828gb Missing on my 3tb hdd

astr0kreep · 28 Nov 2012

Hi,

A few days ago I reinstalled windows 7, on finally booting up and being ready to go I noticed that my secondary 3tb hdd was missing 828gb of space. All view settings are enabled to show hidden or system files and nothing seems off. All the folders that were there before are still there. After selecting everything and viewing the properties everything still seems right. the only problem is there is only 83gb of space left. meaning there is still 828gb missing.

Has anyone had this problem? Does anyone know how to get the missing space back?

Thanks,

onesixski · 28 Nov 2012

You can right-click 'Computer' in the start menu or on the desktop, and hit "Manage". Go to Storage>Disk Management in the window that pops up and see if you can find that 828Gb (or anything near that number) and check if it's unallocated space or a separate partition. If it is, you can delete that partition or extend it (into C:/) to make that space accessible for you. You can use 3rd party partitioning software if Windows won't let you do it from its Disk Manager.

astr0kreep · 28 Nov 2012

Thanks for the reply.

Already checked that out. The partition size is correct, thats one of the first things I checked. The space is just "missing"...

TVeblen · 28 Nov 2012

Hello astr0kreep. Welcome to the forum.

It sounds like the very common problem of the MBR file table and large hard drives.
In the legacy MBR file table there is a partition/drive limit of 2.2TB. exactly what you are seeing.

The GPT format (GUID Partition Table) allows recognition of partitions/drives larger than 2.2TB.

The only mystery here is why this would occur just because you reinstalled Windows on another drive (assuming you never changed anything on the secondary drive).
I have read about (but can't remember at the moment) some software workaround that drive manufacturers offered to allow users to workaround the file table on their large drives. Perhaps you were using something like that and it got deleted in the reinstall?

astr0kreep · 28 Nov 2012

Thanks TVeblen,

I unplugged all the other drives before installing, maybe thats where I ran into the problem?

Maybe the GPT format is giving me issues, is there any way to fix it without losing 2tb worth of data seeing as i dont have another drive that big to store my data on?

TVeblen · 28 Nov 2012

No, unplugging all additional drives is the recommended way to do an installation. No problem there.

Check a couple of things first. Use this tutorial:
Hard Drive - GPT or MBR
And see what the current File Table is on the external, and on the OS drive.
Let me know.

astr0kreep · 30 Nov 2012

Hi,

I checked my main drive (c: ) and that is set as MBR, the drive with the missing space (the 3tb that I'm having the issue with) is set to GPT. So having said that, it should give me the whole drive save 128mb I think...

TVeblen · 30 Nov 2012

Yes it should. 64 bit W7 should read all of the GPT disk, even if it is installed on a MBR disk. So there is nothing wrong with the format issue.

If your PC recognized all of this external drive before you reinstalled the OS then something has changed. The question is what? Have you installed all drivers, particularly the chipset? Did you need to install any software for the external when you got it?

One thing for sure, do not play with the formatting on the external drive unless you have backed up all your data.

astr0kreep · 30 Nov 2012

Thanks once again for the reply,

If this helps, I installed Win 8 Pro, realised how much it sucked and not even a week later went back to good 'ol 7. So win 8 possibly did something to the drive?

TVeblen · 30 Nov 2012

No, I can't think of anything a Win8 install would do to an external drive, even if it were connected. Something changed in your OS or PC settings.

It would help if we knew what hardware we are dealing with, particularly the specs on the PC.
Could you fill out all the lines of your System Specs under your Sevenforums profile and tell us the brand and model of the external drive?
Thanks.