Can a 4TB external hard drive work with Windows 7?

[musicman68]

Hi,
I'm planning to get a 4TB external hard drive and I want to know if it will work with Windows 7. I've been told that any HD over 2TB can't be handled by Win 7.

Please help.

Thank you.

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

Whoever told you that Windows 7 can't handle a 4TB hard drive is half-right. It can't unless you prepare the drive correctly to overcome the 2.2TB limit that the traditional partitioning scheme (MBR) imposes.

Drives over 2.2TB have to be initialised using the GPT partitioning scheme which the manufacturer may or may not already have done for you. If the manufacturer hasn't done it, you can do it with Windows Computer Management: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2581408

You can scroll down past all the technical stuff if you prefer, the procedure is explained with screenshots lower down.

 

[ultrageek1]

Phillip, thanks for this helpful info.
However, I have a 4 TB HD that I want to use with a NAS and I can't get windows to recognoze more that 1677 GB even after conversion to GPT. Maybe I missed a step?

-Lee

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

Could be the NAS enclosure has a drive capacity limit imposed by the storage controller, or enclosure is not compatible with GPT disks. Without knowing make & model of the NAS unit it's purely guesswork on my part.