4TB HDD on Win Vista 32bit

[DeathByOrganic]

So I purchased a Seagate Desktop HDD.15 ST4000DM000 4TB for media storage one of my PCs. This PC runs off Windows Vista 32bit. So I boot up and the HDD only shows up as 2TB. I do my research, learn about the limitations of Windows with large HDDs and how to solve the problem.

In my HTPC I have a Seagate 3TB drive that shows up as the full 3TB, so I knew that PC could handle the large drive. Installed the new HDD into that PC, set it as GPT and then created to partitions at 2TB each (about 1.8 each). I was able to see and access both volumes.

So took the HDD out of the PC and placed it back into the Vista machine. I can see both volumes on the one drive, but only one of them is accessible. Is there anyway to make this HDD's full 4TB available on this system? I don't care if it is one volume or 4 volumes. Would an external enclosure work? Or I am just out of luck with this size drive on that machine?

 

[drtweak]

When you format the drive what is the allocation unit size set to?

The limitation has nothing to do with Partitions or the size of the partitions but the size of the hard drive overall.

I would delete the partitions, make sure it is still set to GPT, then make one big partition, format with 4K sector size (4096 allocation unit size)

 

[DeathByOrganic]

When you format the drive what is the allocation unit size set to?

The limitation has nothing to do with Partitions or the size of the partitions but the size of the hard drive overall.

I would delete the partitions, make sure it is still set to GPT, then make one big partition, format with 4K sector size (4096 allocation unit size)

That is the first thing I did when I installed it in my PC. Both GPT and MBR only reads 2TB. I have used the CMD prompt has well to clean the drive. Been trying every combination of options. From what I read this is because I am running 32bit Windows Vista. In my 64bit Windows 10 PC it recognizes it as 4TB once in GPT.

I thought if I set it up on my Windows 10 PC as a GPT with two 2TB partitions, it would allow that, but no such luck. One drive shows up and is accessible. The other shows the size I set, but it is inaccessible.

 

[drtweak]

Yea I haven't really played with big drives on 32 bit OS'es before. You may not be able to access them at all.

Again the limitation is with the hard drive size it self and NOT the partition size. anything about 2Tb is just inaccessible.