[SOLVED] 8TB HDD only had 1.99TB of memory?

[Marc Riku]

I just bought a new HDD for my pc. Wanting a fresh start, I decided to sell my old HDD and therefore only have this 1 HDD in my possession. I install a new windows on it and decided to play around, and found out that it says that I only have 1.99TB of space in the folders.

I tried to find a concrete answer that is easy to understand online, but I am having a lot of difficulties trying to do so. Does anyone knows what's up with this and how to fix it?

If it helps, I do have an old motherboard that is a bit outdated by today's standard, which is the H170 Pro Gaming LGA 1151. Other than that though, I don't think there should've been any issue with my PC. Since I also only have this HDD in my pc and not anything else (No SSD either), I install my windows on it as well.

If you know anything and can help, your help is appreciated.

 

[SkyNetRising]

To use capacity larger than 2TB, drive must be partitioned in GPT partition scheme.
If your drive is partitioned in MBR partition scheme, only 2TB can be used.

Also - to use GPT drive as boot drive, system must be installed in UEFI mode. In legacy mode, you can boot only from MBR partitioned drive.

Optimal solution is:
get small 240GB or 500GB SSD and install windows on it. It can be MBR or GPT, doesn't matter that much. Then you can clean and repartition 8TB drive. No modern system should be without SSD.

Less optimal solution:
clean your 8TB drive, convert it to GPT and install windows in UEFI mode.

Edit: Also you can use mbr2gpt utility to convert MBR system drive to GPT without reinstalling windows. Then you can extend windows partition or create another partition to utilize full drive capacity.

 

[Marc Riku]

To use capacity larger than 2TB, drive must be partitioned in GPT partition scheme.
If your drive is partitioned in MBR partition scheme, only 2TB can be used.

Also - to use GPT drive as boot drive, system must be installed in UEFI mode. In legacy mode, you can boot only from MBR partitioned drive.

Optimal solution is:
get small 240GB or 500GB SSD and install windows on it. It can be MBR or GPT, doesn't matter that much. Then you can clean and repartition 8TB drive. No modern system should be without SSD.

Less optimal solution:
clean your 8TB drive, convert it to GPT and install windows in UEFI mode.

Edit: Also you can use mbr2gpt utility to convert MBR system drive to GPT without reinstalling windows. Then you can extend windows partition or create another partition to utilize full drive capacity.

I'm sorry, but I am not sure as to what partition means. Right now, I feel like my best bet would be to use the mbr2gpt tool. I was using this guide (https://www.diskpart.com/windows-10/mbr2gpt-tool-windows-10-4125.html ) and try to type the command on the command prompt

(mbr2gpt /convert /disk:n /allowfullOS )

But instead I got this quote that says

EnablePrivilege: AdjustTokenPrivileges failed (Error:0x514)
ERROR: Failed to enable backup/restore privileges.
Check that you are running in a process with elevated privileges.

I would buy an SSD, but I feel like reinstalling everything would take some time. Is there a way for me to just move my current windows into an SSD without having to go through the process or reinstalling the whole thing again?

Also, how do I convert my HDD from mbr to gpt? Because I only have this pc with me, do I need to somehow format it and change it before I format the whole thing and change my boot drive to my SSD?

 

[SkyNetRising]

try to type the command on the command prompt
(mbr2gpt /convert /disk:n /allowfullOS )
But instead I got this quote that says
EnablePrivilege: AdjustTokenPrivileges failed (Error:0x514)
ERROR: Failed to enable backup/restore privileges.
Check that you are running in a process with elevated privileges.

That means - you didn't run the command from elevated command prompt.
And instead of "disk:n" there should be a number like "disk:0", if you have only one disk.

How to Open the Command Prompt as Administrator in Windows 10

Much of the time, opening the Command Prompt as a regular user is all you need. Sometimes, though, you’ll need to open the Command Prompt as an administrator so that you can run commands that require administrative privileges.

www.howtogeek.com

Is there a way for me to just move my current windows into an SSD without having to go through the process or reinstalling the whole thing again?

Of course. It's called cloning. SSD manufacturers usually bundle cloning software with their SSDs. Samsung does it, Intel too and Crucial also.

