Help needed. PC can cannot recongize all WD 3TB space

[dinookong]

I used to see all 3TB space (storage disk) previously after install latest Intel RST on my 320GB boot disk. Also update BIOS I proceed to partition it into 2x 1.5TB in GPT format and this served as my storage drive. No problem before.

However, recently i format my 320GB boot disk and since then, i can only read 1x 1.5TB of the whole 3TB disk. I still cannot read the other 1.5TB after update to latest Intel RST. What could have happened. Am i missing something ?

I am using Vista 32 bit. Thanks in advance

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/268578-32-hard-drive-showing-control-panel

 

[dinookong]

I have formatted into GPT and still cannot be recongised... can someone tell me step by step ....I need new... really thanks a lot

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Watch the end setup portion of the video.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAAyEnHvlq0

 

[dinookong]

i have watched the end. The last part said to initiate /format the drive. I cannot do it as the last time I am able to use the full 3TB previously and have data in it. It is after i format my boot drive and it does not reconigse the secondary 3TB drive. The 3TB drive is partition into 2x 1.5TB ,both with data in it. I can see the first 1.5TB. HOwever if i use EaseUS Partition Master 9.1.1 Home Edition program, i can see all my data in the 2nd 1.5TB.

THe video showed u need an additional adapter to be installed. However, the last time i can full utilise its full 3TB to store data without any adapter.

 

[fzabkar]

Can you see the full 3TB capacity in BIOS, or has it been cut down to 2TB?

If the latter, see Q2:
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/HDD/HDD_Capacity_FAQ.html

 

[dinookong]

hi , i can see all my partition in disk management now. However i cannot read my 2nd partition under window explorer. 2nd partition can be seen in disk management including its data.. what has happened now?

p.s. i already had data in my 2nd partition thus i dont wish to format it.

 

[fzabkar]

Can you see the full 3TB capacity in BIOS, or has it been cut down to 2TB?

 

[dinookong]

in the bios i can only see a total of 801GB .. this is really funny.. however in window explorer i can see 1st partition ( 1.36TB) , 2nd partition (inaccessible) ... this is really a big big problem now...


using EaseUS Partition Master 9.1.1 Home Edition i can see all my partitions including the data - which mean all my data and folder are still intact...

 

[fzabkar]

The BIOS appears to be affected by a 32-bit LBA limit. I have tried to explain why the BIOS only sees 801GB (= 746GiB) in the following threads:

http://community.wdc.com/t5/Desktop-Portable-Drives/3TB-Internal-Drive-as-746GB/m-p/356793#M8580
http://community.wdc.com/t5/Desktop-Portable-Drives/3TB-Internal-Drive-as-746GB/m-p/357151#M8589
http://community.wdc.com/t5/External-Drives-for-PC/Yet-another-WD30EZRX-Caviar-Green-3TB-External-HDD-only-shows/m-p/455436#M12819

That said, this BIOS limitation should not affect your 3TB drive when it is configured as a storage drive. This is because, after Windows is booted from your 320GB HDD, all accesses to the 3TB HDD will be via Intel's RST driver rather than via BIOS INT13 calls.

Therefore it does appear that you are being thwarted by a 2TiB driver limitation. Are you sure that you are using Intel's RST driver rather than Microsoft's native driver? Are your drives configured in BIOS for AHCI mode? Perhaps your BIOS update has disturbed the settings for the SATA controller.

 

[dinookong]

The BIOS appears to be affected by a 32-bit LBA limit. I have tried to explain why the BIOS only sees 801GB (= 746GiB) in the following threads:

http://community.wdc.com/t5/Desktop-Portable-Drives/3TB-Internal-Drive-as-746GB/m-p/356793#M8580
http://community.wdc.com/t5/Desktop-Portable-Drives/3TB-Internal-Drive-as-746GB/m-p/357151#M8589
http://community.wdc.com/t5/External-Drives-for-PC/Yet-another-WD30EZRX-Caviar-Green-3TB-External-HDD-only-shows/m-p/455436#M12819

That said, this BIOS limitation should not affect your 3TB drive when it is configured as a storage drive. This is because, after Windows is booted from your 320GB HDD, all accesses to the 3TB HDD will be via Intel's RST driver rather than via BIOS INT13 calls.

Therefore it does appear that you are being thwarted by a 2TiB driver limitation. Are you sure that you are using Intel's RST driver rather than Microsoft's native driver? Are your drives configured in BIOS for AHCI mode? Perhaps your BIOS update has disturbed the settings for the SATA controller.

Thanks fzabkar for helping me. How do i know if I am Intel's RST driver rather than Microsoft's native driver? How to check if my drive is configured in BIOS for AHCI mode?

I just know that previously after updated the latest Intel's RST driver, i can use all my 3TB without problem but why the problem now.

