3000GB drive coming up as 1.99TB... why? Win 7 ULT.

[ttg_Avenged]

Hi guys. I just Bing'ed this and this post came up: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/2308-63-limit-microsoft-windows

Now I'm having the same problem but a little different. My 3TB drive is only showing up as 1.99TB... I remember, but don't quote me when I was installing this Win 7 Ultimate (GENUINE) disc to my comp, it said something like "Windows cannot use over 2TB" or something... I can go into disk partition and try to extend it but this happens...

Also another thing I'm noticing is that the total (2048GB+700ish GB does not = 3000GB... It's labled on the drive itself "3000GB"... Why? Is that just the comp. using it to know it's there? (I know that sounds idiotic.)

So I'd love some help, and if need be I can format my drive in a heartbeat. Who cares really... All help is really appreciated!!

[strike]EDIT: Wow thanks sooo much guys ur quick to it! So your saying I should fresh install and choose GPT format? I honestly have NO! problems doing that if it needs to be done. Honestly, I have 10 days off school so I'm free. Also, you guys are mentioning my MOBO. It's a ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3, link in spoiler. (It has UEFI BIOS! )[/strike]

Spoiler

Motherboard: ASUS P8Z68-PRO/GEN3
Graphics card: (at the moment) GTX 560 Ti, will be getting the GTX 680 FTW Edition 4GB
CPU: i5 2550k @ 3.4GHz stock. No OC'ing at the moment...
Power Supply: Gold certified Cooler Master 800w silent pro PSU (will consider 1000w for x2 680...)
HDD: 3TB 7200rpm 64MB cache (Seagate Barracuda)
RAM: 16GB 1600MHz speed DDR3 (G. Skill RipJaws)

EDIT#2:

got the same motherboard

and i believe theres software called disk unlocker under the utilities section

havent used it but from memory its got something to do with using 3tb drives--either to make them bootable

or use all 3tb in windows or both

software will be available here

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1155/P8Z68V_PROGEN3/#download

This did the trick, it not comes up as another (virtual) drive but that is my preference. Thanks man! Thanks to all for helping me so much within such a quick time period! Thanks a lot man, this really did now do the trick and was simple as can be. Don't get me wrong thank ALL for helping so quickly!

 

[firo40]

If you use a program called partition magic, you can reallocate the remaining space into a secound partition without having to do a reformat. You essentially burn partition magic to a disk and boot into like you would for a reformat then select the drive and select create partition an set the corresponding options that you want, restart and your good to go. It will look like 2 hard drives but really its just 1 in a partition

 

[stickg1]

Make sure your motherboard supports up to 3TB. Also, when you install a fresh copy of windows use the partition manager on the dvd. Its under advanced install or custom install (something along those lines). If your motherboard can handle 3TB you can make two partitions before windows is installed, while your computer still recognizes it as a 3TB drive. Should work, otherwise idk maybe someone else has more experience with a similar problem.

 

[sminlal]

The message is indicating that the disk is partitioned using the MBR partition scheme. That scheme has a limitation of 2TB. You need to re-partition the disk using GUID partitions (often called a "GPT disk" for "GUID Partition Table"). As long as you're not booting from the disk you should be able to do that easily enough. Just go into Disk Manager and delete all the partitions, then recreate a 3TB GUID partition.

See: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hardware/gg463525

If you need to boot from the partition then first you need to make sure your motherboard has an EFI BIOS and supports booting from a GPT disk. If that's the case, then do the same thing during the Windows install - delete all of the partitions and recreate one large 3TB GUID partition.

 

[13thmonkey]

I don't think windows will let you use large mbr disks as boot. I think that 2.7GB is equal to 3GiB i.e 3x1000x1000x1000x1000 B vs 3x1024x1024x1024x0124 B

so divide 3,000,000,000,000 by 1024^4 (1,099,511,627,76) = 2.72, my 2GB drives show as 1.86 for the same reason, its marketing decimal bytes vs real binary ones.

 

[mcnumpty23]

if you are using 32bit windows 7 i believe theres a 2.2tb size limit

 

[mcnumpty23]

you can boot Windows from a 3TB drive only if it's 64-bit Vista or 64-bit Windows 7--and then, only if you have

a PC with an EFI/UEFI BIOS that supports it

 

[foscooter]

When you installed the drive, and Windows saw it, you didn't set it up a GPT.

