Solve : 4TB as one drive?

1.	Solve : 4TB as one drive?
Answer» I have a 4TB seagate that I removed from my NAS enclosure and installed in my USB enclosure due to some default limitations that are not user changeable on with the NAS enclosure. Unfortunatly, when I plug it into my computer, the usual "Need to Format Drive" pops up but only allows me to format as 4 seperate drives. Is there any software that will allow me to recognize it as 1 drive? Yhanks JohnWhat OS and version? OS matters! Also surprised you degraded that 4TB of storage from NAS to just a regular external drive. Most people buy NAS for its purpose of data access from multiple computers like a file server and NAS come at a cost $100 + above that of normal external drives depending on make/model and features.Knew I forgetting somesting. Vista Home Premium SP2 32 Bithttp://support.microsoft.com/kb/2581408 Check out this article. It use to be a 2TB limit due to 32-bit OS, but it appears that you can access it all with GPT Partition with 32-bit non-bootable config. If you ever want this 4TB to be a single partition for a bootable internal installation, you would need a 64-bit OS. But the GPT vs the traditional MBR will allow for 4TB with 32-bit according to MS. My largest drive is 1.5TB, so I haven't had to play with this GPT partitioning yet.What would i need to use as 1 4tb drive?Need to partition the drive as GPT Partitioning scheme to have single partition ( 1 drive ). Quote The 2TB barrier is the very manifestation of this 32-bit limitation. Since the maximum number which is able to be represented using 32-bits is 4,294,967,295, this translates to 2.199TB of capacity using 512-byte sectors, or approximately 2.2TB. As a result, capacity beyond 2.2TB is not addressable using the MBR partitioning scheme. In order for more bits to be available for addressing, the device will instead need to be initialized with the GPT (GUID Partition Table) partition scheme which allows for up to 64-bits of logical sectors, which translates to a theoretical limitation of 9.4ZB (9.4 zetta bytes, or 9.4 billion terabytes). However, the issue with GPT is that most currently available systems are based on the aging BIOS platform which only supports booting from MBR initialized disks. In order to boot from a device initialized with the GPT partitioning scheme, your system will need to be UEFI capable. There are many systems today which ship with the capability of supporting UEFI, and Microsoft expects that most future systems will be shipping with this support. Customers should consult with their system vendor to determine support for UEFI and disks with capacities greater than 2TB. Overall Requirements for Non-Bootable Data Volume In order for a system to address the maximum capacity of a storage device with capacity greater than 2TB, the following requirements apply: - Disk initialized with the GPT Partitioning Scheme - Windows Version (all SKUs, either 32-bit or 64-bit): o Windows Vista o Windows 7 o Windows Server 2008 o Windows Server 2008 R2 (only 64 bit version available) Otherwise you will have to make 2 partitions 2TB each which I try to avoid doing with external drives.I tried this already using Seagates Disc Wizard but it only gave me 1 drive 1.63 TB I have no IDEA what I'm doing wrong but I'm just trying to make it work as a External USB Drive.Have you gone to disk management under Vista and deleted the partition(s) on this external and then tried GPT partition scheme? I would think that it would be there. Unfortunately I dont have Vista to confirm, I have Windows XP and Windows 7. The NAS device you removed this drive from was running Linux 64-bit kernel internally with XFS file system. Thats how it was able to address the full 4TB, and when requested by computer display and serve up 4TB. It would be way smoother getting this to work if you had a 64-bit OS. Maybe someone else here can ASSIST further with getting that drive to work as a single 4TB partition with GPT and 32-bit Vista. According to TomsHardware you need 64-bit to get FULL GPT support, http://www.tomshardware.com/s/partitioning+a+drive+as+GPT+with+Vista/ If you were ever thinking of upgrading your OS to 64-bit Windows 7 or Windows 8. This might be that time if you absolutely need it to be a single partition as 4TB and not 2 up to 2TB partitions I'll have to borrow my daughters laptop since I know hers is Windows 7 64 bit. Then I guess i'll have to consider upgrading my computer. How can I tell if my current computer can handle Vista 64 bit? Thanks for all you help JohnWhat is make/model? Mainly the CPU determines! ( Many systems that were sold with Vista have 64bit CPUs which were run at 32-bit )HP Pavilion Slimline S3700F AMD Athlon 64 X2 DualCore 5000+ 2.60 GHzThe 64 in that CPU's name indicated 64 bit CPU back then. I'd go with 2GB RAM bare minimum, but recommend 4GB. Your motherboard may limit you to 4GB. *Update: Motherboard is limited to 4GB http://www.crucial.com/upgrade/HP+-+Compaq-memory/Pavilion+Slimline+S3000+Series/Pavilion+Slimline+s3700f-upgrades.html Also given this systems age, not sure how much you want to invest into it. You could save some money buying the Upgrade Edition of Windows 7 64 bit or Windows 8 64-bit and same some money, but I'd only do this if you still have the original media to the system as for if you go to rebuild the system later, it will want to FIND an older windows install and the older install will be gone as part of the upgrade install requirements. If you buy Windows 8 64-bit you can save money as for Microsoft is having a hard time getting people to buy their OS. If you want a system similar to Vista and less headaches, I'd go with 7. But that is only my opinion, and I dont like Win 8.I already upgraded to 4 Gigs of Memory so I guess all I need to do is upgrade the OS. Thanks Again for your Patience and help Call me when you have a carpentry problem John Glad to help and good to hear you have 4GB RAM and just need the OS. 1/2 way there! Hi Please let us know how the drive works on your daughters laptop. Some enclosures have a 2TB limit, irrespective of the partition type. This is because the USB-SATA bridge IC's firmware can only address 32-bit LBAs. The firmware in newer enclosures can address the full 48 bits. So unless the en-closer is spec'd for 3tb or HIGHER then the 4tb drive will only partition to 1.63 - 2tb. Lisa_maree

