Seagate 3TB hard drive only showing 746gb

[Real Macoy]

Hello Wise Folks,

I tried to install a new Seagate 3TB internal hard drive and it shows only 746 gb (746.39 gb in the disk management utility).

Seagate 3TB Barracuda - ST3000DM001 - 9YN166


My system details:
Dell XPS 8300
windows 7 home premium - 64bit
intel i7-2600 cpu @3.4ghz
motherboard - Dell - 0Y2MRG

corsair Force GT - SSD - 120gb - for OS
seagate barracuda 2TB hard drive - for storage (no problems when installed)


notes:
Bios shows the drive as 3TB
Dell's own setup diagnostic utility shows it as 3TB
Intel RST utility shows the drive as 2,795GB (3TB)


I converted it to GPT but it remained at 746GB.

Also, I used Seagate's firmware update utility to update the firmware.

I have tried the various solutions described in the other thread, BUT still not working.


---

Any assistance would be most appreciated.

What can I do?

Thank-you,
Sean

 

[Real Macoy]

Found a work-around using the Seagate DiscWizard found here:

http://seagatewtb.test3.cs3.force.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/218619en/?language=en_US&c=Products%3ASerial_ATA_Drives_Seagate_Barracuda&fs=Search&pn=1

hope this might help the next person to have this issue.

cheers,
sean

 

[shellcool]

Thank you so much for this!
I just got 6GB of ram going to 12GB now and the 3TB Seagate barracuda, the drive was showing up as 746GB in Bios and 746GB in windows computer management and i been looking for around an hour found this Seagate know what they are doing obviously!

Also my name is Shaun also 😀

 

[spsalsm]

Ah, very nice! Good to know that others are experiencing the exact same thing.

Thanks!

 

[Real Macoy]

Hey guys,

glad you found this helpful.

@Shaun - isn't that suposed to be spelled as Sean 😉

Cheers from Vancouver,
Sean

 

[shellcool]

Hey guys,

glad you found this helpful.

@Shaun - isn't that suposed to be spelled as Sean 😉

Cheers from Vancouver,
Sean

Depends where your from I suppose, I know three spellings Shaun, Sean, Shawn 😀

 

[hstar]

Found a work-around using the Seagate DiscWizard found here:

http://seagatewtb.test3.cs3.force.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/218619en/?language=en_US&c=Products%3ASerial_ATA_Drives_Seagate_Barracuda&fs=Search&pn=1

hope this might help the next person to have this issue.

cheers,
sean

For me Seagate DisWizard even didnt' help. I had to download latest Seatools for DOS, boot the pc using the cd.. and choose it to Max Native Size..and it brought back to 3TB...

 

[shellcool]

For me Seagate DisWizard even didnt' help. I had to download latest Seatools for DOS, boot the pc using the cd.. and choose it to Max Native Size..and it brought back to 3TB...

For me Seagate DiscWizard did work but I got a total of 2.71TB out of the 3TB, I just settled at that thinking it was normal because all my previous hard drives have had the same effect my 1TB hard drive had 920GB and my 250GB had 232GB both new with nothing on them, no OS, nothing.

SO with my 3TB Seagate did I cut myself short 290GB? 😛

 

[Hawkeye22]

Since you have windows 7 x64 and your bios and RST drivers show 3TB, all you need is for the drive to be partioned as a GPT drive. No need for any discwizard or seatools.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/gg463525.aspx

 

[prawnballnightmare]

Hello, I had a similar problem, which I solved by formatting as a GPT drive. All was fine for 9 months, until a few days ago when I turned on my computer to be told that my HDD was listed as RAW rather than NTFS and in order to access my drive I needed to format it, as the drive "does not contain a valid partition". It turns out that the version of the intel RST driver you are using is VERY IMPORTANT! Here is a forum post that I've found while trying to post-mortem the problem.

