I want a 4Tb external, but my Windows is not GPT. What to do?

I am concidering buying a 4Tb external harddrive.

I am concerned about:

Can I access the full drive.

and, if so,

Everywhere??

 

The info on the web is all over the place, cant grasp what is what.

 

First my own system:

This has what I call Bios, but I think it is actually uefi. I saw that on the mainboard box.

Mainboard is Gigabyte Ga-Z77X-d3h

EDIT]

My Internal HDD's are like this:

SSD -256 GB-Boot partiton 800Mb, and C:\Partiton (the rest)

HDD - 1000Gb

-- D-400Gb --E 300Gb F-150GB and NoLetter - 150GB HFS Formatted containing old apple data.

EndEdit

I did not set up my internal harddrive as GPT, but as AHCI

I have Windows7 Home Premium, 64 bit.

 

Can I access the full 4 TB on an external HDD.

And to use it, do I need to format that EHD as GPT...??

 

EditDo I need toconvert all my internal disks as well?

Including system disk?

endedit

----------------------

Then, my mum has a Laptop, and I sometimes help her out.

I don't know how her drive is set up exactly.

But she uses Win10, and it's 64bit.

]Would I be able to take files to her on that EHD and help her out?

I use a 2Tb for that now, and that works fine. But what about the 4Tb.

 

---------------------

Lastly, she also has a XP 32bit system.

Probably bios, PC from 2005 or thereabouts.

 

Educated guess?

 

----------------------------

Priority is, can I use it on my pc. On mom's pc's is secondary.

I can look up more details if you need them.

 

This is all completely new to me, and the web is no help.

I know how to partition a drive, but never did GPT. Help welcome.

il88pp

I want to add, I do have a lot of nice boot tools,

systemrescuedisk (ubuntu based),

(has GParted on board)

and various others.

no stranger to that.

 

recently I stumbeled on two more. Partitonwizzard-minitool, and Partitonguru.

 

I just remembered that partitionwizzard (maybe guru as well) has the option to convert

MBR to GPT.

If that's th only way to go it is an option therefore.

 

But then I do still worry about using it on other PC's like my mum's for example.

 

il.

You should just need to format the 4TB drive using GPT partitioning to use it on your computer and the Windows 10 laptop. However, 32 bit Windows XP systems won't be able to read it. Microsoft has a FAQ here.

Thank you. I see now that converting the system disk is not needed.

 

Converting my system itself to GPT seems a little daunting/

Then again, maybe it's time to take the plunge.

 

I read that converting the system disk may lead to an OS that won't boot.

As I have a mainboard that supports both uefi and legacy, do you think there is a chance I will get it to boot without having to reinstall the OS?

 

I have good Acronis (2014) images so i can always go back.

Do you think converting is worth a try? Or is it a hopeless waste of time and is reinstalling Windows the only way to go?

I should have read your link first. I skimmed through it now and see too many hurdles.

Certain stuff needs to be first on the disk, the 'ESP'. Not possibele to do that anymore I think.

Also I see that all my favourite legacy tools will stop working when used on GPT systems, and will even do harm. I like those to much to give them up.

 

I was thinking about at some point upgrading from a 1 Tb HDD internal to a 2Tb. But even then I can still use MBR, and I think I will do just that.

No GPT internals for me.

 

I'll consider the 4Tb external disk long and hard. Maybe I can manage just as well with two 2Tb ones, and that would leave things much more compatible.

 

I bookmarked the link, and will read it closely.

 

Thanks Loki, very much.

 

il88pp.

Unless there is some actual problem, I certainly wouldn't bother converting to GPT. Maybe next time you do a clean install you could reformat the drive and do it then, but it won't get you anything with your current system drive.

Hi Loki,

 

Yes, no converting internals to GPT for me.

The external 4Tb still looks very tempting.

A backup/Image disk needs to be accessible anywhere, but 4Tb to store everyting would be mighty nice.

2Tb is only just about enough at times, sometimes it's to small to make a new backup before deleting the old one.

 

Also my 1Tb internal HDD is on it's last legs. Its going on 8years old now, and has been system disk for more then half of that, so it's probably well worn out. I'm thinking about replacing with a SSHD, and then probably 2Tb.

That would make that 4Tb external almost essential.

The external I found is the 4Tb Seagate Backup Portable. In the reviews on the vendors site several people say that in case of broken usb connectors you can take it apart and connect it up through Sata as well. Something I concider essential.

 

Tempting tempting. Something for me to think about over the next few days.

 

Thanks again for your quick response. I think I was pretty much lost in this but you got me back on the straight path quick.

Have a great day,:)

il88pp

Hi il88p,

 

WRT External HDD - I have had several external HDDs over the years that I have used simultaneously on a variety of OSs (XP/Vista/7/8/10. Currently, I use two Seagate 'Expansion' Desktop series drives a 3TB and a 4TB and I use them both with 7 and 10 (both 64 bit) with no problems. Key here is to remember the following - a 32 bit OS will not recognise a 64 bit formatted HDD but a 64 bit OS will recognise a 32 bit and a 64 bit HDD. Nowadays, most new external HDDs cone pre-formatted to 32 bit as it is the common recognisable standard across multiple OSs.

