that should integrate the two parts into one, which you can then format for GPT

 

[USAFRet]

Hi thanks for reply. Bought on ebay - chinese no brand name - only label is Type-C. Checked format and it is GPT.
Do you know if I can somehow plus it into a pc and wipe everything and start again. When I have tried Win7 and win10 laptops only allow me to format each drive - I cannot find any way to get rid of the initialisation done to it.

Pictures, please.
We're all in the dark out here.

 

[Bob999]

It sounds to me like you may have purchased a fake. Sometimes these fakes will consist of a USB hub plus two or more low capacity flash drives.

What does CrystalDiskInfo report?

Crystal Disk does not 'see' it - only the main disk 0 - C: Drive etc.
Disk Manager sees it as 2 separate disks of 2TB - and they both work (read write copy etc.)

 

[Bob999]

Before formatting the 2TB disk, try deleting it from the Disk Manager... that should integrate the two parts into one, which you can then format for GPT

Tried that - twice - did not work. Windows still initialises it again as 2 separate disks. They are 'both' GPT.

Could it be that it is 2 x 2TB SSD hard drives inside a single USB connector device - and that it is not 1 x 4TB SSD hard drive inside the enclosure?

Is there any way to provide photos without having to install some website and supply phone number etc. Imgur demands a phone number and I like my privacy.

The device looks like a big usb thamb drive (1ccm long, 3cm wide) connected via a usb 3.0 cable. In disk manager there is Disk 0 (Main drive), Disk 1 (2TB), Disk 2 (2TB).

 

[fzabkar]

https://magazine.renderosity.com/article/6277/dont-fall-for-the-cheap-ssd-drive-scam

 

[USAFRet]

Could it be that it is 2 x 2TB SSD hard drives inside a single USB connector device - and that it is not 1 x 4TB SSD hard drive inside the enclosure?

In disk manager there is Disk 0 (Main drive), Disk 1 (2TB), Disk 2 (2TB).

That is almost certainly not a "4TB" device.

2x 2TB.
And maybe not even that.
Where did you buy it, for how much $$?

Unless the price was north of $400.....it ain't a 4TB device, or even 2x 2TB.

 

[Bob999]

Thanks for all the replies so far guys/gals. It looks like I have bought at best 2 x 2TB flash drives inside a single device that has a USB controller. But maybe all I got was only 2 x 32BG flash drives connected inside a USB controller that is 'faking' each flash drive as 2TB. I knew the price was very low and so it was probably a bit iffy - but I have some experience in IT Manufacturing costs and know how much mark up there is from the actual cost to make something in China. You would be very surprised to know the actual manufacturing cost of a laptop or iPhone.

The device was only ever going to be a portable backup for music/video files when travelling overseas - my Seagate 4TB External HDD is rock solid (but big and stays home) and my Seagate 1TB External HDD was getting too small (4K Movies etc).

Using Disk Sentinel and Disk Manager they both state that the USB device/hub is 2 x 2TB disk capacity and available for use - and both were fully formatted using Disk Manager. I am now going to test how much actual capacity for read/write that each disk actually has. I am copying movie files from the Seagate 4TB HDD - 30GB groups at a time to see how much the disks will accept and I will send an update once completed. I can get a 128GB flash drive from Officeworks for the same price I paid the EBay supplier in China - it will be interesting to see how much total usable capacity the device actually provides.

 

[USAFRet]

It will copy all day long.
The trick is to copy 2TB of actual data, and see if all of that 2TB is readable.

 

[Bob999]

It will copy all day long.
The trick is to copy 2TB of actual data, and see if all of that 2TB is readable.

So far I have copied over 52GB - 8 movies - and they all play fine. Will let it run for a while now and copy a large number of them - the laptop I use for movies only has 1 x USB 3 and 1 x USB 2, so a bit slow on the copy (9-12 MB/sec).

 

[SkyNetRising]

Is there any way to provide photos without having to install some website and supply phone number etc. Imgur demands a phone number and I like my privacy.

imgur.com doesn't require registration.
Just press on "New post" in upper left corner of the page and upload your image.
Post link to your images here.

 

[Bob999]

imgur.com doesn't require registration.
Just press on "New post" in upper left corner of the page and upload your image.
Post link to your images here.

OK - 4TB USB SSD HDD - Imgur

https://imgur.com/a/6fUlaEt

View: https://imgur.com/a/6fUlaEt

 

[DSzymborski]

Not much info, but that looks incredibly dodgy.

Let's put it another way: how much did you pay for this? If it's real, it would be at least $400.

