upgrading from 1.5 TB to 5 TB

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mrjoker

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My system is Windows 10. My OS is on a 2 TB drive and is working fine.

I have several internal hard drives on my system. A 1.5 TB drive is failing so I have removed it so as not to have it get any worse while I get a new replacement drive. I was planing to repalce it with a WD Black 5 TB drive.

My question is will this work ok with Windows 10? just using it to storage data.

Thank you for your quick response.
 
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mrjoker

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Thanks for the replies, I built my rig in 2006, I don't think that my bios supports "Windows only supports booting from a GPT disk on systems that contain Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) boot firmware." my motherboard is: Asus P5E3 Deluxe. I have heard that if the drive supports GPT that it may still work. However, I have not been able to verify that WD Black Drive does have GPT built in.

 
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ArtPog

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You really should do a bit of Google research on "MBR and GPT partitioning". There's a good deal of valuable information you'll come across on this subject and I think it should clear up your misconceptions concerning these partitioning schemes.
 
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mrjoker

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Art I agree doing research is good, that is what I have been doing and because of all the wealth of information out there, while it is helpful, it is also sometimes confusing as the info does not always agree.

But thanks for the suggestion, and I will keep on educating my self the best I can. At my age technology is moving faster then my brain can comprehend.

Thanks
 
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ArtPog

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Believe me, being a "senior" myself I fully understand you dilemma attempting to cope with this myriad of "computerese". I trust you understand I meant no disrespect with my suggestion to undertake some research on this subject. I just thought it would be appropriate for you to consult a number of experts for an in-depth review of this often rather complicated subject. Frankly, all too often in my view - as well intentioned as they are - the responses to queries contain a good deal of extraneous information and sadly, even misinformation, in my experience. So it behooves one to be reasonably cautious in undertaking recommended operations before attempting to confirm the accuracy (as best he/she can) of the offered advice.
 
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mrjoker

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For sure, I did not take it that you were disrespecting me at all and was grateful for any and all suggestions. Usually I start with searching the info on the web, and reading what various tech supports sites, and geeks have to say and most of the time I think I understand it just fine. But this one I was a bit confused as some stated you needed to have certain firmware etc. But I think after reading various links and reading some more info on WD site that I understand it well enough to go ahead and purchase the 5 TB rather then another 2 TB. That way I have some room to move data around as I am sure another drive will fail sooner then later as they are getting to be more then 5 yrs old with the exception of my system drive which is fairly new.

Thanks again for your advice and suggestions.

Have a Great Day
 
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ArtPog

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OK. Just one other tip I might pass on to you re this subject of MBR-GPT partitioning, although it probably won't be relevant given your situation...

Assuming that your 2 TB boot drive has been MBR-partitioned; in the event it bears the GPT partitioning scheme read no further...

Let's say that you purchase a 5 TB HDD and of course GPT-partition the disk. I realize that you probably would be using that drive for storage purposes of one kind or another but say that at some point in the future you decide to clone the contents of your 2 TB drive (containing the OS) to the 5 TB disk.

Here's where a problem arises. As a result of the clone the 5 TB disk will become MBR-partitioned regardless of the fact that it was formatted GPT style. The partition style of the source disk overrides the destination disk's partitioning scheme. Capiche?

Under those circumstances it will not be possible to convert the 5 TB drive to GPT without data loss. At least we haven't found a program with that capability.

As I've indicated, the preceding probably would not be relevant in your situation since I wouldn't expect that you would choose to clone the OS over to a large-capacity HDD such as the 5 TB disk.
 
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mrjoker

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Yes you are correct, I would keep my 2 TB drive as the boot drive and it is MBR formatted. I only use the new 5 TB drive for data storage and would have to format it with GPT in order to use all of its capacity. In the future if I did update my Boot Drive I would purchase a new HDD. However, I would not see any need to have a larger one for that So could clone it over and keep my MBR formatting on it.

What had confused me is some time I ago I was looking into this and at that time my understanding was that my Bios or firmware would have to support UEFI and mine does not. But after reading several articles today, I realized it did not have to support UEFI. However, if I was upgrading the Boot Drive to a larger drive it would have presented a different of challenges for sure, as you indicated.

Thanks again.
 
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