Old 3 Terabyte HD, new system. Can't access partition.

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
E

epp555

Commendable
Jan 3, 2017
7
0
1,510
Okay so here is my situation.

My OS is installed onto a SSD.

I had a 3 Terabyte hard drive from Seagate. Since windows doesn't do more than 2T, when I installed the drive I also installed some Seagate-wizard tool which (I cannot find anymore(thanks Seagate)) made the rest of the space (756) on the 3T drive into another "Drive" it appeared in my computer as "F:" or something.

Fast forward, I disconnect all my drives except the SSD because it needed to be reformatted. I reattach all my drives, start up the computer, I can only access 2T of the Seagate, and the other bit doesn't show up. Under memory management it shows up next to the 2T as 756GB Un-Allocated.

Is there a way to recover my files in the 756 portion?
Would attaching it to a Linux system allow me to see into the 756 portion?
 
Solution
photonboy
Hi,
Hopefully that program works somehow (not sure what it did exactly). otherwise...

You would likely have to use file recovery like what EASEUS offers.

This scans the drive and reconstructs the data even when there is no file table etc. You'd then need to copy the files (videos etc, programs you can forget about) to another drive.

1. run file recovery
2. check files to copy to other drive and copy
3. reallocate the space in Disk Management
4. copy files back or whatever
Sort by date Sort by votes
nukemaster

nukemaster

Titan
Nov 23, 2004
19,626
6
74,965
Is this the software you used?
http://www.seagate.com/ca/en/support/downloads/discwizard/

It may still allow you to access the drive in the way it was setup before.

Windows(any newer versions) generally has no issues with drives over 2TB. By the time Windows 8 rolled out all systems should have been good to go.

Even non uEFI Windows 7 can use large GPT volumes, but not boot from them, but still access them.

Your issue seems to be that 3rd party software was used to make the drive compatible(but is required to use the drive now.).
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
E

epp555

Commendable
Jan 3, 2017
7
0
1,510


Checking this out now, I'll let you know in a sec.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
photonboy

photonboy

Titan
Jun 20, 2006
21,567
13
85,015
Hi,
Hopefully that program works somehow (not sure what it did exactly). otherwise...

You would likely have to use file recovery like what EASEUS offers.

This scans the drive and reconstructs the data even when there is no file table etc. You'd then need to copy the files (videos etc, programs you can forget about) to another drive.

1. run file recovery
2. check files to copy to other drive and copy
3. reallocate the space in Disk Management
4. copy files back or whatever
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
E

epp555

Commendable
Jan 3, 2017
7
0
1,510


So, I remember checking the site for the software I had used before, but I couldnt find it then or now. Whatever software Seagate lets you download now, definitely isn't what I had used. This new stuff has some kind of paywall to get to certain features(ones I don't believe I need).

I tried punching in the Serial Number on my Drive (Z5017PGT) my drive's name is (ST3000DM001-1ER166), nothing comes up. I'm looking for a way to find old versions of their DiscWizard.

Any other ideas? I don't know why my version of windows has an issue with 3T drive. I am not opposed reformatting it in Linux to access it, (I don't have 2nd computer available). Would it be possible to make a virtual machine to look into the drive?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
E

epp555

Commendable
Jan 3, 2017
7
0
1,510


It shows

Disk 2
* Basic
* 2794.52 GB
* Online

Then

E:
* 2048.00 GB NTFS
* Healthy (Active, Primary Partition)

Then

* 746.52 GB
* Unallocated
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
E

epp555

Commendable
Jan 3, 2017
7
0
1,510


So yeah, it says 'Unallocated'

But I know thats where my files before were. If I allocate it, isn't that the same as erasing what was there?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
E

epp555

Commendable
Jan 3, 2017
7
0
1,510


I am trying the solution with EasUs

So far, it looks like its working. Its scanning a 'lost partition'

I can see all the files Im missing.



I want to thank all of you for posting and trying to help me. I know this is just a forum on the internet, but you guys helped me recover some really precious stuff. I had texts, books, and sheet music, (both collected and written) saved on this partition. Stuff that I really couldn't replace.

Thanks you all so much. I wish you all the best!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
A

ArtPog

Admirable
Sep 17, 2014
2,951
3
8,965
epp...
Re:read the response you rec'd from Paul.

Understand the reason your 3 TB HDD is detected by the system as a 2 TB HDD is because the disk has been partitioned MBR-style. That's why 756 GB of disk-space is shown as "unallocated". The system can ONLY detect 2048 GB of USABLE disk-space because of the MBR-partitioning. In order for the OS to detect the ENTIRE USABLE disk-space of the 3 TB HDD (2.73 TB or 2,794 GB) the disk has to be formatted with the GPT-partitioning style.

Now if the disk was a brand-new disk completely empty of data there would be no problem in utilizing Disk Management to initialize the disk with the GPT-partitioning scheme and then you would go ahead in creating whatever partitions you wanted and formatting same. In that case the entire disk-space of the 3 TB HDD - 2794 GB would be available disk-space to store your data.

BUT...
You have indicated there is data on that 3 TB HDD. While Disk Management has an option to convert the disk from MBR to GPT, it cannot do so when there is existing data on the drive. Capiche?

For that you will need a third-party partition management program. There are quite a few of freely-available programs of that type on the net and you can do a Google search for them. It's a relatively simple process to undertake.

Now please understand there is no data of yours that exists on that 756 GB of "unallocated" disk-space. It is completely empty of data, capiche?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom