How do I Initialize & Install 3 TB HDD

First of all you can not use a 3TB as your boot drive unless you are willing to use only 2TB.

You need to partition it into a 1TB and 2TB partitions to use it in a system at all. You cannot have one large partition. NTFS file system that manages the HDD can not go that high.

Use MBR.

My mobo has a software "3TB unlocker" witch is suplied by the mobo manufacturer (in my case AsRock). Unless you have a driver from DELL i dont know if your HDD can be detected as a 3TB HDD. And, i have a preety new MB, z68 chipset... so i dont know about you.

IMO i wouldn't use a 3TB hard drive as a primary boot drive. Your most likely are going to use this for storage, if you are going to use this for your boot drive you would need another drive to back up all your data (which would be at least 2TB). I would keep your OS on the drive your computer came with and install your 3TB as a secondary drive & that's even if your motherboard can support a 3TB drive, you would have to use a USB connection with it if your motherboard can't support the drive.

By reading all the posts, I am totally confused & feel that I am screwed. I thought I had done my homework before I bought it but guess not enough.

From my homework, I was under the impression that if I partitioned it as GPT, I would be able to use full 3 TB. I haven't done it yet because I am afraid that doing so might create more irreversible problems.

Thus the drive is still fresh, nothing done on it.

When installing it shows as 2.0 TB HDD & does ask me if I want to Partition it as MBR or GPT. I stopped right there & disconnected the drive.

I don't mind if I can not install any OS on it or boot from it.

I just want the full 3.0 TB HDD space because that was my first goal.

So question is can I get full 3.0 TB either as one partition OR two partitions ? If I have to partition it as 1 + 2, how do I do it ?

I am using Win-7 ( 64 bit )

I would appreciate all the help.

Let me see if I understood correctly.

Are saying that if I connected this drive via USB it would be detected as 3.0 TB HDD ?

In other words if I had bought an external 3.0 TB HDD to use as a storage it would have worked ?

I'd check WD's web site or email them for support. The enclosure's controller may be presenting the drive to the PC as two drives, a 2TB and a 1TB. If this is so, WD may have a way to alter that so that it shows as a 3TB drive.

Also, if your motherboard supports EUFI, then it can boot from a GPT partitioned drive, even if it's greater than 2TB (using win 7).

You should initialise it as GPT. That will enable full usage of 3TB. Win 7 supports 3TB. I have 3 of 3TB in my system (x79 chipset) and all work as they should after I initialised them as GPT.

You would first have to see if your motherboard can detect the drive if you hook it up internally as a secondary drive. If it doesn't (as older motherboards won't detect it as a full 3tB hard drive).

I would initialize it as GPT as acyuta recommended. If you tried that and it still doesn't work (unless someone else has any ideas) the easiest way of installing it is routing it to a usb port using one of these: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

But if your PSU can handle it hook the drive up to your PSU instead of the power cable supplied. Just keep that in the box (it should come with one) if you decide to buy that. Just make sure you got a long enough sata cable. If you don't have one i think newegg supplies some.

Wouldnt use a 3 TB hard drive at all....what are you gonna do when that thing crashes? (and it will) You would have been better off getting 2 x 1TB hard drives and putting them into a RAID 1.

If your motherboard supports UEFI and you partition it with GPT, you'll be able to boot Windows 7 x64 off of it and access the entire 3TB of space in a single partition. Take a look at this whitepaper from WD on the various options:
http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/WhitePapers/ENG/2...

The Precision T7500 should support UEFI, but it is not enabled in the BIOS by default. On most Dell systems with UEFI support I believe you'll find the option under the Boot menu in the BIOS. The default is Legacy. You may also need to upgrade the storage drivers to support the full capacity.

Looking at the Precision T7500's specs, it looks like it ships with an integrated LSI RAID controller. Do you know if you are using that controller or if you've got one of the PERC controllers? According to Dell:

Single Raid 0 GPT DATA volumes greater than 2TB are available as factory installed option with the optional PERC 6/i PCI-e RAID adapter

Your LSI RAID controller may not support GPT volumes larger than 2TB. So, looking at this diagram, you might be able to get it to work if you use the SATA ports labeled #1:
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/wsT7500/e...

If that doesn't work, a BIOS flash or upgrading the RAID controller's firmware may be in order, or a call to Dell's tech support.

--Russel