Cannot format 4 TB drive into two equal partitions

dg27 · Jan 19, 2016

I have an HGST 4 TB drive that I use for storage. Right now it's in an external case. I use a WD TV Live, which only recognizes drives up to 2 TB. Since I'd like that device to see this drive, I've been trying to reformat it (I have the data elsewhere) into two ~1863 GB partitions (Windows sees this as 3725.9 GB.)

I use Acronis WD Edition, which I've used to repartition drives many times. Usually there's no problem splitting the drive into two partitions that are the same size. For some reason this is only letting me do one partition as 1.639 TB and the other as 2 TB.

Wondering if anyone else has ever run into this sort of thing.

Ironsounds · Jan 19, 2016

Hello... Most drives are rounded to the nearest larger size... there is actually less than 4TB available on your drive. Depending on the partition, format, block size and type will even lose more space... balance it the best you can.

dg27 · Jan 19, 2016

Ironsounds :

I'm aware of these issues and like I said, Windows sees this 3725.90.

3725.90 GB = 3.638 TB

Acronis sees this 3.638 TB

I'm not talking about losing space or "missing gbs". I'm talking about the fact that Acronis isn't letting me create two partitions that are 1.819 TB (or 1862.9 GB): equal sizes of the total that's recognized and usable.

For example, I have a 4 TB WD My Book that I repartitioned into two partitions of 1862.99 GB (1.81 TB) each (with Acronis). I'm trying to match that so my backup drives are consistent with the source drives.

That's the issue I'm trying to resolve.

Ironsounds · Jan 19, 2016

Hello... Just try and use Windows OS drive tools... any Install disk has Partition/drive tools on it too, if you wanna do it outside Windows OS.
are you starting by Deleting all partitions first?
what format do you need?
1) Try changing the Block size and see if that get you closer.
2) Do this in DOS mode bootable OS.

dg27 · Jan 19, 2016

I'll try that. I just thought it was weird because Acronis is very straightforward and I've split drives like this many times with no issues. Thanks.

dg27 · Jan 19, 2016

New wrinkle: OK, so I gave up on trying to partition this WD Black 4 TB 50-50 (two partitions the same size). I put it in an external case, partitioned, then moved it to my machine (Dell Studio XPS 9100, Win 7 SP1; Samsung 840 Pro 512 GB boot drive). The system just will not boot with it installed internally. The same exact thing happened with my HGST 4 TB drive (which I've had for a while and posted about here previously).

Both drives are GPT. The HGST is still 4 TB; I always thought that was the reason it wouldn't boot. But now with this one the same thing. As soon as I pulled it out and put it back in the external case, the system boots up fine. I really wanted to have both of these drives as internal, but it's no go.

I wonder if there is some Intel driver I'm missing?

SuperSoph_WD · Jan 20, 2016

Hey there, dg27!

I'd suggest you to go to your motherboard manufacturer's website and make sure you have all the latest SATA controller/chipset drivers for your mobo. Do you have any OS/boot partitions on these 4 TB HDDs? It's possible that something like that could prevent the system from booting.
Since the WD Black works okay from the external case, I'd strongly recommend you to test it using WD's Data LifeGuard Diagnostics for Windows. Running the QUICK and EXTENDED tests from the utility will help us determine the health and SMART status of the HDD. Keep in mind that you'd need to be patient with the Extended test as it might take some time due to the big capacity of the hard drive.

Give it a try and let me know how it goes.

SuperSoph_WD

dg27 · Jan 20, 2016

Thanks for your reply.

SuperSoph_WD :

I'll do that: This seems to be the likeliest culprit.

SuperSoph_WD :

Definitelty. I wiped the partitions on both and reformatted.

SuperSoph_WD :

I'll do that if the above doesn't work; I've used this before and know that with a big drive it takes forever.

Thanks!

xoiio · Jan 20, 2016

Try parted magic, you can manually type in the exact size for a partition, and should be able to nail it as close to on the nose as possible.

dg27 · Jan 20, 2016

Thanks--I'll try that (you can normally do this in Acronis). Right now I need to figure out why my system won't boot with these big drives installed internally (regardless of partition size).

xoiio · Jan 20, 2016

Yeah, I thought you were able to as well in acronis, but I haven't used any of the newer versions of it (past 2011)

Is your BIOS up to date? I don't see why that would affect it, but it could cause an issue if the motherboard manufacturer made a mistake.

dg27 · Jan 20, 2016

BIOS is definitely up to date. I think it's a driver issue.

Previously I had an HGST 4 TB drive installed internally. When I upgraded to a Samsung 840 Pro SSD I did a clean install of Win 7 Pro 64X. Since then I could never get a 4 TB drive to work internally. It just hangs forever on the Windows startup screen. I moved that drive to an external case. Now my WD CB 2 TB data drive is starting to show it's age. So I bought a WD CB 4 TB drive and wanted to split it (knowing that my system won't boot with a 4 TB drive installed internally). So I repartitioned yesterday as 1.638 TB and 2 TB and it still wouldn't boot. One other possibility: Does the actual internal SATA port matter in terms of which is used for the boot as opposed to the data drive(s)? I'm just trying to look at this from all possible angles. Yesterday after I installed the WD and when it wouldn't boot I went boot settings and one of my 2 optical drives was selected as the boot device. I changed it and thought that would resolve the issue, but it didn't. As soon as I pulled the WD 4 TB out it booted fine.

xoiio · Jan 20, 2016

Sata port should not matter in the slightest unless you are trying to raid the drives.

