After a recent BSOD, I purchased 4TB WD Black HDD. I have Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit ios on DVD, but the system is only recognizing 2TB and it is asking for the deice driver needed to access the hard drive. The motherboard is System Board: Chipset: Intel G31/G33/G35/P31/P35; Southbridge: Intel 82801|R (ICH9R). Base Board: Manufaturer: Pegatron Corp. Product: Benicia. BIOS: Vendor: American Megatrends Inc.; Release Date 09/10/2009; VIOS Version String: 5.43; ROM Size 1.00 MB. Can someone please tell me how to make this work.
How to install Windows 7 on 4TB WD Black?
- Thread starter Shortaoe
- Start date
Solution
SuperSoph_WD
Glorious
- Jul 30, 2014
- 6,758
- 3
- 45,960
Hello there, Shortaoe!
Unfortunately, you'd need a UEFI-based motherboard in order to be able to boot from the 4 TB WD Black HDD and use its full capacity. 🙁 Legacy BIOS allows you to install Windows OS with MBR partition table (and no option for GPT)http://www.howtogeek.com/193669/whats-the-difference-between-gpt-and-mbr-when-partitioning-a-drive/ and it only supports hard drives up to 2 TB in size. That's why you are unable to allocate the rest of the capacity. I'd recommend you to consider using a smaller-sized booting HDD or SSD for the OS and initialize and then partition & format the 4 TB Black as a secondary storage for your massive data and demanding apps.
Keep me posted if you have more questions. Hope this was helpful.
SuperSoph_WD
Unfortunately, you'd need a UEFI-based motherboard in order to be able to boot from the 4 TB WD Black HDD and use its full capacity. 🙁 Legacy BIOS allows you to install Windows OS with MBR partition table (and no option for GPT)http://www.howtogeek.com/193669/whats-the-difference-between-gpt-and-mbr-when-partitioning-a-drive/ and it only supports hard drives up to 2 TB in size. That's why you are unable to allocate the rest of the capacity. I'd recommend you to consider using a smaller-sized booting HDD or SSD for the OS and initialize and then partition & format the 4 TB Black as a secondary storage for your massive data and demanding apps.
Keep me posted if you have more questions. Hope this was helpful.
SuperSoph_WD
The Original Ralph
Distinguished
- Sep 14, 2011
- 2,222
- 1
- 20,510
you have to go into disk management and set partitioning as GPT, not MBR, otherwise windows will only recognize 2TB max
right clik on my computer>manage>disk management, then down in the list of disks, in the square grey box to the left of the WD 4TB disk, right clik and one of the choices should be "convert to GPT"
if you want, google for it as well
right clik on my computer>manage>disk management, then down in the list of disks, in the square grey box to the left of the WD 4TB disk, right clik and one of the choices should be "convert to GPT"
if you want, google for it as well
SuperSoph_WD
Glorious
- Jul 30, 2014
- 6,758
- 3
- 45,960
Hey there again, Shortaoe!
If you go with a WD Blue 2 TB HDD and use it as a primary/booting drive, you might find it a bit slow. The bigger capacity drives in the WD Blue Family are in the 5,400-RPM class and are a reliable secondary storage solution for massive data and backup (in enclosures).
The 7,200-RPM WD Blue is only up to 1 TB in size and would deliver solid performance as a booting HDD. However, the WD Black could outperform it as a system HDD, but you'd need to upgrade to a UEFI-based motherboard.
Let me know if you have queries!
SuperSoph_WD
If you go with a WD Blue 2 TB HDD and use it as a primary/booting drive, you might find it a bit slow. The bigger capacity drives in the WD Blue Family are in the 5,400-RPM class and are a reliable secondary storage solution for massive data and backup (in enclosures).
The 7,200-RPM WD Blue is only up to 1 TB in size and would deliver solid performance as a booting HDD. However, the WD Black could outperform it as a system HDD, but you'd need to upgrade to a UEFI-based motherboard.
Let me know if you have queries!
SuperSoph_WD
You didn’t specify, but it sounds like you want the 4 TB drive as your only drive in the computer. (including Windows booting). I’ll go with that assumption.
You can read through thousands of posts on the net if you like. The following is the simplest and best solution when you have an older computer like yours and want only one drive,.. and the entire drive capacity is 4TB.
I’ve read hundreds of posts in hundreds of forums on the topic. Forget what all the thousands of misinformed computer wiz kids will tell you. YES,.. you can install a 4TB hard drive on any older standard BIOS MBR booting computer (like yours). It’s easy and works fine. The only prerequisite is that you can install Windows 7 64 bit on your system. (32bit Windows will not work with this method) Don’t worry about what kind of BIOS it has. Did I already mention this,… DON’T WORRY ABOUT THE BIOS. So long as you can install 64 bit Windows 7 (which uses MBR booting). Forget all the naysayers. There are some that will argue the sequence and method. Save yourself a lot of frustration. Here’s how it’s done.
ALL THIS MUST BE DONE ON AN EMPTY 4TB HARD DRIVE.
1) Download a Linux mint live CD from any running Windows system and burn the ISO to disk.
2) Now boot your computer (with the empty 4TB drive) using the Linux mint live CD.
3) When you’re fully in Linux mint, run GPARTED and partition the drive as follows.
4) Make a primary MBR partition of your choice to install Windows. Format the partition NTFS (4096 blocks). THERE ARE TWO VERY IMPORTANT THINGS TO REMEMBER HERE. READ CAREFULLY. Your first primary partition should NOT be larger than 1.8TB. (about half the drive). DO NOT MAKE IT LARGER THAN 1.8TB! It can be smaller,.. but NOT larger than 1.8TB if you want only two partitions on the entire drive.
