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WD Red 3TB external HDD showing up as 746GB
Hi all, total newbie so I hope I'm posting in the right place & pls excuse any errors. I've been googling this issue all afternoon and it seems like a common problem, although none of the solutions I've found so far have worked for me, or there were slight differences (e.g. they were using as an internal HDD for a pc, not external usb drive for a laptop).
I've been using an Icy Box 2-bay external Jbod enclosure containing a Seagate Barracuda Green 2TB HDD with no problems, either attached directly to my Win 7 laptop via usb 2, or attached to my Buffalo Linkstation 1TB NAS. I needed to expand the storage, so I bought a Western Digital Red 3TB NAS HDD and put that in the second bay of the Icy Box. The problem is it only shows up as 746GB, not 3TB. In windows disk management, it shows up as 746.39 GB NTFS Healthy (Primary Partition).
Tried the following solutions from other threads:
I initialized it as GPT and formatted but could only get one partition, max 746GB.
Windows says the driver for the WD drive is up to date.
Tried downloading and installing Intel Rapid Storage Technology 10.1 but got error message “This computer does not meet the minimum requirements for installing”. IRST 12.9 works fine, but doesn't see the WD 3TB drive at all.
Tried installing EaseUS partition master, deleted the existing partition on the 3TB drive, but EaseUS only recognizes 746GB on this drive too. Can't move the partitions because it still only sees 746GB on the drive. Exactly the same as windows disk management.
I emailed WD. At first, they said the drive has the wrong firmware on it and I should return it to the reseller for an exchange. I asked whether I could upgrade the firmware, but they then said that the drive has got the wrong label on it. So, if I'm to understand correctly, I've been sold a 746GB drive with a label on it for a 3TB drive. I find this a bit odd, especially given how common this issue seems to be. I've asked them about the common issue of 3TB drives showing up as 746GB, and am awaiting reply.
In the meantime, I'd appreciate any other suggestions. At the moment I'm leaning toward sending it back and buying a 2TB Seagate drive instead, as I know these work with my setup.
Many thanks