Windows 7 and 4TB external drive back-up error message.

DZD01 said:

I have a Dell running windows & ultimate. I just purchased a new Seagate 4TB external hard drive for Back-up. in the past I have utilized a smaller Seagate drive that the Windows Back-up program recognized and used. It became too small therefore I went to a 4TB external for backup. I am receiving an error message of : Back-up failure due to an I/O device error. I have reloaded the software from Seagate with no new results. Seagate stated that Windows 7 does not recognize a drive this size, but the Seagate software does not allow for a system image. Is there a way to allow Window 7 to recognize this drive and then utilize the Window Back-up program to perform scheduled data backups and obtain a system image as well?

Hi DZD01,

Welcome to Seven forums.

Any harddrive above 2 TB is not supported by MBR. You need to make the harddrive as GPT partitioning. Please post a screenshot of your disk management so we can check if it is detected there or nor:

Screenshots and Files - Upload and Post in Seven Forums

Also, check this article if it is detected then you can partition on GPT and it should be able to work and be detected on the system:

Windows support for hard disks that are larger than 2 TB

Kindly update your system specs here by following this.

Keep us posted with the results so we can advise you further.