Can't initialize 3tb HDD in WIN 7x64 system. Shows as 0gb WDC in Bios, Can't see it in Win7

deracial · Mar 12, 2013

Hi, I am doing a new build and have run into this problem.
Here are my system Specs:

GA-x79-UP4 motherboard.
Intel I7 - 3820
16 gb 2133 mhz Ram
Corsair Force 128 gb 2.5" ssd (OS drive)
1x WDC Green 640 gb hdd
1x WDC green 1tb HDD
Raedeon 5770 GPU
FSP Aurum Gold 750W PSU

I also have a 3tb WDC Green HDD attached. When I go into the Bios, I can see the drive under ATA Devices. It lists its serial name (WDC30...etc) Space = 0gb

I can not see the drive in disk management, or device manager.

I am running version 2.7 of the Motherboards BIOS.

I have been reading forum posts all day and can't find anything useful. I think my board is UEFI as it is brand new 2011 board, although I saw that Gigabyte released 3tb unlocker utilities for earlier Motherboards (Not X79).

I have tried switching the sata port it is attached to, restarting, booting into win 7 install disk (To see if I could format it there).

All of the help about this is concerned with the 2.2 tb problem or the 746 gb problem. This isn't either of those.

Thank you so much in advance for all your help.

edogawa · Mar 12, 2013

In your bios can you make sure "hot swap" is enabled. I had a weird thing happen before where I could not see more than 3 drives in Windows unless all the drives were hot-swap enabled on my board.

Do you have AHCI enabled?

deracial · Mar 12, 2013

ACHI is enabled for most drives. But the main controller is set as IDE.

Where would I choose the Hot Swap option? I cant seem to find it.

EDIT: When I changed the onchip Sata Controller from IDE to ACHI I got an error loading operating system on a black screen. Had to restart.

deracial · Mar 12, 2013

Okay, So I can finally see the HDD in Disk Managment.

Now I am running into an error when I try to initialize it in GPT.

After a few seconds of thinking it says "The request could not be completed because of an I/O error."

Any suggestions?

bryonhowley · Mar 12, 2013

Well you can't change from IDE to AHCI on a running system. And I thing you have to be in AHCI in order to use a 3TB drive but I am not sure on that.

deracial · Mar 12, 2013

The HDD is showing in Data Lifeguard as 0gb.

deracial · Mar 12, 2013

Re: Byronhowley

So do I need to clean install win 7 with AHCI selected in Bios?

Or will changing it in Bios, then restarting be enough?

edogawa · Mar 13, 2013

deracial :

Okay, please follow this guide: http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=155186

Can you show me a screen shot of what shows up when your right click on the drive in disk management?

Guest · Sep 3, 2013

i have the same problem here

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Can't initialize 3tb HDD in WIN 7x64 system. Shows as 0gb WDC in Bios, Can't see it in Win7

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