I bought a WD 4TB HDD today to be used for backup. Upon initializing the drive, there are two unallocated "partitions" of 2048GB and 1678.02GB each. I SET up the first 2048GB part as a new volume, but can't do the same for the second 1678.02Gb part. The context menu is greyed out.

After some googling, it seems that Windows 7 only recognises up to 2.5TB.

So what I need to do now in order to be able to use the remaining 1678.02GB?

Thanks.
It is a limitation of MBR partitioning.

Windows Vista and later can access >2TB disks but you need to be using the 64-bit release and the drive must be partitioned using GPT.



Yes, I am aware of that after the googling. My Win 7 is 64-bit.

My question is, what I can or should do now in order to make it work?

From what I read, I will need to REFORMAT my system drive, partition it using GPT, and reinstall Windows 7.

Just wonder if that is the only way.
In Disk Management, you would need to remove all partitions from the disk, and then a "Convert to GPT Disk" option should be available when RIGHT-click on the drive. Then you can create a 4TB partition. (or I guess whatever partitions you like) and it will be able to use the fill disk capacity.There is no option to remove the partitions. See attached.

As I understand from a few IT friend and also some articles, the drive containing the OS will need to be GPT in the first place. That’s the trouble I want to avoid. You need to Right Click in the square under Disk 0 and select convert to GPT then make the NTFS/Fat32 partitions inside the GPT partition.
There is no need to change your other drive to GPT to do this.

This is what a 4TB drive looks like first changed to GPT

And then Partitioned as EXFat and NTFS

Then re partitioned as single 4TB NTFS


Ok I’ll try.

Btw, why is the need to partition as ExFAT + NTFS first? I only SHOWED it as an option to have both xfat and NTFS partitions. It could be a single 4TB NTFS or any number of smaller NTFS partitions. Once you have it in GPT format it is the same as partitioning a 2 TB or smaller drive.Quote from: Lisa_maree on April 29, 2021, 11:15:32 PM

You need to Right Click in the square under Disk 0 and select convert to GPT then make the NTFS/Fat32 partitions inside the GPT partition.