Computer not detecting over 3 terrabytes of storage

[The_Island_Ways]

Hey guys, so I just bought a built gaming computer off Craigslist with 4 terrabytes of storage. The thing is my computer is only detecting 50 GB of that storage.

I'm not really a computer person, I bought it because I want to start doing some video editing. The dude said he "dug into the bios for a while and when he installed windows he only partitioned 50gb." He said to back up windows and maybe re partition all the drives. The dude went ghost so I'm sitting here in the bios of my computer having absolutely no clue what I'm looking at besides the temperature of my CPU.

If anyone has some suggestions as to how I could get back the extra memory I would be greatly appreciative.

 

[MeepsterNotchy]

My only guess is that you have a traditional BIOS.
Does your BIOS have mouse support? Does it look more like DOS or a setting application in Windows?

 

[mbarnes86]

Hi

If you only have 50GB OF disk space that is either a very small partition or a very old and small hard disk

What version of windows do you have?
Do you have its disk & key?

Most recent versions of Windows will have 'disk management' consol
which will show you the hard drive size and the partitions which exist on it

Depending on if you have 1 x 4Gb
Or 2 x 2 GB
you may need to completely start again

As if partitioned in older mbr mode maximum boot disk size is 2TB
for larger hard disks to be bootable you need a uefi instead of bios,
Gpt partitions, And a 64 bit windows vista or latter

The uefi should show what make and model hard drive you have so you can find its specification on google


There are a number of free programs which are put onto a cd or usb memory stick
You boot up off the cd or usb and run a program to expand the partition to fill the hard disk or make the partition much larger and create another partition in the remaing space

If 4 TB try 2 x 2TB partitions
If 2 x 2TB disks then 2TB partition on each hard disk

List of companies & products for partitioning hard disks
Paragon partition manager
gparted
Easus


Regards
Mike Barnes

 

[The_Island_Ways]

Hey, thanks Mike. I'm running Windows 10. I don't have the product key. So I won't have acces to the disk management. I will check out the companies and products you listed. As well as figure out any uefi information applicable.

 

[mbarnes86]

Hi

If windows is activated then there are several free programs which show you the windows key

Produkey from nirsoft net is one i use regularly

Activated or in 30 day trial mode wont stop you getting to disk management consol

Regards
Mike Barnes

 

[USAFRet]

Hey guys, so I just bought a built gaming computer off Craigslist with 4 terrabytes of storage. The thing is my computer is only detecting 50 GB of that storage.

1. A screencap of your Disk Management window would help here

2. For any used PC, your first move should be a full wipe and reinstall. For your protection as well as theirs.