My 3TB Hard Drive Only Uses 2TB

[Remur]

Disk 1 is my 3TB HDD. For some reason the total 3TB of space is split off into three different virtual drives, but it's fine because I like it like that. However, the third drive doesn't let me format it. See screenshot above to see what my options are when right clicking it.

Hard Drive ( F: ) - 710GB
+
Hard Drive 2 ( G: ) - 1300GB
+
??? (Unallocated) - 745GB
=
2755GB (2.75TB)

So how do I format the third drive so it's usable?

 

[Pyree]

Use GPT instead of MBR.

 

[pauls3743]

The problem is that Windows cannot address a hard drive of type MBR bigger than 2TB (whether it's a MBR addressing issue or a limit coded into Windows I do not know). If you right click on the tab on the left of the partitions you will get a popup menu, select "convert to GPT", this will allow you to address and format the whole of the drive.

 

[Remur]

The problem is that Windows cannot address a hard drive of type MBR bigger than 2TB (whether it's a MBR addressing issue or a limit coded into Windows I do not know). If you right click on the tab on the left of the partitions you will get a popup menu, select "convert to GPT", this will allow you to address and format the whole of the drive.

It's greyed out.

 

[Pyree]

The problem is that Windows cannot address a hard drive of type MBR bigger than 2TB (whether it's a MBR addressing issue or a limit coded into Windows I do not know). If you right click on the tab on the left of the partitions you will get a popup menu, select "convert to GPT", this will allow you to address and format the whole of the drive.

Hard disk over 2T is fine as long as the partition is not over 2TB. The problem is that MBR can't have >4 partition.

@OP

Backup your things before converting.

 

[pauls3743]

Sorry, I had it in my head this could be done while there was data on the drive. A quick google does reveal tools which can do it

http://www.partitionwizard.com/help/convert-MBR-disk-to-GPT-disk.html
http://www.acronis.com/support/documentation/ABR11.5/index.html#1524.html

I haven't used either so cannot guarantee them but I would recommend backing up your drive before first.

 

[Remur]

The problem is that Windows cannot address a hard drive of type MBR bigger than 2TB (whether it's a MBR addressing issue or a limit coded into Windows I do not know). If you right click on the tab on the left of the partitions you will get a popup menu, select "convert to GPT", this will allow you to address and format the whole of the drive.

Hard disk over 2T is fine as long as the partition is not over 2TB. The problem is that MBR can't have >4 partition.

@OP

Backup your things before converting.

It doesn't let me convert as shown in the screenshot I replied with. Does converting erase the data on the drives?

 

[Pyree]

Yes. That's why I told you to backup data.

 

[Remur]

Yes. That's why I told you to backup data.

So, about the option to convert being grayed out?

 

[Pyree]

You need to backup your data, delete all volume so that the entire disk is unallocated space before converting to GPT.

 

[Derekp213]

1. right click my computer and then click manage

2. Click on disk management, should be on the left towards the bottom of the list.

3. look for your drive and right click and delete the 2.0 tb partition.

4. now right click on the white "Disk #" box and hit convert to GPT

5. Now right click on the Unallocated space (It has a black bar above it) and click new simple volume.

There you go, you should now have your full 3 tb hard drive ready to be used!

Please note that I used windows 7 ultimate 64 bit and this is what worked for me.

 

[dimafl666]

Watch video, very easy steps.

[video="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdO6PpQ2B3o"][/video]

 

[pauls3743]

Congratulations, you have successfully posted in a thread that is over a year old.

 

[Cos___]

The problem is that Windows cannot address a hard drive of type MBR bigger than 2TB (whether it's a MBR addressing issue or a limit coded into Windows I do not know). If you right click on the tab on the left of the partitions you will get a popup menu, select "convert to GPT", this will allow you to address and format the whole of the drive.

Thanks Pauls !!! Right click,convert to GPT ...that`s all )

 

[gundy03130]

1. right click my computer and then click manage

2. Click on disk management, should be on the left towards the bottom of the list.

3. look for your drive and right click and delete the 2.0 tb partition.

4. now right click on the white "Disk #" box and hit convert to GPT

5. Now right click on the Unallocated space (It has a black bar above it) and click new simple volume.

There you go, you should now have your full 3 tb hard drive ready to be used!

Please note that I used windows 7 ultimate 64 bit and this is what worked for me.

Derekp213,
Thank you! This worked for me (using the same OS as you). My first 3tb- had no issues with my 2tbs.

