WD Cavier Green 3TB divided into two disk

Carlos Rommel Sembrano · Jul 28, 2013

Hmm..

Can you help about this little problem of mine sir..

Actually I bought a 3TB WD Green Cavier last time..

when I look it in the Disk management its been divided into two disk... Disk 1= 2047GB and Disk 2= 746GB..

How Can I merge this two disk into one?..so I can partition them equally later in partitioning..

Here's an image for the problem for better understanding sir..

http://s18.postimg.org/btz9bczsp/3tb.png

Hoping for a solutionable asnwer!

RealBeast · Jul 28, 2013

Backup any files on it as they will be gone after this: then in disk management right click on the window of the disk that has the drive letters L and M and says healthy, etc. to the right of the gray box with disk 3, etc. When you right click select delete volume. Do that for each L and M. Once you have deleted both volumes you can reinitialize and partition however you wish.

It appears that the drive was initialized on a machine that does not support drives > 2.2Tb, so a third (N) drive was created also as a separate disk. You would also need to unpartition (delete the volume on) that one too.

What OS and motherboard do you have? Do they support large drives?

geofelt · Jul 28, 2013

From the screen you show, disk 3 can be combined by deleting one partition or the other. If you have any valued data, move it off first.
Some older operating systems did not allow hard drive partitions larger than 2tb. Perhaps that is why your drive was set up that way.

My take is that partitioning hurts performance, and should only be done for a functional reason.

4745454b · Jul 28, 2013

Why is that Geo? To my knowledge partitioning doesn't hurt performance at all.

If you want a drive larger then 2TB, read the windows/MS knowledge base article.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2581408

popatim · Jul 28, 2013

It looks like you have some kind of drive overlay or virtual drive loaded otherwise disk3 would show as having 3 partitions.

The other possibility is your bios lacks support for larger drives and split it into two. Check for a bios update.

RealBeast · Jul 28, 2013

popatim :

I agree -- it appears that the 3TB drive is split into one 2.2TB drive that is partitioned and a second smaller "drive" with the residual space. It it was done on his current rig, it may be an older machine/OS that cannot handle large drives due to bios or controller limitations.

Carlos Rommel Sembrano · Jul 29, 2013

RealBeast :

windows 7 32 bit motherboard model is MS-1422..my BIOS is MSI VR420 version: A1422MS Ver 1.03

My laptop is bought like 5 years ago ahahah...

But if my laptop can't read it as full 3tb and make it divided into two disk..

Can I partitioned it in a laptop or pc supporting 3TB?..Can my laptop read it now after then?..

Sorry i'm not knowledgeable about this stuff...sorry sorry..

Hawkeye22 · Jul 29, 2013

You need to use GPT partitions for greater than 2TB, otherwise MBR is fine.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/gg463525.aspx#X-201104111922342

Q. Can Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows Server 2008 read, write, and boot from GPT disks?

A. Yes, all versions can use GPT partitioned disks for data. Booting is only supported for 64-bit editions on UEFI-based systems.

RealBeast · Jul 29, 2013

A 3TB drive on a laptop -- how is it connected, with a USB dock I assume?

I doubt that the GL960 chipset would support formatting and partitioning 3TB drives, so I would unpartition it in a newer machine, initialize in GPT then create the two partitions. Then you should be able to use it in a USB dock on your laptop.

Remember that all data will be lost when this is done to the drive.

Carlos Rommel Sembrano · Jul 29, 2013

RealBeast :

ahaha ofcourse not in laptop just an external HDD ^__^ sorry for that..

Hmmm..

you said that it appears that the drive was initialized on a machine that does not support drives > 2.2Tb, so a third (N) drive was created also as a separate disk because my laptop is like a little old -___-.

if I inserted it in a new or something latest unit and can read it as a full 3tb in disk management not divided into two disk..then I partitioned my 3TB hdd there..can my laptop still read it as full 3tb?..because you said my drive was initialized on a machine that does not support drives > 2.2Tb, so a third (N) drive was created also as a separate disk then there is a possibility that even if I manage to make it into one disk and partition it...then only a 2tb portion of my 3tb will can be read..

sorry for my english it's a little confusing tell me if you understand all my statement.. ^____^

RealBeast · Jul 29, 2013

Just attach it to a machine that is newer -- that does support 3TB drives, then delete the 3 volumes L, M, and N in disk management. Then it will be unpartitioned. You can then initialize it as a GPT drive and create two equal partitions if that is your goal.

Carlos Rommel Sembrano · Jul 29, 2013

RealBeast :

my point is what if I do all that sir and the two disk already make it into one and I can partition it now equally...because my goal is "to make it into one disk and partition it into three partition equally"..then I'm going to use it now in my old laptop to use...does my laptop can read it as a 3TB ?.if I partition my 3TB HDD something like this a three partition of 931GB..there's a possiblity that in my computer it will just appear a two partition of 931GB ..because you said it's been initialized to a machine that does not support a 2.2tb?...

RealBeast · Jul 29, 2013

That is why you need to completely unpartition it (delete all three volumes) on a computer that can format a GPT disk. Then you can make whatever number of partitions you want. The action of unpartitioning and repartitioning on a capable computer will allow all partitions to show on the same physical disk.

As long as your USB dock supports drives > 2.2TB you are fine, most that I've come across do -- but not all of them do so you might want to check the manufacturer web site to see that yours does before spending too much time re-partitioning the drive.

geofelt · Jul 31, 2013

4745454b :

If you have two partitions allocated on a hard drive, the activity will be physically separated across a largish distance.
That means that any access arm positioning will have to traverse further and take longer. It is a moot point on a ssd which has no positioning latency.

Another performance issue has to do with space management, and that applies to both a hard drive and a ssd. It is easier to manage one large free space than several small ones. If you start to run out of room in a small partition, then some sort of reorganization needs to take place. Either defrag on a hard drive, or nand block consolidation on a ssd.

RealBeast · Jul 31, 2013

While I don't know the performance issues involved, I have to agree 100% with geofelt -- partitioning hard drives on home machines in the modern era makes no sense, it's like short yellow bus computing. Learn how to manage your files on a single partition. I have an NAS box with 8 3Tb drives in RAID 6 and it is quite simple to manage as a single partition.

Partitioning is so 70's. (Trust me, I was partitioning in the 70's).

mikrev007 · Aug 2, 2013

One advantage of using multiple partitions is that you can make sure where files end up. Files on partition 1 will have the greatest performance when reading/writing.

RealBeast · Aug 2, 2013

mikrev007 :

I've had my files ending up where I want them for decades without using partitions to do it, so I am unclear on how a partition makes a difference for that. Seems that good file structure and some self discipline are sufficient.

mikrev007 · Aug 2, 2013

RealBeast :

You cannot really make sure where they end up physically without using partitions. Putting files into folders is only a logical way to place files.

RealBeast · Aug 2, 2013

I gotcha, you meant physical location, although I really don't worry about that -- it's not like a different partition helps if the drive dies. I save lots of large video files on big RAID 6 arrays, so I just dump it all in a giant bin.

Sure wish Windows supported ZFS though.

4745454b · Aug 2, 2013

Back when my widows was on a normal drive I always made sure my OS was on the first partition. That would put it on the outer edge of the disk, where the transfer speeds are best. I get what Geo is saying now. I thought he meant just the act of partitioning would make things slower. Yes there is arm travel, but you are going to get arm travel no matter what.

WD Cavier Green 3TB divided into two disk

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