5) In Gparted,..set your first partition to “active”
6) Now again in Linux mint Gparted,.. make another primary partition that will take up the remainder of the drive. The MOST IMPORTANT thing is that the last partition MUST BE STARTED BEFORE THE 2 TB point. I’ll say it again,..”BEFORE THE 2 TB POINT”. So if your first partition was 1.8 as I suggested,.. you’ll be fine.
7) Format the second partition NTFS. (4096 blocks)
8) Apply all changes to the drive in Gparted. The drive is now ready to use.
9) Now boot from your Windows 7 64 bit installation disk. Windows will see both partitions. Leave partitions “as is” and install to the first partition.
There you go. You’ve made a 4TB drive totally usable in an older BIOS MBR booting system. The entire 4 TB drive is usable (actual size of the entire drive will be around 3.6TB because of the way Windows formats with 4096 blocks).
Final notes. You can have 3 partitions done with a 4TB drive. SO LONG AS THE LAST PARTITION IS STARTED BEFORE THE 2 TB POINT. I format my 4TB drives with 3 partitions this way;
First primary partition 1GB (.1 TB) for Windows 64 bit install.
Second primary partition 1.7TB.
Third primary partition all the remaining space on the 4TB drive.
The entire drive has been utilized WITHOUT ANY WASTED SPACE.
All this will ONLY work on the 4TB drive. The same can not be done (without wasting space) on a 5TB drive.
A Windows 7 booting system with a single 4TB drive with no wasted space on an older BIOS MBR booting computer,..YES YOU CAN. Exactly the way I’ve specified. You do NOT need a new EFI BIOS with this method.
This method has been proven and thoroughly tested exactly as indicated.
You can read through thousands of posts on the net if you like. The following is the simplest and best solution when you have an older computer like yours and want only one drive,.. and the entire drive capacity is 4TB.
I’ve read hundreds of posts in hundreds of forums on the topic. Forget what all the thousands of misinformed computer wiz kids will tell you. YES,.. you can install a 4TB hard drive on any older standard BIOS MBR booting computer (like yours). It’s easy and works fine. The only prerequisite is that you can install Windows 7 64 bit on your system. (32bit Windows will not work with this method) Don’t worry about what kind of BIOS it has. Did I already mention this,… DON’T WORRY ABOUT THE BIOS. So long as you can install 64 bit Windows 7 (which uses MBR booting). Forget all the naysayers. There are some that will argue the sequence and method. Save yourself a lot of frustration. Here’s how it’s done.
ALL THIS MUST BE DONE ON AN EMPTY 4TB HARD DRIVE.
1) Download a Linux mint live CD from any running Windows system and burn the ISO to disk.
2) Now boot your computer (with the empty 4TB drive) using the Linux mint live CD.
3) When you’re fully in Linux mint, run GPARTED and partition the drive as follows.
4) Make a primary MBR partition of your choice to install Windows. Format the partition NTFS (4096 blocks). THERE ARE TWO VERY IMPORTANT THINGS TO REMEMBER HERE. READ CAREFULLY. Your first primary partition should NOT be larger than 1.8TB. (about half the drive). DO NOT MAKE IT LARGER THAN 1.8TB! It can be smaller,.. but NOT larger than 1.8TB if you want only two partitions on the entire drive.
5) In Gparted,..set your first partition to “active”
6) Now again in Linux mint Gparted,.. make another primary partition that will take up the remainder of the drive. The MOST IMPORTANT thing is that the last partition MUST BE STARTED BEFORE THE 2 TB point. I’ll say it again,..”BEFORE THE 2 TB POINT”. So if your first partition was 1.8 as I suggested,.. you’ll be fine.
7) Format the second partition NTFS. (4096 blocks)
8) Apply all changes to the drive in Gparted. The drive is now ready to use.
9) Now boot from your Windows 7 64 bit installation disk. Windows will see both partitions. Leave partitions “as is” and install to the first partition.
There you go. You’ve made a 4TB drive totally usable in an older BIOS MBR booting system. The entire 4 TB drive is usable (actual size of the entire drive will be around 3.6TB because of the way Windows formats with 4096 blocks).
Final notes. You can have 3 partitions done with a 4TB drive. SO LONG AS THE LAST PARTITION IS STARTED BEFORE THE 2 TB POINT. I format my 4TB drives with 3 partitions this way;
First primary partition 1GB (.1 TB) for Windows 64 bit install.
Second primary partition 1.7TB.
Third primary partition all the remaining space on the 4TB drive.
The entire drive has been utilized WITHOUT ANY WASTED SPACE.
All this will ONLY work on the 4TB drive. The same can not be done (without wasting space) on a 5TB drive.
A Windows 7 booting system with a single 4TB drive with no wasted space on an older BIOS MBR booting computer,..YES YOU CAN. Exactly the way I’ve specified. You do NOT need a new EFI BIOS with this method.
This method has been proven and thoroughly tested exactly as indicated.
TRENDING THREADS
-
-
-
-
Question Need Help - Low CPU Performance, Bad RAM Stability, Missing 4-pin Power (12600K + 4060 Ti)
- Started by Luca_21
- Replies: 3
-
-
News Nvidia may release the RTX 5080 and 5070 Super with boosted memory configurations according to leaker- Started by Admin
- Replies: 22
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram