How to get 4TB interal hard drive to appear as 1 partition?

[holygamer]

I have Windows 7 64-bit. I bought a Hitachi Touro 4TB USB 3.0 hard drive because it was cheaper to buy that and remove the hard drive from the enclosure than it was to buy an internal drive.

It's appearing in Disk Management with 3 partitions of 465 GB, 1582 GB and 1678 GB. I was under the impression that Windows 7 could handle 1 partition of 4TB.

How can I have 1 partition?

[shaithis]

The only way to do it is by partitioning it with a GPT/GUID partition table. The traditional MBR partitioning does not support volumes that large.

The big gotcha.....you can only boot from a GPT partitioned disk with Windows installed in EFI mode.

[Biscuit]

Info from Microsoft on GPT

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/libr.../gg463524.aspx

[Shin555]

Is this because of using SATA?

Reason i ask is because i am using the same drive but i have it hooked up in it's Enclosure via USB3 but it is showing as one 4Tb Partition (3.63Tb)

[jim]

No, it's just a question of MBR vs. GPT

[NorBdelta]

Basically you are going to need to format the 4TB drive and then assign it one partition to cover its capacity.

GPT is a must. Use the Disk Management Tool type - diskmgmt.msc in the run command to access it.

You may have to delete the three sub-partitions and then create a new one to accomplish this so make sure you have not data on it.

[holygamer]

Thanks. It's working now.

[tonywilson]

Nice to know that it is working now! Can you please share the steps that you follow to partition as I am unable to do this? Thanks in advance for your time.
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[holygamer]

In the Disk Management software that's a part of Windows, delete all the partitions for your USB hard drive then Right-click on the "Disk 1" box and select Convert to MBR disk. Then create a new volume.

[shaithis]

In the Disk Management software that's a part of Windows, delete all the partitions for your USB hard drive then Right-click on the "Disk 1" box and select Convert to MBR disk. Then create a new volume.

Convert to GPT

[holygamer]

What are you talking about? The step I mentioned was what I did to get all the partitions to appear as 1 partition.

[peterb]

If the drive has 512 byte sectors, the maximum size of a partition under MBR is 2^32 *512 bytes which is roughly 2.2TB. To use a drive like that requires a GPT. However, if the drive has a sector size of 4096 bytes, the maximum size of an MBR partition is 2^32 * 4096 bytes, which is roughly 16TB. The limiting factor is the 32 bit LBA address space.

[holygamer]

So I was right in saying to use MBT after all. I didn't understand why the other guy said to use GPT when the other guy obviously had a 4TB hard drive.

[mihai24silus]

I have also a 4TB HDD I can not use it:
I have this PC:
P67 Pro3 / BIOS version 3.30 / Intel Core i7 2600 3.40Ghz / 16Gb DDR3 / SSD 240 Gb with Windows 7 Ultimate instaled on it / HDD WD Black 4TB, 7200rpm, 64MB, SATA 3.
Problem: Into the bios/uefi settings, I can see the 4TB HDD as listed but with 0 [zero] capacity , Not even 2TB disk.
I can not access this hard disk, not showing into Computer Management > Disk Management , I can not use it. It's new, just reinstalled the W7 and hoped this will solve the issue, but still I can't access this new HDD.
I know is over 2TB but my Mount Board is up to date for it.
Any suggestions will be a HUGE HELP!!!!! PLEASE!
I installed 3TB+ Unlocker from ASRock as they suggested but nothing happened

The 4TB HDD is not listed on Disk Management. The only part were I can see it to convince myself it's actually working, it's on BIOS Hard Disks list. There is listed, shows that I have connected it on SATA 3, but with zero space capacity and with the notice "S.M.A.R.T.: Not Supported"
When the PC starts, the 4TB HDD is working, has even more noise than the other drives, but the sound of the 4TB HDD stops right before the windows finishes the loading...
Thank You!

[Bonebreaker777]

What are you talking about? The step I mentioned was what I did to get all the partitions to appear as 1 partition.

There is a difference to unify the partitions all into one (albeit not the full capacity) or access the full capacity under one partition.

[Bonebreaker777]

So I was right in saying to use MBT after all. I didn't understand why the other guy said to use GPT when the other guy obviously had a 4TB hard drive.

No you were not. You need to use GPT. Simple as that. MBR will grant you ONLY limited access.