Does my motherboard support 4 TB hdd ?

[lyckos]

My mobo is gigabyte GA-M52L-S3P revision 1.2
Can I use a 4TB hdd ?

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

Yes, of course it supports a 4TB HDD.

 

[lyckos]

I thought it was not that simple an answer, because the hdd I bought (hgst deskstar 4TB) requires an EFI/UEFI compatible BIOS and I can't find somewhere in the specs of my motherboard something relevant

 

[Calvin7]

You need a UEFI BIOS to use as boot drive over 2TB. You can use as data drive with Microsoft driver and supported OS. Nvidia drivers do not support over 2TB drives. Hard disks can be initialized to MBR (Master Boot Record) or GPT(GUID Partition Table). For MBR disk, it only supports 2TB.

This add on controller card is not bootable but supports drives over 2TB.
QNINE 4 Ports PCI SATA Raid Controller Internal Expansion Card
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N5LQ7Z3/ref=psdc_284718_t2_B00RN5DBBK

 

[Paperdoc]

The answer depends on what you expect from the word "support".

To use all the space on any HDD over 2 TB you MUST use the newer GPT partitioning system (not the MBR system) when the HDD is initialized. To do that, AND to use it for DATA etc., your OS must have the device driver for GPT-partitioned drives installed. The driver needed comes with Win 7 and above, but there is no such thing for Win XP.

Now, if you want to be able to BOOT from that large HDD, there are additional requirements. First, the version of Windows you install must be a 64-bit version - the 32-bit versions do not come with any driver to allow booting from the GPT-Partitioned HDD. But more importantly for you, OP, your mobo's BIOS must have UEFI support in it to allow it to read the GPT Partition data and boot from that drive. Your mobo does NOT have this feature.

So, you can use a 4 TB drive (and all its space) if you have a relatively modern version of Windows and ensure that it has the driver installed for a unit partitioned in the GPT style, also called a GUID style. But you can ONLY use it to store and read stuff (data, software, whatever). You can NOT boot from it. So you would need a drive to boot from, and then use the 4 TB unit as a second HDD in your system.

 

[USAFRet]

My mobo is gigabyte GA-M52L-S3P revision 1.2
Can I use a 4TB hdd ?

As the boot drive or a secondary drive?

As a secondary, no problem.
As the boot drive...issues.

 

[lyckos]

Thanks to everyone who spent their time to help me, Paperdoc your answer was complete. Unfortunately my purpose was to use the hdd as a master boot drive, so now that this is out of reach I must buy another drive for that purpose. So another question is : can I use a 2.5" ssd as a master boot disk? Will my mobo cope with it ? I will install windows 7 64b .

 

[USAFRet]

Thanks to everyone who spent their time to help me, Paperdoc your answer was complete. Unfortunately my purpose was to use the hdd as a master boot drive, so now that this is out of reach I must buy another drive for that purpose. So another question is : can I use a 2.5" ssd as a master boot disk? Will my mobo cope with it ? I will install windows 7 64b .

A SATA SSD?
Absolutely will work.

 

[Paperdoc]

USAFRet is right, of course. It sounds like you plan to do a fresh install of Win 7 on it. Then, of course, you will have to install new application software. You MAY have old files on an old HDD that you want to copy to your new system - you have not said anything about that.

I suggest this sequence.

1. Install the new SSD in your system as the ONLY "drive" installed in your system (except that you might have an optical disk drive that can be left installed). Install Windows to that. At this point, consider this. Windows 7 will be end-of-life soon, and I believe you can arrange to replace / update that for free with Windows 10. So look into the details of that. Right after getting Win 7 installed is the best time to change to Win 10 if you want to.

2. After Windows (whichever) is fully installed on your SSD, shut down and install the new 4 TB HDD. Boot up and use Windows Disk Management to find that new HDD in its lower areas. It will not be shown as a drive ready to use. Instead it will show as one large blank Unallocated Space. RIGHT-click on that and choose to Create a New Simple Volume. Look closely at the settings it proposes to use. You will want to specify that it uses the new GPT (or GUID) system for this (NOT the older MBR) and that is uses all of the 4 TB of space for a single large volume. You should specify that this is NOT a BOOTABLE drive. Most other options will be set correctly. When you're satisfied, let it run that process. If you let it do a Full Format (usually the default setting) it will take a LONG time, so just be patient. When it's done, back out and reboot into BIOS Setup. Check the Boot Priority Sequence to ensure it is set the way you want, then SAVE and EXIT to save the settings and reboot. The 4TB unit should show up now in Windows Explorer.

3. In Windows you can specify where several default file folders are placed, such as My Photos, all your application software, My Documents, etc. By default they are on the C: drive, which is your SSD. You may want to change some of those to the large HDD.

4, Now you can start installing your application software. As each is set up you normally have an option to specify which drive it will be placed on, and you may want to put some or all on the HDD. Once an app is installed, it is common within that app to have the option to specify where that app will store the data files it creates, and you can customize each app that way.

5. IF you have old files on an old HDD, you can connect that into the system (even if only temporarily) and copy what you want to the locations you have established in the new SSD and 4 TB HDD.

Thanks for Best Solution. Have fun!

 

[USAFRet]

For # 3 & 4 above, location of your 'data':

Win 7 & 8: http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-1834397/ssd-redirecting-static-files.html
Win 8.1 & 10: http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2024314/windows-redirecting-folders-drives.html


Steam games
Steam games location
In the steam client:
Steam
Settings
Downloads
Steam Library Folders
Add library folder

 

[lyckos]

Paperdoc, The partition of the 4TB hdd should be done at the end of step 2 or before the format ?

 

[Paperdoc]

Jargon to straighten out here. To prepare any empty HDD for use by an Operating System takes two steps. The first is to Create one or more Partitions on the HDD. Each Partition is a specified chunk of space on the drive that will be treated by the OS as one "Drive" with its own letter name. For a BOOTABLE unit, at least one (usually the first) Partition must be specified as Bootable when you create it, and then an OS must be Installed on that Partition. You will NOT be doing the Bootable option on your 4 TB unit. You could have only one Partition on the HDD (whether it uses all the space or not), or you could create several separate ones, but all on one HDD unit. All the data that defines all of the Partitions on one HDD is contained in a very small set of files right at the very beginning of the HDD. The BIOS knows exactly where that Partition Table is located and how to read it, and that is the very beginning of using the HDD at start-up time.

After the Partition(s) are Created, each Partition separately mus be Formatted. That is the process that writes to that one partition only all the housekeeping files of the File System (e.g., NTFS) that the OS will use to create, use and track all the files on that Partition. VERY often - especially always in Windows - the Formatting also will do some testing of the Partition for "Bad Sectors". A Windows Full Partition tests ALL the Sectors in the Partition by writing and reading to them, so that takes a lot of time. Once it is finished, the Partition is ready to use.

Beginning a few generations ago, Windows OS's made this whole process easier by combining them into a one-step process called Initialization. More recently, the prompt shown in Win 10's Disk Management says something like "Create a New Simple Volume". That choice does BOTH of those preparation steps in sequence, so once it is done you have NO more work to do - the Partition is ready to use as a "Drive" with a letter name. IF you did not use up all the space on the HDD, you have the option to do this again and create more Partitions or "Drives" on this HDD, now or later.