I really appreciate your help and you understand my problem. Updated my BIOS but still cannot read 2nd partition of 3TB

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareCategory?os=2093&lc=en&cc=sg&dlc=en&sw_lang=&product=3690073#N446

 

[fzabkar]

I don't use any recent Windows OS, so somebody else would be best placed to answer your question.

However, I would look for likely suspects in Device Manager, r-click them and examine their Properties.

Here are some sample screenshots:

http://usefulwindows.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/screen05.jpg?w=700 (Storage Controllers)
http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg96/scaled.php?server=96&filename=devicemanagerscreenshot.jpg&res=landing (SCSI and RAID controllers)
http://www.pridopia.com/images/win8-64-1061me-02.jpg (IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers)

As for your BIOS question, you should enter your BIOS setup by hitting an appropriate key during bootup. Then look for a menu that provides you with configuration options for your SATA controller. Every BIOS is different, so I can't tell you exactly where to look, but it should be obvious. Typical choices might be AHCI, RAID, legacy IDE or compatibility mode.

 

[dinookong]

1)i choose AHCI and the whole PC cannot boot up, i changed back to RAID
2) my storage controller showed: Intel(R) Desktop/Workstation/Server Express Chipset SATA RAID Controller. Therefore i am using Intel's RST driver rather than Microsoft's native driver?
3) I am using vista 32bit


http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/854/screenhunter03sep031903.jpg/

what am i missing ?

 

[fzabkar]

I suspect that AHCI mode would resolve your problem, but I can't explain why your existing setup doesn't work. If you r-click the device and select Properties, you should see which driver file is in use.

As for switching between RAID and AHCI modes, does the FAQ help?
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/196922-32-switching-storage-controllers-reinstalling-windows

BTW, here is a direct link to your screenshot:
http://img854.imageshack.us/img854/1426/screenhunter03sep031903.jpg

 

[dinookong]

I know why i cannot switch from RAID and AHCI modes. Basically i need to connect to SATA0 and it works. However i still cannot see my full 3TB after installing intel RST ver 10.8.0.1003 driver.

 

[fzabkar]

Hopefully somebody else will jump in with a solution, but I would use a disc editor to determine whether it is possible to access sectors beyond the 2TiB boundary.

Here are three free editors:

HxD - Freeware Hex Editor and Disk Editor:
http://mh-nexus.de/en/hxd

DMDE (DM Disk Editor and Data Recovery):
http://softdm.com/download.html

Roadkil's Sector Editor:
http://www.roadkil.net/program.php/P24/Sector%20Editor

I would examine sector 0xFFFFFFFF (hexadecimal) or 4 294 967 295 (decimal). That's the last sector before the 2TiB limit.

Then try to examine the next sector and see what happens.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Windows 7 and Vista native support for 3TB non-booting data drives is with GPT partitions, available on all systems.

 

[dinookong]

Windows 7 and Vista native support for 3TB non-booting data drives is with GPT partitions, available on all systems.

My 3TB HDD is already GPT partitioned

 

[dinookong]

Hopefully somebody else will jump in with a solution, but I would use a disc editor to determine whether it is possible to access sectors beyond the 2TiB boundary.

Here are three free editors:

HxD - Freeware Hex Editor and Disk Editor:
http://mh-nexus.de/en/hxd

DMDE (DM Disk Editor and Data Recovery):
http://softdm.com/download.html

Roadkil's Sector Editor:
http://www.roadkil.net/program.php/P24/Sector%20Editor

I would examine sector 0xFFFFFFFF (hexadecimal) or 4 294 967 295 (decimal). That's the last sector before the 2TiB limit.

Then try to examine the next sector and see what happens.

Thanks for your great help.

It is ok if i use this software "EaseUS Partition Master 9.1.1 Home Edition program" ?

When using "easeus" i can see all my folders and files still intact in the 2nd partition which mean the data still intact , but i just couldn't access them in window vista explorer ...see image below.

http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/5607/screenhunter06sep050939.jpg

 

[fzabkar]

All your screenshot is showing is the partition table in sector 0. It is not showing any file system or folder structure.

Even if EaseUS were able to see a folder structure, it could just be reading the data from 1.36TiB to 2TiB, and not necessarily beyond that point. As for Explorer, it may be rejecting the entire volume because it can't see the whole partition. That's only speculation on my part, though.

 

[dinookong]

Finally found the problem. The security corrupted. I just remove/add new security and am able to access the all 3TB again.

Thank you for those who have contributed to help me. I really appreciate it. Thanks fzabkar

 

[bhavneet]

Finally found the problem. The security corrupted. I just remove/add new security and am able to access the all 3TB again.

Thank you for those who have contributed to help me. I really appreciate it. Thanks fzabkar

Hi dinookong,

Can you pls share where you adjusted this security setting, I am too on WD 3TB and want to partition it without losing the data.