How to install a 3TB hard drive?

[Jackofspades0]

Hi,

I have physically installed the hard drive into my brother's PC, but I don't know how to get it working from here. It shows up in the BIOS but with only 800GB but not at all in Windows. I'm guessing I probably have to format it first. Can someone please explain to me how it's done?

It's a Seagate Barracuda - 3TB SATA 6Gb/s 7200 RPM Hard Drive on a rather old AMD Ahtlon II dual core machine with Windows 8.

Thanks in advance!

 

[phil22]

Well you do need to format it for sure (or have Windows Setup do it if you're installing Windows on it) but that's not the reason for your problem. This may help:
http://www.servethehome.com/fix-746gb-3tb-hard-drive-issue/

 

[Chicano]

"It doesn't show at all in Windows"?... If that's in My Computer/Computer and Explorer(?) it's not supposed to show till after it's been formatted and a drive letter is assigned to it. Go to computer management:
If on Windows XP, right click on My computer\Manage\Disk Management\select the drive with the right mouse button and click on Format and next choose the quick format option.
If you're on Windows 7 or 8; the steps to follow are the same as on Windows XP but check the links if you need more detailed information.

How To Access Disk Management in Windows 7/8
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windows7/ht/disk-management-windows-7.htm

How To Format a Hard Drive in Windows 7/8
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windows7/ht/format-hard-drive-windows-7.htm

 

[quesionboy]

Hi,

I have physically installed the hard drive into my brother's PC, but I don't know how to get it working from here. It shows up in the BIOS but with only 800GB but not at all in Windows. I'm guessing I probably have to format it first. Can someone please explain to me how it's done?

It's a Seagate Barracuda - 3TB SATA 6Gb/s 7200 RPM Hard Drive on a rather old AMD Ahtlon II dual core machine with Windows 8.

Thanks in advance!

To make system recognized the disk which is larger than 3TB, you must initialize it into GPT disk, not only the 64 bit os could support GPT disk, if it is already MBR disk, and you want to convert it to GPT without data loss. Here I find a video may help you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlYjNbiVB-0

 

[Jackofspades0]

Thanks everyone I'll try to get the drive running soon. I just want to be sure, does the OS need to be 64 bit to use the entire 3TB?

 

[Chicano]

I doubt you'd need a 64bit Windows 8 to recognize the full 3TB... you only need to formatt it in GPT (GUID Partition Table) as instructed in quesionboy's video.


Windows and GPT FAQ
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/gg463525.aspx

 

[Jackofspades0]

That was surprisingly easy and fast. Looks like Windows 8 does most of the work, it selected GPT by itself. Thanks everyone!

 

[LunarFlood]

"It doesn't show at all in Windows"?... If that's in My Computer/Computer and Explorer(?) it's not supposed to show till after it's been formatted and a drive letter is assigned to it. Go to computer management:
If on Windows XP, right click on My computer\Manage\Disk Management\select the drive with the right mouse button and click on Format and next choose the quick format option.
If you're on Windows 7 or 8; the steps to follow are the same as on Windows XP but check the links if you need more detailed information.

Thanks Chicano. I had a similar problem. Updated the BIOS, then updated the SATA drivers, then formatted the drives (2x3TB in RAID 1). Progress was made at each of those steps but the RAID drive still didn't show up under My Computer. In ALL the posts I've read about this, all over the place, you were the only one to mention "until a drive letter is assigned" ... Boom! Everything running smooth now! Thx again!

How To Access Disk Management in Windows 7/8
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windows7/ht/disk-management-windows-7.htm

How To Format a Hard Drive in Windows 7/8
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windows7/ht/format-hard-drive-windows-7.htm

 

[Chicano]

Thanks Chicano. I had a similar problem. Updated the BIOS, then updated the SATA drivers, then formatted the drives (2x3TB in RAID 1). Progress was made at each of those steps but the RAID drive still didn't show up under My Computer. In ALL the posts I've read about this, all over the place, you were the only one to mention "until a drive letter is assigned" ... Boom! Everything running smooth now! Thx again!

You're welcome LunarFlood... glad my bit of information helped.

 

[Hawkeye22]

If it shows up as 800 gig in your bios, I'd look for a bios update too.