Also, how do I convert my HDD from mbr to gpt?

Use mbr2gpt. If for some reason you can't, then you clean the drive and convert to gpt with diskpart utility (when installing windows open command prompt window and execute diskpart commands).

 

[SkyNetRising]

BTW - can you show screenshot from Disk Management?
(upload to imgur.com and post link)

This is just to verify, if your disk is really partitioned in MBR and there isn't some other issue.

 

[Marc Riku]

BTW - can you show screenshot from Disk Management?
(upload to imgur.com and post link)

This is just to verify, if your disk is really partitioned in MBR and there isn't some other issue.

https://imgur.com/jB97hwV

View: https://imgur.com/jB97hwV


Is there any specific way to do cloning? I figure it isn't as easy as just copy & paste the whole HDD.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Yeah. Your system is installed in legacy mode (MBR partitioning).

Use this command from elevated command prompt to convert to GPT,
then change options in BIOS to boot from Windows Boot Manager.
mbr2gpt /validate /disk:0 /allowfullOS
mbr2gpt /convert /disk:0 /allowfullOS

For cloning - you can use with Macrium Reflect.
Check solution in this topic.
https://forums.tomshardware.com/thr...500gb-hdd-to-a-1tb-hdd.3566099/#post-21529858

 

[Marc Riku]

Yeah. Your system is installed in legacy mode (MBR partitioning).

Use this command from elevated command prompt to convert to GPT,
then change options in BIOS to boot from Windows Boot Manager.
mbr2gpt /validate /disk:0 /allowfullOS
mbr2gpt /convert /disk:0 /allowfullOS

For cloning - you can use with Macrium Reflect.
Check solution in this topic.
https://forums.tomshardware.com/thr...500gb-hdd-to-a-1tb-hdd.3566099/#post-21529858

I tried to paste the first command exactly the same, but I still got the same message as before. I am not sure what I did wrong this time.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Elevated command prompt - is the keyword.
Check link in post #4 - how to open elevated command prompt.

 

[Marc Riku]

Elevated command prompt - is the keyword.
Check link in post #4 - how to open elevated command prompt.

https://imgur.com/a/iiCwpuC

View: https://imgur.com/a/iiCwpuC


After I typed the commands, this is the message that I got. I am not sure of the importance of WinRE as well as whether I had finished or not. Also, there's a new volume called "Disk 0 Partition 3" in the Disk Management.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Conversion has completed successfully.

Can you show screenshot from Disk Management?

 

[Marc Riku]

https://imgur.com/a/SHKJbBq

View: https://imgur.com/a/SHKJbBq


I've left it alone and haven't touch anything since. I don't know if I should restart the pc for it to work?

 

[SkyNetRising]

Looks good.
Now you must decide, what you want to do, to use full capacity of your drive.
option #1 Create additional partition in unallocated space and use ir as drive D:

option #2 (bit more complicated) increase C: partition to full drive capacity. This will require use of windows installation media, booting from it and recreation of bootloader partition. Because current EFI system partition prevents extending C: partition.

 

[Marc Riku]

Looks good.
Now you must decide, what you want to do, to use full capacity of your drive.
option #1 Create additional partition in unallocated space and use ir as drive D:

option #2 (bit more complicated) increase C: partition to full drive capacity. This will require use of windows installation media, booting from it and recreation of bootloader partition. Because current EFI system partition prevents extending C: partition.

Rather than 2 drives, it would be more enjoyable for me to turn this into a full single drive, so I would go with option 2. Will buy an SSD later on. What should I do to turn this into a full drive?

 

[SkyNetRising]

Get windows installation media,
boot from it into command prompt,
execute following commands
(if you get any errors executing these commands, then stop immediately)

diskpart​

list disk​

select disk 0​

list partition​

select partition x​

(select 100MB partition, x is either 3 or 4)​

delete partition override​

select partition y​

(select 2047GB partition, y is 2 or 3)​

extend​

select partiton z​

(select 579MB partition, z is 1 or 2)​

delete partition override​

create partition efi size=500​

format fs=fat32 quick​

assign letter=H​

list volume​

(find volume letter for 7447GB volume, could be C or D )​

exit​

(use volume letter you found before in next command)​

bcdboot C:\windows /s H:​

Then remove windows installation media,
boot into BIOS
change boot options to allow UEFI boot,
change boot priority to boot from Windows Boot Manager,
save BIOS and exit,
boot into windows.