Answer»

I have a 4TB seagate that I removed from my NAS enclosure and installed in my USB enclosure due to some default limitations that are not user changeable on with the NAS enclosure. Unfortunatly, when I plug it into my computer, the usual "Need to Format Drive" pops up but only allows me to format as 4 seperate drives. Is there any software that will allow me to recognize it as 1 drive?

Yhanks
JohnWhat OS and version? OS matters!

Also surprised you degraded that 4TB of storage from NAS to just a regular external drive. Most people buy NAS for its purpose of data access from multiple computers like a file server and NAS come at a cost $100 + above that of normal external drives depending on make/model and features.Knew I forgetting somesting.
Vista Home Premium SP2 32 Bithttp://support.microsoft.com/kb/2581408

Check out this article. It use to be a 2TB limit due to 32-bit OS, but it appears that you can access it all with GPT Partition with 32-bit non-bootable config.

If you ever want this 4TB to be a single partition for a bootable internal installation, you would need a 64-bit OS. But the GPT vs the traditional MBR will allow for 4TB with 32-bit according to MS. My largest drive is 1.5TB, so I haven't had to play with this GPT partitioning yet.What would i need to use as 1 4tb drive?Need to partition the drive as GPT Partitioning scheme to have single partition ( 1 drive ).

Quote

The 2TB barrier is the very manifestation of this 32-bit limitation. Since the maximum number which is able to be represented using 32-bits is 4,294,967,295, this translates to 2.199TB of capacity using 512-byte sectors, or approximately 2.2TB. As a result, capacity beyond 2.2TB is not addressable using the MBR partitioning scheme.

In order for more bits to be available for addressing, the device will instead need to be initialized with the GPT (GUID Partition Table) partition scheme which allows for up to 64-bits of logical sectors, which translates to a theoretical limitation of 9.4ZB (9.4 zetta bytes, or 9.4 billion terabytes). However, the issue with GPT is that most currently available systems are based on the aging BIOS platform which only supports booting from MBR initialized disks. In order to boot from a device initialized with the GPT partitioning scheme, your system will need to be UEFI capable. There are many systems today which ship with the capability of supporting UEFI, and Microsoft expects that most future systems will be shipping with this support. Customers should consult with their system vendor to determine support for UEFI and disks with capacities greater than 2TB.

