Asus Software Unlocks HDDs With Over 2.2 TB
This software for Asus motherboards creates a virtual drive on a 3 TB HDD that can be used in Windows XP, Vista, and 7.
Friday Asus announced Disk Unlocker, a software solution that allows legacy systems to access hard drives larger than 2048GB. The drawback is that the software only works with Asus motherboards and doesn't create a bootable partition based on the 3 TB-ready GUID Partition Table (GPT). Instead, it creates a virtual drive that can be accessed within Windows XP 64-bit, Vista, and 7.
"This is the first software solution to overcome current operating system limitations that prevent a hard disk drive from utilizing more than 2048 GB (also known as 2.2TB)," the company said. "With just a few clicks, Disk Unlocker taps into hidden storage space beyond the nominal 2048 GB range, helping you use large hard drives to their maximum potential."
A hard drive storage capacity greater than 2.2 TB is already supported by the GPT which in turn is natively supported by Windows 7 and Vista. The only real obstacle for Windows 7 and Vista machines is the motherboard's BIOS which wasn't written to handle anything above the 2.2 TB limit. To boot from a GPT partitioned drive, the motherboard needs to be Extensive Firmware Interface (EFI)-capable which supports capacities over 2.2 TB.
Therefore without an additional Host Bus Adapter card (as used with WD's 3 TB HDD) or an EFI motherboard, users are required to install a 3 TB HDD as a secondary disk and allow the OS to create a GPT partition to use its full capacity. The Asus software seemingly steps in to correctly identify the drive for the OS.
According to the manual (pdf), drives with a capacity larger than 2.2 TB will appear in the software's drop-down list-- those smaller than 2.2 TB or already using the GPT format will not appear. The user then hits "Create" to generate a new virtual drive that will take control of the entire capacity. The new space will thus appear in the Virtual Drive field and require GPT partitioning for actual data usage.
For those still using XP, an additional chart shows that Windows XP 64-bit can partition the entire 3 TB drive while 32-bit users can only partition 2.2 TB of capacity. Windows XP users are required to download the Microsoft Native IDE driver before using Disk Unlocker.
The Asus-exclusive Disk Unlocker software is free to download and use, and covers thirty-five chipsets including twenty from Intel, twelve from AMD, and three from Nvidia.
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Another good reason to choose Asus : ASUS Inspiring Innovation • Persistent Perfection
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^ fanboy
I don't know about you guys, but I find either the descritption given here a bit confusing, or it's really the procedure that is a bit confusing.
From what I understood from the PDF, it means that you can do the normal, which is buy and install a 3TB HDD, format it using the MBR to 2.2TB, and then use this program to create and additional Virtual Drive with the rest of the space.
Now I wonder, why won't this work with other brands of Motherboards ? I guess it does, but Asus did something to prevent that LOL.
Why can't they just start using UEFI?? Are they really that lazy?
Why can't they just start using UEFI?? Are they really that lazy?
Yes. Apple is the only company that cares about using it right now, so until 3 TB HDDs become a must-have for other system builders, mobo companies won't see much of a reason to make it commonplace for consumer boards (enthusiast-class boards included). Once 3TB HDDs becomes more of a consumer-desired feature, then we'll start seeing more enthusiast boards that address this issue.
But hey, aside from that, BIOS has been pretty good to us so far, right?
Why change a good thing?
Right?
Fanboysm aside, Asus is one hell of a brand that really does innovate
Go Asus!
Am I understanding this correctly?
The 2.2TB barrier only applies to partitions with MBR.
Windows Vista and 7 can use >2.2TB partitions as long as it is formatted GPT (storage drive, can't boot from it).
So, how many people out there want to use a >2.2TB partition for the OS? Why not create a MBR partition for the OS that is a reasonable size and partition the rest as appropriate for storage? Having a single ginormous partition with OS, apps, data, etc. seems a bit fool hardy.
BTW, I also would like manufacturers to make the switch to EFI.
I've tried researching the whole EFI supported mobos for the past few months and it doesn't seem that important that motherboard manufacturers add it to the detail list. I have a feeling the move from 3TB and beyond is going to be a huge cluster **** if nobody is going to release this info.
Luckily I'm with Asus so I could just download this tool in the future, but seriously a list needs to be compiled or something because I wont buy a new motherboard without knowing this when it's time to upgrade.
It's nice to see that this utility is being distributed for free as opposed to being a paid piece of software...
Choosing to rely on ASUS exclusively for something like this is a terrible idea. In the event of a software problem, making this virtual disk inaccessible, how do you get your data back when Asus support proves unable to do it (or chooses not to)?
Should the vendor make a business decision to move away from it (leaving no support for it anywhere), where does this leave the purchaser.
This needs redundancy.
Windows Vista and 7 can use >2.2TB partitions as long as it is formatted GPT (storage drive, can't boot from it).
From what I read most of this is true but Windows Vista SP1 and Windows 7 can boot from them ONLY if you have a Motherboard that supports UEFI so that it can boot from GPT partitions. Its not a Windows limitation unless its not a version of Windows specified earlier.