 

[Bob999]

Thanks again for all the responses guys/gals - it is a scam (of course), but not that bad actually. I am posting this as a final update so everyone knows the outcome, and also for others who might be searching the forum for answers at a later time.

As I previously stated, the '4GB SSD Device' displays with Disk Sentinel and in Windows 7/10 Disk Manager as being a device with 2 formatted and healthy 2TB disks. However, copying and reading last night/today showed that each disk only accepted 64GB of valid movie files - the device would accept further 'copying', but there was no actual files on the disk. The device is 2 x 64GB USB 3.0 flash drives connected inside a container via a simple USB controller device which is setup to 'imitate' that each disk is 2TB in size - when in fact they are both 64GB. Very tricky - anyone know how they do that?

The good news (as such) is that I paid $35AUD for a single device that is basically 2 x 64GB flash drives in one device. The disks are SSD and read/write well - it played 4K movies with no problems at all. Given that a cheap 128GB flash drive costs about the same at Officeworks, it is not that bad a rip-off - and after my questions to the EBay supplier stating that it did not work, they are sending me another device - bonus.

Using Disk Manager I have deleted and re-formatted both disks, and then created a new volume of 64GB on each disk (the rest unallocated). Now both disks display in Windows Explorer as 64GB drives - it will be handy as a portable device for about 60 x 1080P movies.

 

[USAFRet]

The good news (as such) is that I paid $35AUD for a single device that is basically 2 x 64GB flash drives in one device

3x 64GB flash drives, from a known manufacturer.
$22
https://www.amazon.com/PNY-Turbo-Attaché-Flash-3-Pack/dp/B08Y2HMH5X

The thing you bought?
I wouldn't trust it with a 2k text file.

Very tricky - anyone know how they do that?

Rewrite the firmware to report as whatever size you desire.

This is VERY common fleabay.
Sometimes, they even tell you in the description.

 

[Bob999]

3x 64GB flash drives, from a known manufacturer.
$22
https://www.amazon.com/PNY-Turbo-Attaché-Flash-3-Pack/dp/B08Y2HMH5X
----------------------------------------------------------
You forgot to add the price of a powered USB 3 controller/hub so you can plug them all into the one USB 3 slot on the laptop. Plus they are sending me another one for free.
---------------------------------------------------------
All the movies I copied over play fine and they are all still 'there'. Store on that device the only soft copy of something extremely important - only an idiot would do that - that is what my Seagate 4TB HDD is for (plus the Seagate 1TB backup HDD).
PS - love your signature pic - regular backing up in so important - learned that many years ago.
----------------------------------------------------------
Rewrite the firmware to report as whatever size you desire.

Thanks - now I know how they did it.
----------------------------------------------------------------
This is VERY common fleabay.
Sometimes, they even tell you in the description.

Amazon only sells genuine stuff right? TSMALL SSD Mobile Solid State Drive USB-C 3 0 high Speed External Hard Drive Portable HDD Shocl-Proof Shatter-Proof-Red_4TB: External Hard Drives: Amazon.com.au I bought the same thing on EBay at 1/3 of the Amazon price. Looks like this 'scam' is everywhere on the net.
---------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[USAFRet]

Theres a lot of fake crap on Amazon as well.

What I linked was not one of those.

Good luck with your fake 4TB device.

 

[USAFRet]

Plus they are sending me another one for free.

Why would you want another fake device?

 

[Bob999]

Why would you want another fake device?

It can hold 128GB data for movies when we are travelling - small and light.
128GB plus 128GB equals 256GB - equals about 140 movies.
Sure - it is not a 4TB quality drive - but it will do fine.

 

[Chicano]

It can hold 128GB data for movies when we are travelling - small and light.
128GB plus 128GB equals 256GB - equals about 140 movies.
Sure - it is not a 4TB quality drive - but it will do fine.

In MHO you should have asked for more... you paid for 4 Terabytes and got 128 GB... 256 GB is not even one sixth / 15.6%.... They also must have quality and larger USB flash drives with which they could have replaced the fake drive.

 

[Bob999]

In MHO you should have asked for more... you paid for 4 Terabytes and got 128 GB... 256 GB is not even one sixth / 15.6%.... They also must have quality and larger USB flash drives with which they could have replaced the fake drive.

Life lesson young fella:- When life gives you lemons, make lemonade - you will live longer, better and happier. Paid $35 for 2 x 128GB USB 3.0 Flash Drives - cheapest 128GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive on EBay is $35 and I got two of them. Not what I had hoped for - but all good.