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1632902

Essentially, some versions of the intel driver recognise the full 3TB of the drive, but when you come to write data past a total of 2TB as I did, the partition table becomes corrupted and all the data disappears. I'm not entirely sure of the cut off, but check you are running at least the following version of the Intel Rapid Storage Technology (v10.6.0.1022) driver software. Look in device manager, find your intel sata controller - if that's what you have - and look at the driver version number.

If you've formatted as GPT and still aren't seeing the full 3TB, this could also be the culprit.

I'm very experienced with computers and I missed this, so I'm going around trying to make people aware before they lose their data. Even if you're keeping regular backups - and you must - if you've used two 3TB drives, this problem has the potential to wipe both copies simultaneously. Not cool!

 

[shellcool]

Hello, I had a similar problem, which I solved by formatting as a GPT drive. All was fine for 9 months, until a few days ago when I turned on my computer to be told that my HDD was listed as RAW rather than NTFS and in order to access my drive I needed to format it, as the drive "does not contain a valid partition". It turns out that the version of the intel RST driver you are using is VERY IMPORTANT! Here is a forum post that I've found while trying to post-mortem the problem.

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1632902

Essentially, some versions of the intel driver recognise the full 3TB of the drive, but when you come to write data past a total of 2TB as I did, the partition table becomes corrupted and all the data disappears. I'm not entirely sure of the cut off, but check you are running at least the following version of the Intel Rapid Storage Technology (v10.6.0.1022) driver software. Look in device manager, find your intel sata controller - if that's what you have - and look at the driver version number.

If you've formatted as GPT and still aren't seeing the full 3TB, this could also be the culprit.

I'm very experienced with computers and I missed this, so I'm going around trying to make people aware before they lose their data. Even if you're keeping regular backups - and you must - if you've used two 3TB drives, this problem has the potential to wipe both copies simultaneously. Not cool!

I used Seagare DiscWizard to unlock my 3TB drive? will i lose all my data at 2TB?

 

[prawnballnightmare]

I used Seagare DiscWizard to unlock my 3TB drive? will i lose all my data at 2TB?

You can find out if you have an intel sata controller from device manager in the IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers section. Right click on the intel controller in the list, go properties and then click on the drivers tab to view the driver version. I just looked it up, and >2TB drive support was added in version 10.1, I've read you should go for 10.6 and above.

Something else I discovered - I initialised and formatted my drive on a system suffering from this bug. The problem was carried across through a format on another system. It was only after deleting and replacing the partition that the problem went away.

All this said, I don't fully understand the problem, so don't take my word for it. The safest way is to back up your data regularly as 3 separate copies, keeping them in at least two separate geographical locations. It's a lot of work and money, but if the data is worth saving, it's worth doing properly.

Once you're backed up and safe, you can try writing more than 2TB to the drive and then you'll know for sure.

 

[mauigreg]

Hi there... I'm having the exact same problem and was stoked to see you found a solution, but when I click the link, it prompts me for a "salesforce" password. Any other source for your workaround? I'm desperate, Thanks so musch.

Found a work-around using the Seagate DiscWizard found here:

http://seagatewtb.test3.cs3.force.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/218619en/?language=en_US&c=Products%3ASerial_ATA_Drives_Seagate_Barracuda&fs=Search&pn=1

hope this might help the next person to have this issue.

cheers,
sean

 

[shellcool]

Hi there... I'm having the exact same problem and was stoked to see you found a solution, but when I click the link, it prompts me for a "salesforce" password. Any other source for your workaround? I'm desperate, Thanks so musch.

Yea that site was the official download back then but Seagate must have changed it I Google'd the software and I found this, http://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/discwizard/ thats the best I can do, I also screenshotted my "Seagate Disc Wizard" and the desktop icon I got download it and see if its the same http://gyazo.com/e2b49f526b4a194549c35838aefd448a and also I remember something about having to keep the software installed once you had used it to create partitions, so I kept it.