 

I use the 3TB solely for OS image backups and regular document and other important file backups. The 4Tb was brought solely to back up FSX related stuff. On both drives I created separate folder structures for each rig and simply point Acronis to relevant backup save point. BTW you must create the folders prior to doing the first manual backup run so that you can point the software to it - otherwise if you let the software do an automatic backup by default it will simply create copies of the folders in a default area of the drive. Likewise, I have done the same for a regular backup of FSX related folders.

 

WRT Internal drive replacement - Its relatively easy to do - see the following guide, it gives you the info you need to swap out internal drives:

 

http://www.howtogeek.com/199068/how-to-upgrade-your-existing-hard-drive-in-under-an-hour/

Hi Longbreak,

Migrating to the larger internal won't be ny trouble.

My os is on a separate 256 GB SSD:)!!

the HDD does only contain Data. So Imaging software won't eve be needed.

I may use Acronis.

Another way would be to just add the disk, leaving the original too. Then create partitions on the new one. Simply move the right drive letters to the right partitions, and copy the data from disk-old to disk-new.

I do forsee I will be running out of partitions.

At the moment I have three partitions in an extended partitions. D,E,F. And a forthe partition I added later with Gparted.

I may use Minitool PartitionWizzard to convert the Extended to three separate primaries. To be honest I hate extended partitions. I feel it may cause trouble with restoring a single partiotion alone, from image, if it was not a primary. (It is an issue for the inbuilt Win Imaging tool at least.)

 

I won't kill myself over it. Keeping the same partition structure I have now I could live with.

Oh, by the way, the Minitool can also move partitons to the right, and then make it possible for me to extend the first partition to the right for example.

 

Anyway, don't worry about that. I'll figure it out just fine.

If not I will ask later. Because upgrading the internal is not a pressing issue at all. Still have around 300 Gb to play with.

 

 

 

But, sorry, I can't follow your other train of thought.

You said you have a 4Tb EHD same as what I'm looking at.

 

Then you said that 64bit WIn can read 32 bit formatted disks,

and not other way around.

(I know about running 32bit progs on 64 bit. But this is new to me.)

 

It sounds as if you are saying: "as long as you format the 4Tb EHD as 32 bit, you can use it in XP-32."

 

But... What do you mean by formatting a disk as 32 bit (or 64 bit for that matter).

 

All I ever saw so far is: Fat32 or NTFS (and fat16 in the old days). I saw Hfs, hfs+, and many others.

 

What did you mean by formatting 32 bit. I never saw that anywhere.

 

I did just now come across a post of someone saying the NTFS Xp-32 puts on a disk is different from that of win7-64. Is that what you meant? I need to make it a GPT, and then format as NTFS on an XP-32 PC??

 

Did you mean I have to format it Fat32 perhaps?

 

If I understand what you meant there I will be able to follow your train of thought better I think.

 

I saw several threads on the web saying "I use a 4tB in 32 bit XP no issues", but no clear explanations. (((After what Loki said I doubt very much I can use it on a 32 bit system, but you know me, stubborn...)))

I have not had time to look up more. Very busy, and also the weather here is just too good.:)

 

thanks, il.

I had time to google some more. I found:

-XP does not natively support GPT formatted disks.

-Operating Systems since then do.

-Paragon made a driver that adds GPT support to XP, but this works only on internal data disks. Not on Externals, (and also Not on system disks).

 

SomeExternal 2.2Tb+ GPT EHD's can be seen fully on XP. If so, the sata to USB bridge does some type of translation. Or By using a large sector size the amount of sectors is kept low enough to be read by XP.

Not every disk does this.

It depends on the model.

With drives in enclosures it depends on the enclosure if this is possible.

 

How this is with the Seagate Expansion Portable I am not sure yet. It's very new, this disk used to be available only in smaller sizes.

 

Update,

I found the info on Newegg.

 

 

Learn more about the Seagate STEA4000400

Model

 

Brand

Seagate

Series

Expansion

Model

STEA4000400

Performance

Color

Black

Interface

USB 3.0

Capacity

4TB

Features

Features

Seagate Expansion portable drive, add-on storage for your PC

 

The Seagate Expansion portable drive is compact and perfect for on-the-go. Instantly add more storage space to your computer and take large files with you when you travel.

 

Setup is simple and straightforward; simply connect a single USB cable and you are ready to go. The drive is powered from the USB cable, so there is no need for an external power supply. Plus, it is automatically recognized by the Windows operating system, so there is no software to install and nothing to configure. Saving files is easy - simply drag-and-drop.

 

Take advantage of the fast data transfer speeds with the USB 3.0 interface by connecting to a SuperSpeed USB 3.0 port. USB 3.0 is backwards compatible with USB 2.0 for additional system compatibility.