My guess is aside from Mobo support for UEFI, you would need storage controller drivers that support booting from GPT partitions as well. Im not 100% sure on this but I think I am 95% sure. Especially if you have RAID setup, as most RAID Controllers partition using MBR and the drivers are setup to read the drives that way.
There is an article on Anandtech.com where they review two 3TB HDD from WD and they go into detail about it. Check it out...
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3981 [...] s-reviewed
What? BIOS is the entire slowdown in boot up times! Good thing? No..30 year old code is never a good thing! I will not purchase another board until UEFI is the norm. It's coming very soon. Windows 8 will support it. I'm holding tight until both, cuz with an SSD, my BIOS really drags things out.
What? BIOS is the entire slowdown in boot up times! Good thing? No..30 year old code is never a good thing! I will not purchase another board until UEFI is the norm. It's coming very soon. Windows 8 will support it. I'm holding tight until both, cuz with an SSD, my BIOS really drags things out.
the old school out of date x86 was 30 too......
Why can't they just start using UEFI?? Are they really that lazy?
Asus do have boards with EFI, usually it's only on the more expensive mobos.
Any coder around?
Maybe it's possible to work around the problem through driver hacking instead?
The BIOS has served us well, but now it's time for him to go.
I just wondering why people want to have their main hard rive a 3 TB I mean until we get to windows 11 we wont need anything bigger than I would way a 500GB just the fact that the 3TB cant be used as a boot Drive is fine for my and I would say 99.8% of people with the dropping prices of SSD I would think that .2% will be going to those for their Primary drive anyway
Just my 2 cents
wow 3000GB dam inhuman stuff right there considering the fact my dell dimension 2400 have 40GB hd
anyone heard of EFI bootloaders..t.ry that .... it helps a lot....
besides macs are already running efi..since quite some time now...its high time that the bios got the boot...
My Asus N series laptop has an EFI boot option in the Bios. So it's already out. Then again i'm not going to be waiting around for a 2.5 3TB hard drive to come out to test it either.
We just wait for microsoft to incorporate this to the OS.
Reminds me of those programs that used to sit in your system tray and compress RAM for faster performance. Software that is going to be obsolete very soon.
hoenstly dotn see what the great deal of concern is right now , most every day users dont need near 1 tb much less more than 2. i'm a game art design major that plays a crap load of games and i use a craop laod of software for school, and i still make do with a measly 320 gig drive. i'm sure before the every day user startrs needing that much space the kinks will be worked out in hardware not just software. my question is any one got a spare 512-1 tb drive they dont want laying around LOL ?
What? BIOS is the entire slowdown in boot up times! Good thing? No..30 year old code is never a good thing! I will not purchase another board until UEFI is the norm. It's coming very soon. Windows 8 will support it. I'm holding tight until both, cuz with an SSD, my BIOS really drags things out.
Windows Vista and 7 both support UEFI...
We just wait for microsoft to incorporate this to the OS.
Windows Vista and 7 both already support UEFI and larger than 2.2tb harddrives. We're all waiting for motherboard makers to switch from a standard BIOS, to EFI or UEFI.
Unfortunately my ASUS laptop's LCD panel went this weekend and I've had it about 18 months. I won't be buying another another ASUS laptop. New LCD panel gets here next week but you shouldn't have to replace a panel 18 months in. I've had laptops from when they weighed 20lbs and this is the first time the display has went.
Unfortunately my ASUS laptop's LCD panel went this weekend and I've had it about 18 months. I won't be buying another another ASUS laptop. New LCD panel gets here next week but you shouldn't have to replace a panel 18 months in. I've had laptops from when they weighed 20lbs and this is the first time the display has went.
All products have units that malfunction, that's why warranty exists. What really matters is the rate a failure and ASUS is usually the manufacturer with the best failure rate.
I agree that BIOS needs to die a horrible, miserable death. The OS though, also plays a part in this. Linux is capable of booting to a GPT disk with a BIOS motherboard. It does this by creating a BIOS partition on the hard drive for proper alignment of the GPT and to ensure that the GPT does not get overwritten and corrupted.
Windows unfortunately still does not support booting to GPT. I eagerly await the time it does.
As far as I know any Intel motherboard that supports Core 2 processors has EFI and supports hard drives greater than 2.2TB. Upgrading to a new motherboard is cheap as long as you don't need all of those fancy extras like SLI/Crossfire and RAID.
A whole class of current manufactured motherboards will be obsolete once 3tb+ drives become mainstream (ie the price drops $100-$150) from the current msrp of $250. Anything that can be done to extend the life is a good idea. including the drive makers including a pcie sata card fixing the problem.
Apple has been using EFI since they shipped the first Intel Mac back in 2006.
Apple has been using EFI since they shipped the first Intel Mac back in 2006.
And Intel has been using it for Itaniums since 2000. Intel developed EFI and there were several branded non-Apple x86 machines that used it before Apple did, and Intel also used/uses EFI/UEFI in several of their own branded motherboards. Apple was just the first large consumer OEM that used it widely in their branded OEM systems.