GPT is used for drives over 2.2TB, where MBR is for under.

Nevermind, this is your only drive, which the OS is installed on? It may be a drive limit in Windows install. You'd have to partition is up into 2 drives. But Windows does support GPT, I guess not on the boot drive during installation. And you can't convert it, I just found out.

As for the size, we all have that problem. 3000MB is not 3 GB! It has to do with drive manufactures using 1000MB as 1GB, when actually 1024MB = 1GB. This is compounded all the way down to KB. Drives say 1000 = next level, when actually 1024 = next level.

Crazy, I know, has to do with base 8 counting:

8 bits = 1 byte
1024 bytes = 1 KB (kilobyte)
1024 KB = 1 MB (megabyte)
1024 MB = 1 GB (gigabyte)

And mcnumpty beat me to it, and is correct! Win 7 32 only 2.2TB, 64 will support larger drives, with mobo support.

Cheers.

 

[ttg_Avenged]

if you are using 32bit windows 7 i believe theres a 2.2tb size limit

First off, thank you guys SO MUCH for all the help!! I'm using Win 7 ULT 64-bit and My MOBO is UEFI ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131790&Tpk=p8z68-v%20pro%2fgen3

I updated OP w/ system specs

 

[ttg_Avenged]

When you installed the drive, and Windows saw it, you didn't set it up a GPT.

GPT is used for drives over 2.2TB, where MBR is for under.

Nevermind, this is your only drive, which the OS is installed on? It may be a drive limit in Windows install. You'd have to partition is up into 2 drives. But Windows does support GPT, I guess not on the boot drive during installation. And you can't convert it, I just found out.

As for the size, we all have that problem. 3000MB is not 3 GB! It has to do with drive manufactures using 1000MB as 1GB, when actually 1024MB = 1GB. This is compounded all the way down to KB. Drives say 1000 = next level, when actually 1024 = next level.

Crazy, I know, has to do with base 8 counting:

8 bits = 1 byte
1024 bytes = 1 KB (kilobyte)
1024 KB = 1 MB (megabyte)
1024 MB = 1 GB (gigabyte)

And mcnumpty beat me to it, and is correct! Win 7 32 only 2.2TB, 64 will support larger drives, with mobo support.

Cheers.

I know 1024TB = 1024 (Is it Zillobyetes?) And all that, Just 3072GB vs. 3000GB isnt too much of a difference so you know, I just said 3TB. Sorry for that. So your saying I should fresh install? Does my MOBO support 3TB? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131790&Tpk=p8z68-v%20pro%2fgen3

 

[mcnumpty23]

First off, thank you guys SO MUCH for all the help!! I'm using Win 7 ULT 64-bit and My MOBO is UEFI ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131790&Tpk=p8z68-v%20pro%2fgen3

I updated OP w/ system specs

got the same motherboard

and i believe theres software called disk unlocker under the utilities section

havent used it but from memory its got something to do with using 3tb drives--either to make them bootable

or use all 3tb in windows or both

software will be available here

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1155/P8Z68V_PROGEN3/#download

 

[ttg_Avenged]

got the same motherboard

and i believe theres software called disk unlocker under the utilities section

havent used it but from memory its got something to do with using 3tb drives--either to make them bootable

or use all 3tb in windows or both

software will be available here

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1155/P8Z68V_PROGEN3/#download

This did the trick, it not comes up as another (virtual) drive but that is my preference. Thanks man! Thanks to all for helping me so much within such a quick time period!

 

[ttg_Avenged]

Best answer selected by ttg_avenged.

 

[mcnumpty23]

you are welcome

 

[bamaben12]

I had this exact same problem. My disk drive was set up for MBR and since the limit as was mentioned above is 2 TB, you'll need to change to GPT. I went to the Help menu in the Disk Management section in Computer Management. I then selected the topic titled "Change a Master Boot Record Disk into a GUID Partition Table Disk". Follow those steps and then right click and create a new simple volume now that you have the entire disk space.