 

System Requirements

Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP SP3 (32-bit and 64-bit) operating system

SuperSpeed USB 3.0 port (required for USB 3.0 transfer speeds or backwards compatible with USB 2.0 ports at USB 2.0 transfer speeds)*

 

* Compatibility may vary depending on user's hardware configuration and operating system.

 

 

So, 32/64 bit XP SP3 is mentioned.

It looks as if it is possible to use this as storage for backups, and later access these backups on a 32bit XP pc if needed. Exactly what I want.

 

It leaves me with the questions,

-Is this really correct info, or was it the old info for the previous, smaller models. And therefore in error?

-How would I have to proceed if ever I neeeded to reformat this thing?

-Or when repartitioning. For example, I may at some point want to create a HFS+ partition on it.

 

Well, more Google required, but things do look hopefull.

Thoughts welcome of course.:)

 

I won't push the button anytime soon. No sense rushing such choices.

il

 

 

((PS: I just realised that if push comes to shove there is a last resort method. I could connectthe drive to a 32bit XP pc, And boot it from a bootstic carrying linux

Then I can copy files from the 4TB to any drive no issue, and read them off that.

Where there's a will there's a way.))

Never mind al that dribble guys. I keep going around in circles.

 

I just found two more sellers, and both say win7 or higher is required.

 

I reread the link Loki sent earlier. And found some linux related info as well.

Point is, for full disk size you can't really escape using GPT.

And winXP cant see that.

 

I see linux can access 4tb no issue.

 

I think there is only one way to go.

get the 4TB,

use it as backup disk, for straight-copies and images,

If the pc burns down, use a newer pc to acces the 4tb external disk,

or an older pc, but in that case use a linux boot disk to copy my files from the 4tb EHD to another disk. Then acces them.

 

The firtst reply in this thread cleared up a lot for me:

(it's about using a GPT data disk in linux)

http://superuser.com/questions/1005475/trying-to-understand-linux-support-for-4tb-hard-disk-drive-on-legacy-bios

Especially this bit:

"All that said, since the new disk is a non-boot disk, you needn't really be concerned with these issues. You can boot Linux in BIOS mode from an MBR-partitioned SSD and use the GPT-partitioned 4 TiB hard disk for data storage without problems. If your needs change in the future, you might need to re-evaluate the configuration, but I wouldn't worry about it now."

 

Only one question remains really, which is "can I format it GPT, and still create a HFS+ partiton on it as well?"

I'm pretty sure the answr is... NO.

I think I saw somewhere in all of this that a GPT partition must include the whole disk.

 

That's for tomorrow. Tired now.

Only one question remains really, which is "can I format it GPT, and still create a HFS+ partiton on it as well?"

I'm pretty sure the answr is... NO.

I think I saw somewhere in all of this that a GPT partition must include the whole disk.

 

That's for tomorrow. Tired now.

 

No, you can create multiple partitions on a GPT drive. As for the HFS+ question, Macs can access NTFS, FAT32 and, on recent versions of OS X, exFAT partitions.

Ah, yes. But the issue is different.

i don't have a mac.

 

Recently a freind had a damaged mac disk, HFS.

I had performed data rescue from that, and had to store it somewhere. To do this I shrunk the partition on my 2 Tb EHD. THen created a HFS+ partiton. In the gained unpartitioned space.

 

I copied the files to that. To make sure filenames with weird characters would not get messed up.

After the rescue was complete, I checked her disk and found smart errors on it.

I bought her a new EHD, and formatte that HFS+

Then copied the files back to that from my EHD.

 

So, she got back a new EHD exactly as the one she had given to me. But now working fine.

 

Such an operation would not be possible on a GPT disk I think.

The GPT formatting includes the whole disk, then within that you can create (NTFS only) partitions.

Correct?

 

Therefore not possible to shrink the GPT slightly afterwards to create unpartitioned space, and in that space create a HFS partition. Yes?

(could have said Fat32 as well, that is something I use too sometimes)

No, as I said before, you can have multiple partitions on a GPT drive. GPT stands for GUID Partition Table, which stores information about the partitions on the drive. It is not a partition format itself, and replaces the old MBR method of storing partition data. Mac, Windows, Linux and other modern operating systems all support GPT drives.

 

http://www.howtogeek.com/193669/whats-the-difference-between-gpt-and-mbr-when-partitioning-a-drive/

 

From this link:

 

How many partitions can a GUID Partition Table disk have?

 

In theory, an unlimited number. As the July 2001, the Microsoft implementation is 128 partitions. The number of partitions is limited by the amount of space that is reserved for making partition entries.

Ah, I see now. Ok.

I had seen somewhere that to convert a disk to GPT it had to be/contain only one partition.

That made me think of GPT like a special type of extended partition. (With separation inside it.) making many partitions possible and overcoming the 4 primary partition limit that way.

 

But it's a different MBR making the many (primary) partitions possible. And those you can format anyway you please. FUN!! I'm starting to like the idea!

 

Thanks for clearing that up.:)

il