 

[Marc Riku]

Get windows installation media,
boot from it into command prompt,
execute following commands
(if you get any errors executing these commands, then stop immediately)

diskpart​

list disk​

select disk 0​

list partition​

select partition x​

(select 100MB partition, x is either 3 or 4)​

delete partition override​

select partition y​

(select 2047GB partition, y is 2 or 3)​

extend​

select partiton z​

(select 579MB partition, z is 1 or 2)​

delete partition override​

create partition efi size=500​

format fs=fat32 quick​

assign letter=H​

list volume​

(find volume letter for 7447GB volume, could be C or D )​

exit​

(use volume letter you found before in next command)​

bcdboot C:\windows /s H:​

Then remove windows installation media,
boot into BIOS
change boot options to allow UEFI boot,
change boot priority to boot from Windows Boot Manager,
save BIOS and exit,
boot into windows.

I am not sure how to boot windows installation media from command prompt. I have it downloaded already, so should I open it normally and update the pc? Or am I missing something?

 

[SkyNetRising]

You don't boot installation media from command prompt.

Windows installation media is USB flash drive with windows setup files on it.
You boot from windows installation media, then go into command prompt.

 

[Marc Riku]

You don't boot installation media from command prompt.

Windows installation media is USB flash drive with windows setup files on it.
You boot from windows installation media, then go into command prompt.

Sorry for taking a while to reply back. Once I was done the commands and went back to boot windows, i found out that for some reason, it won't let me boot back from my HDD and keep going back to the Windows Installation Media. I decided to plug out the USB, and for some reason it will always boot to the BIOS after that, so I plug my USB back and decided to just reinstall Windows.

All of my data was sent to Windows.Old and it took me a while to put everything back into place instead of just reinstalling all of it (just dragging it to the new windows from Program Files. Hope that won't cause problems down the line) and so far all the programs and data is working well, although I am not sure of how safe my method was.

Thankfully, the commands worked out and now I have a total space of 7451.47 GB. There are this "Disk 0 Partition 1" that took 500 MB as well as an unallocated memory of 63 MB, and the standard temperature rose from 38°C to 43°C (as in yesterday and the day before it always stays at 38°C no matter what I do, and now it stays at 43°C constantly), but I figure that happens due to the increase of size.

https://imgur.com/a/EXPZPPh

View: https://imgur.com/a/EXPZPPh


Other than the slight hassle of moving the programs and testing it one by one to make sure they work, everything is going fine and your guide has helped me a lot. I will move my windows to an SSD on a later date and will use the link that you've provided.

Lastly, I am still curious as to the missing ~500 GB as well as the "Disk 0 Partition 1" that took 500 MB and the unallocated 63 MB of data. Is there any way for me to fully utilize my HDD? I am aware that the ~500 GB might not be usable nor exist in the first place but I might be wrong. The ones that mainly intrigues me are the 563 MB of data. Are they usable? And if yes, how could I utilize it?

 

[SkyNetRising]

What 500GB? All the space is used (except for unallocated 63MB).
8TB drive is actually
8'000'000'000'000 bytes /1024/1024/1024= 7450GB

Small 500MB partition contains bootloader. No need to touch it. And those unallocated 63MB is 0,0008% of total drive capacity. Just ignore that.

 

[Marc Riku]

What 500GB? All the space is used (except for unallocated 63MB).
8TB drive is actually
8'000'000'000'000 bytes /1024/1024/1024= 7450GB

Small 500MB partition contains bootloader. No need to touch it. And those unallocated 63MB is 0,0008% of total drive capacity. Just ignore that.

I guess it was my bad to assume that 1 TB = 1000 GB. And since I don't need to touch those 500 MB, then I won't. I actually don't mind the 63 MB since it's only that much; it's more of my own curiosity as to where it actually goes.

Either way, the problem is solved. Thank you for your accurate and precise information.