How to get full capacity from a 4tb WD Green HDD using windows 7?

[ticktoc]

I am about to purchase a 4TB WD Green HDD. From what I have been reading, Windows 7 does not support anything more than 2 TB drives. I have a Gigabyte z87 motherboard, I5-4570 CPU and 8GB Kingston Hyperx Ram. My OS is on a crucial 120gb SSD and I have a 1TB WD Black. I've read that Seagate has some software you can download (DiscWizard), that takes care of the problem. Does WD have something similar? I would appreciate any help. Since I am not planning on using this for the OS Do I just convert it to GPT?

 

[i7Baby]

I think if you have a UEFI bios and a 64 bit OS and you use GPT for the Boot Record you should be OK .

http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware-devices/319552-installing-new-4tb-hard-drive-gpt-wont-format.html might help

 

[doubletake]

Windows 7 supports 2+TB drives just fine, they just have to use GPT and not MBR due to MBR being limited to 2TB partitions. Same for if you wanted to use the drive as a boot drive, you would absolutely HAVE to use GPT and be on a UEFI system (which you are with that z87 board).

 

[photonboy]

This only applies to using the drive as your OS drive. It works just fine as a secondary drive.

 

[smorizio]

from what i know about disk drives the 2g limit the first part is not the os but the bios. you need a newer efi bios to see drives larger then two gigs.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2581408/

 

[photonboy]

from what i know about disk drives the 2g limit the first part is not the os but the bios. you need a newer efi bios to see drives larger then two gigs.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2581408/

No.
Again, you're talking about support if Windows is booting from that drive. I've got non-UEFI motherboards running W7 just fine with secondary drives of 3TB and 4TB.

Setup:
1. Attach drive
2. Enter "Disk Management"
3. Find the 4TB drive, Add the volume, and Format as NTFS.
(I recommend a FULL FORMAT which will take many hours so plan accordingly. A Full Format will build the bad sector table.)

 

[ticktoc]

Thanks to all of you, I will now not have to worry about this anymore. You guys are the greatest.

 

[christianrogari]

from what i know about disk drives the 2g limit the first part is not the os but the bios. you need a newer efi bios to see drives larger then two gigs.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2581408/

No.
Again, you're talking about support if Windows is booting from that drive. I've got non-UEFI motherboards running W7 just fine with secondary drives of 3TB and 4TB.

Setup:
1. Attach drive
2. Enter "Disk Management"
3. Find the 4TB drive, Add the volume, and Format as NTFS.
(I recommend a FULL FORMAT which will take many hours so plan accordingly. A Full Format will build the bad sector table.)

Hello,

I just bought a 4TB WD Red for replacing my broken old Maxtor DiamondMax22 (it was my backup disk), I have windows 7 PRO x64 and my mobo is an ASUS P5Q-E and I'm encountering the same problem: the OS can see only one disc with just one partition (1678GB).

I tryed to format the unit as you suggested (so a normal format and not the quick format), but it didn't work for me. After formatted the unit, windows 7 still shows only one disc with only one partition (always only 1678GB instead of over 3600GB available)

Where I'm wrong? How must I do to fix the problem and get all the 4TB working right?

 

[ArtPog]

Hello,

I just bought a 4TB WD Red for replacing my broken old Maxtor DiamondMax22 (it was my backup disk), I have windows 7 PRO x64 and my mobo is an ASUS P5Q-E and I'm encountering the same problem: the OS can see only one disc with just one partition (1678GB).

I tryed to format the unit as you suggested (so a normal format and not the quick format), but it didn't work for me. After formatted the unit, windows 7 still shows only one disc with only one partition (always only 1678GB instead of over 3600GB available)

Where I'm wrong? How must I do to fix the problem and get all the 4TB working right?
[/quotemsg]

Your ASUS motherboard is rather ancient (note it takes DDR2 memory) and cannot support large-capacity disks such as your 4 TB HDD because of the limitations of the SATA controller. It detects the disk as a 32-bit device so it detects the disk with a capacity of 1678 GB rather than its actual full capacity of 3725 GB (when GPT-partitioned). You can check ASUS updates for an updated SATA controller driver incorporating 64-bit capability. Doubtful if one exists. If not, consider upgrading your system if possible.