Solved 5TB WD Black HDD will only format to 561GB

[frdjohns]

Installed in Win 7 64bit system, WD 5TB Black HDD is only recognized as being 561GB. Disk was initialized using GPT (not MBR). Data Lifeguard Diagnostics and Computer Bios both recognize drive as 5TB. Drive passes Data Lifeguard Tools testing. Why can't Windows 7 see the entire drive?

 

[whs]

Try Partition Wizard

MiniTool Partition Wizard | Best partition magic alternative for Windows PC and Server

There is a list of tutorials in the Support section

 

[frdjohns]

Try Partition Wizard

MiniTool Partition Wizard | Best partition magic alternative for Windows PC and Server

There is a list of tutorials in the Support section

Thanks for the suggestion. I downloaded Partition Wizard but it also only shows the disk as 561 GB, the same as the windows Disk Management. I also ran the partition recovery function, but it did not find the rest of the drive.

Any other suggestions or ideas?

 

[Mellon Head]

Your problem is similar to what the OP experienced in this thread:

http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware...een-ezrx-hdd-only-showing-561gb-capacity.html

As was suggested to him (and it worked), you could try another SATA controller driver. One more recent and see if that works. Or have Windows search for and install a new driver, reboot and try again.

 

[AddRAM]

What does Diskpart show ?

 

[jumanji]

If your Dell Desktop - it will always help if you specify the exact model number - uses IRST ( Intel Rapid Storage Technolgy), check the driver version installed and update to the latest driver from https://downloadcenter.intel.com/search?keyword=Intel+rapid+storage+Technology+(Intel+RST)

Note: Before you update, create a System Restore point so that you can revert in case of any problems.

You may also check for the latest BIOS for your Desktop on Dell Support site and update it.

 

[frdjohns]

Well, it did turn out to be the UHCI driver. When attempting to update the driver, I allowed Windows to search the web and it reported that I had the latest update available. However today I had it search my drive instead, and it found three options. I picked the one that seemed most likely and bam - there was the rest of my drive in Disk Management. It showed up as un-allocated space, and I simply expanded the existing partition to include the whole drive.

Now to figure out if my system has UEFI or not so that I can use this disk as a boot drive.

Thanks to all who offered help and suggestions. It was much appreciated.

Regards,
Fred

 

[Mellon Head]

Glad you got it working, Fred. Thanks for letting us know.

 

[jumanji]

It was undoubtedly a driver related problem. But which driver?

In the reference quoted by Mellon Head http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware...-only-showing-561gb-capacity.html#post2988628 it was the AMD SATA Controller driver. It had a precedent which I could see since the OP had given full details of his machine including the motherboard.

If you had given the DELL machine Model No. perhaps we could have pinpointed the problem driver if it had a precedent and been reported elsewhere.

Glad you could get your finger on the right driver and thanks letting us know.

You may mark this thread as solved. That should help others looking for a solution in a similar situation.