Overall Requirements for Non-Bootable Data Volume

In order for a system to address the maximum capacity of a storage device with capacity greater than 2TB, the following requirements apply:

- Disk initialized with the GPT Partitioning Scheme

- Windows Version (all SKUs, either 32-bit or 64-bit):

o Windows Vista
o Windows 7

o Windows Server 2008

o Windows Server 2008 R2 (only 64 bit version available)

Otherwise you will have to make 2 partitions 2TB each which I try to avoid doing with external drives.I tried this already using Seagates Disc Wizard but it only gave me 1 drive 1.63 TB
I have no IDEA what I'm doing wrong but I'm just trying to make it work as a External USB Drive.Have you gone to disk management under Vista and deleted the partition(s) on this external and then tried GPT partition scheme?

I would think that it would be there. Unfortunately I dont have Vista to confirm, I have Windows XP and Windows 7.

The NAS device you removed this drive from was running Linux 64-bit kernel internally with XFS file system. Thats how it was able to address the full 4TB, and when requested by computer display and serve up 4TB.

It would be way smoother getting this to work if you had a 64-bit OS. Maybe someone else here can ASSIST further with getting that drive to work as a single 4TB partition with GPT and 32-bit Vista.

According to TomsHardware you need 64-bit to get FULL GPT support, http://www.tomshardware.com/s/partitioning+a+drive+as+GPT+with+Vista/

If you were ever thinking of upgrading your OS to 64-bit Windows 7 or Windows 8. This might be that time if you absolutely need it to be a single partition as 4TB and not 2 up to 2TB partitions I'll have to borrow my daughters laptop since I know hers is Windows 7 64 bit. Then I guess i'll have to consider upgrading my computer.
How can I tell if my current computer can handle Vista 64 bit?

Thanks for all you help
JohnWhat is make/model? Mainly the CPU determines! ( Many systems that were sold with Vista have 64bit CPUs which were run at 32-bit )HP Pavilion Slimline S3700F
AMD Athlon 64 X2 DualCore 5000+ 2.60 GHzThe 64 in that CPU's name indicated 64 bit CPU back then. I'd go with 2GB RAM bare minimum, but recommend 4GB. Your motherboard may limit you to 4GB.

*Update: Motherboard is limited to 4GB http://www.crucial.com/upgrade/HP+-+Compaq-memory/Pavilion+Slimline+S3000+Series/Pavilion+Slimline+s3700f-upgrades.html

Also given this systems age, not sure how much you want to invest into it. You could save some money buying the Upgrade Edition of Windows 7 64 bit or Windows 8 64-bit and same some money, but I'd only do this if you still have the original media to the system as for if you go to rebuild the system later, it will want to FIND an older windows install and the older install will be gone as part of the upgrade install requirements. If you buy Windows 8 64-bit you can save money as for Microsoft is having a hard time getting people to buy their OS. If you want a system similar to Vista and less headaches, I'd go with 7. But that is only my opinion, and I dont like Win 8.I already upgraded to 4 Gigs of Memory so I guess all I need to do is upgrade the OS.
Thanks Again for your Patience and help
Call me when you have a carpentry problem

John Glad to help and good to hear you have 4GB RAM and just need the OS. 1/2 way there! Hi

Please let us know how the drive works on your daughters laptop. Some enclosures have a 2TB limit, irrespective of the partition type. This is because the USB-SATA bridge IC's firmware can only address 32-bit LBAs. The firmware in newer enclosures can address the full 48 bits. So unless the en-closer is spec'd for 3tb or HIGHER then the 4tb drive will only partition to 1.63 - 2tb.

Lisa_maree

Solve : 4TB as one drive?

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