3 TB drive -- W7 32 bit can only access 2.1 TB

[jimbo45]

Hi there
With the new 3 TB drives appearing (it wasn't that long ago that a mere 20 MB drive was seen as HUGE storage capacity) note that if you are running the 32 bit version of windows you'll have a 2.1 TB size limitation on the hard disk without some sort of special software.

64 Bit versions are OK.

Cheers

jimbo

 

[WindowsStar]

Yep, I remember this and it is true.

 

[logicearth]

The limitation is with the Master Boot Record. To go over 2 TB you need to use GUID Partition Table, which Windows 7 supports. Without an EFI board (Alternative to a BIOS) you cannot boot from a GPT disk. However, it will work for storage drives.

Master boot record - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Both the partition length and partition start address are stored as 32-bit quantities. Because the sector size is 29 or 512 bytes, this implies that neither the maximum size of a partition nor the maximum start address (both in bytes) can exceed 232 × 29 = 241 bytes, or 2 × 240 = 2 TiB. Alleviating this capacity limitation is one of the prime motivations for the development of the GUID partition table (GPT).

 

[Reilly]

Due to limitations

 

[pallesenw]

And note that 32bit Win7 also supports GPT

 

[mickey megabyte]

...(it wasn't that long ago that a mere 20 MB drive was seen as HUGE storage capacity)...

those were the days...

 

[JonM33]

Hi there
With the new 3 TB drives appearing (it wasn't that long ago that a mere 20 MB drive was seen as HUGE storage capacity) note that if you are running the 32 bit version of windows you'll have a 2.1 TB size limitation on the hard disk without some sort of special software.

64 Bit versions are OK.

Cheers

jimbo

It's a Seagate and should be avoided anyway.

Note that it's not a 32-bit limitation but a 32-bit Windows limitation. 32-bit Linux will be able to use it without a problem.

 

[kegobeer]

And note that 32bit Win7 also supports GPT

That's not correct. Only Windows 64 bit operating systems work with GPT. I've tried using GPT on Windows 7 Ultimate x86 and it did not work.

 

[logicearth]

And note that 32bit Win7 also supports GPT

That's not correct. Only Windows 64 bit operating systems work with GPT. I've tried using GPT on Windows 7 Ultimate x86 and it did not work.

No, Windows 7 regardless if it is x86 or x64 supports GPT discs. You just cannot use a GPT disk as a bootable drive on an x86 platform. You need an EFI Motherboard and Windows 7 x64 to boot a GPT disk. I used GPT on my external harddive not to long ago. Of course I had to revert to MBR because Windows XP does not support GPT.

 

[kegobeer]

And note that 32bit Win7 also supports GPT

That's not correct. Only Windows 64 bit operating systems work with GPT. I've tried using GPT on Windows 7 Ultimate x86 and it did not work.

No, Windows 7 regardless if it is x86 or x64 supports GPT discs. You just cannot use a GPT disk as a bootable drive on an x86 platform. You need an EFI Motherboard and Windows 7 x64 to boot a GPT disk. I used GPT on my external harddive not to long ago. Of course I had to revert to MBR because Windows XP does not support GPT.

Ahh, yes. Thanks for correcting me.