One thing to possibly try is powering it from a different rail on the psu (Different set of sata power cables) in case for some reason it's drawing the voltage too low to work properly. Also see if you can try it on another power source, like a usb hard drive adapter, perhaps there is a fault in the controller for the drive itself.

dg27 · Jan 20, 2016

xoiio :

I didn't think so. There is no RAID involved.

xoiio :

Hmmm..this is an older desktop (Dell Studio XPS 9100). There are only three power connectors compatible with SATA. (They're on a single cable designed to plugged in to a maximum of three drives.) There isn't much leeway: I'm using the 1st for the SSD, the 2md for my existing WD CB 2 TB data drive, and the 3rd for the WD 4 TB.

Or do you mean changing where that cable is plugged into the PSU, i.e., the other end? I've never messed with that.

xoiio :

Note that both the HGST and WD 4 TB drives work fine in USB external cases.

xoiio · Jan 20, 2016

I would guess it's maybe an issue with the power supply not being able to put out enough power.

Generally when you see a group of cables, say 3x sata, and another gorup, 3x ide, they will be powered via different "rails", or different parts of the voltage regulation circuitry, so too much load on one can cause it to drop if the supply isn't rated high enough for that output, or if there is something else wrong (depending on the age of the supply, capacitors can go bad, dust can build up between pins and cause issues, etc).

Maybe try an IDE to SATA adapter, and see if it works on another rail. Another option would be to try a different power supply with that computer as well, and if neither corrects the issue, you've narrowed it down to being an issue with the motherboard itself.

dg27 · Jan 20, 2016

Thanks for all your input.

I'm in the process of gearing up for a new build sometime this year, so I doubt I'd mess with a new PSU.

The only really puzzling thing is that this problem only cropped up after doing a clean install of Win 7 Pro, which is why drivers seem to be involved.

SuperSoph_WD · Jan 20, 2016

In addition to @xoiio's recommendations, I'd suggest you to consider giving these HDDs a try in a different PC rig altogether.
Check if they'll be recognized properly there.

If you haven't done this already, you can also try resolving the issue by doing a BIOS reset. This would get your BIOS settings back to factory defaults, so you might have to reconfigure some stuff afterwards, but it might also help with these 4 TB HDD getting properly detected via SATA.

Have you also checked for any BIOS updates on your motherboard manufacturer's website?

SuperSoph_WD

dg27 · Jan 20, 2016

SuperSoph_WD :

I can try my wife's desktop.

SuperSoph_WD :

Have not done this. After looking at the link either reseating the battery or doing it from within the BIOS seems the simplest. (Messing with the jumpers has me a bit worried.) What kind of stuff might need to be reconfigured?

SuperSoph_WD :

I confirmed at the Dell website that I have the latest BIOS and in fact flashed it before I did the clean install.

Thanks for all your help (everyone)...

xoiio · Jan 20, 2016

You pretty much just need to change the boot order if you ever use a cd or usb key once windows is installed, aside from that everything will be the same as it was from factory. I usually pull the battery and leave it for 5 minutes (with the mains power lead unplugged of course)

dg27 · Jan 20, 2016

xoiio :

Does doing this (resetting the BIOS by reseating the battery) affect any hardware/software configs done after it left the factory?

SuperSoph_WD · Jan 20, 2016

Everything you had tempered with personally in the BIOS settings would go back to its default out-of-the-factory state, @dg27.
If you want to keep your peace of mind that you'd set up everything properly afterwards, you can take pictures/screenshots of each BIOS menu page.
This is one way of ensuring that you'd reconfigure the right settings.

SuperSoph_WD

dg27 · Jan 20, 2016

SuperSoph_WD :

OK--this helps. It only affects things that are configured from within the BIOS. I'll give it a go. Thanks.

dg27 · Jan 21, 2016

SuperSoph_WD :

I'm assuming that this will change the AHCI setting, right? That was changed automatically when I installed Win 7 Pro on an SSD.

I'm wondering whether this will cause booting problems if I revert to factory setting in the BIOS. (I'm assuming I revert the settings, then reboot.)

SuperSoph_WD · Jan 21, 2016

Yes, @dg27! The reset will influence the SATA mode settings in BIOS! It is possible that this is the reason if the AHCI driver was installed automatically with the Windows OS. Windows drivers are more generic and not always the best choice for best performance of your system. I'd recommend you to use the AHCI driver provided by your original motherboard/chipset manufacturer.
However, you'd still need to edit the BIOS settings and set the AHCI mode BEFORE booting into the Win 7 Pro SSD.

SuperSoph_WD

dg27 · Jan 21, 2016

When I go to Device Manager and check the driver properties for the Samsung 840 Pro it is showing a Microsoft driver dated 6/21/2006. This seems really weird (way before SSDs, right?) Should I replace with a Dell driver?

Cannot format 4 TB drive into two equal partitions

Distinguished

Champion

Distinguished

Champion

Distinguished

Distinguished

Glorious

Distinguished

Honorable

Distinguished

Honorable

Distinguished

Honorable

Distinguished

Honorable

Distinguished

Glorious

Distinguished

Honorable

Distinguished

Glorious

Distinguished

Distinguished

Glorious

Distinguished

Share this page