 

[TinBorgman]

Congratulations, you have successfully posted in a thread that is over a year old.

Several years later, and there are still people coming here to find solutions by reading posts, even if those posts are more than a year after the original post. I have found late posts with better, newer, more updated information more helpful, even. So, here is my problem. How do I delete the volume and convert to GPT when I only have one disk 0 which contains the operating system? It does not allow me to delete the unallocated volume which shows to the right of the primary volume which has my OS on it. I cannot convert the drive to GPT because I cannot delete the unallocated volume, ot os not even offered as an option. Extend and shrink are grayed out in the menu and "convert to GPT" is not even an option on the menus on any volume on my "disk 0." I do not have any disks beyond "disk 0" and I have noticed that all these deleting ov folumes and convertings to GPT seem to always be done on the "disk 1" and higher, rather than on "disk 0" which, in all instances I have observed on these boards and uoutube videos, has the oiperating system. My problem, I think, is that I want to use my full 3T drive and I have no toher hard drive and thus, it must be allocated properly (converted as well to GPT) DURING windows installation, but I am unable to control volume creation during installation, this seems to be something not allowed even in custom installation. Any help on this for folks who only have a "disk 0" showing up in disk management?

 

[USAFRet]

Congratulations, you have successfully posted in a thread that is over a year old.

Several years later, and there are still people coming here to find solutions by reading posts, even if those posts are more than a year after the original post. I have found late posts with better, newer, more updated information more helpful, even. So, here is my problem. How do I delete the volume and convert to GPT when I only have one disk 0 which contains the operating system? It does not allow me to delete the unallocated volume which shows to the right of the primary volume which has my OS on it. I cannot convert the drive to GPT because I cannot delete the unallocated volume, ot os not even offered as an option. Extend and shrink are grayed out in the menu and "convert to GPT" is not even an option on the menus on any volume on my "disk 0." I do not have any disks beyond "disk 0" and I have noticed that all these deleting ov folumes and convertings to GPT seem to always be done on the "disk 1" and higher, rather than on "disk 0" which, in all instances I have observed on these boards and uoutube videos, has the oiperating system. My problem, I think, is that I want to use my full 3T drive and I have no toher hard drive and thus, it must be allocated properly (converted as well to GPT) DURING windows installation, but I am unable to control volume creation during installation, this seems to be something not allowed even in custom installation. Any help on this for folks who only have a "disk 0" showing up in disk management?

Show us a screencap of your particular Disk Management window.

4 partions, and/or MBR partitioning...That is the problem.

 

[afkkey]

I had issues with connecting Seagate ST4000VN000 to Win 7 (64 bit) ultimate, mb - GA-EP45-DS4 (BIOS F10b) Summary - I just went back from AHCI to IDE to get it working. And danced with a tambourine.

So my steps were like this (reboots and obvious things omitted).
First Windows was installed in AHCI mode on an SSD. When installing Windows I already had 3 other HDDs connected - they worked perfectly fine after installation in AHCI mode.
Then I wanted to swap a 750 GB HDD for this ST4000VN000 - to use it just as a storage drive.
So after booting Windows the trick with GPT and MBR initially could not work in my case, and did not work cuz the size of the disk what the disk management showed was 1678,02 GB - I guess Windows only saw the part above 2 TB - that is when 'capacity beyond 2 TB overflows' according to this page:
support.microsoft.com/en-gb/kb/2581408. HD Tune Pro showed same size. Using Seagate DiscWizard didn't help - it also saw initially same space.
I booted from another Windows on another HDD that was installed in IDE mode. Disk management saw full space of 3,639 TB - I then used Seagate DiscWizard to add new disk (GPT mode).
Then I booted from my SSD Windows in AHCI mode - result was that I saw full space. But: every booting took 20+ minutes. And every time I actually accessed the disk via writing to it or reading from it - system either rebooted, or went to BSOD or explorer.exe was shut down. Tried deleting and initializing disk anew via disk management, Seagate DiscWizard and combinations - same result.
So I used the regedit way to go back from AHCI to IDE without reinstalling Windows. Then on ST4000VN000 deleted all partitions, disabled it, (softly) deleted it from the system, then reboot again, Seagate DiscWizard-Add new disk-GPT-disk management-partition. In Russia we have a saying that recently gained popularity - 'dancing with a tambourine' - it's used to describe doing something without a clue whether the method used is correct, so after dancing around this disk with a tambourine and glancing more and more gaily at a hammer lying in the corner of the room for 8 hours I got this Seagate to work.