External hard drives of 3 TB or larger


  1. bulajap
    Posts : 42
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
       New #1

    External hard drives of 3 TB or larger


    Hi everyone......

    I have Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit.

    I am looking to buy an external hard drive of 3 TB or larger.

    I have heard that Windows 7 will not recognize any external hard drive over 2 TB, expecially when using the Windows 7 built-in backup. Is this true?

    If so, is there a way to get Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit to recognize external hard drives 3 TB or larger?

    thank you
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  3. Brink
    Posts : 72,046
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
       New #2

    Hello Balujap,

    It comes down to it having a MBR file system. The MBR file system will on see up to 2 TB per partition, so you could create a 2TB and 1TB partitions on the 3TB HDD to be able to use all of it as is.

    If you like, you could also convert the drive to have a GPT file system (if it's not already) instead of MBR. This way all 3TB will be available with one partition. Hope this helps, :)
    Shawn
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  4. Lady Fitzgerald
    Posts : 9,600
    Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit
       New #3

    It just may be an external drive that size will come already formatted as GPT.
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