Solved Fresh install. Good. Attach another SSD in order to dual-boot. Busted.

[mjf]

if my windows drive is MBR and I install a 4 TB data drive and I initialize it GPT and chop it up to 2 partitions will windows be able to see the entire drive, or will I have to convert it to MBR ?

Thanks, Brian

All my HDDs don't exceed 2TB( MBR format by choice) so my comment is an opinion.
My understanding is that your OS drive can be MBR and large (> 2TB) data drives formatted GPT should be fully compatible. If you convert your 4 TB drive to MBR then I think you will only see 2TB. So > 2TB for data drives then GPT is the way.

Now ask the more unknown question concerning Macrium system imaging. Can you create a macrium (free) system image on a GPT data drive and restore to the MBR OS drive. I think you can ????

 

[AddRAM]

So, you`re saying you think the entire 4 TB drive initialized GPT would be seen by windows no problem ? No separate partitions, just one astronomically huge galaxy sized mind boggling partition.

Hope Santa brings me a couple

Seagate Desktop HDD ST4000DM000 4TB 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive - Newegg.com

2nd paragraph here clearly states: GUID Partition Tables (GPT) can define drives larger than 2.2TB. You can use GPT today on any Windows 10/ 8.1/8/7 and Vista system as a non-booting data drive. Windows can only boot a GPT partition on a new type of BIOS called UEFI.

Support for Disk Drives Beyond 2.2 TeraBytes (TB) and 4K Advanced Format Sectors

 

[Recusant]

I don`t see why you were using UEFI in the 1st place, there is no benefit to it in my opinion.

Yeah, i just wanted to get with the times. I assumed everything would behave. The feature is there - it should work!

I learned a fair amount, but boy did i waste a lot of time

 

[mjf]

So, you`re saying you think the entire 4 TB drive initialized GPT would be seen by windows no problem ?

I didn't say no problems. I am basing my comments on what I have read. But if you have a new 4 TB HDD (I don't) then play around with it as a data drive formatted GPT. If I had such a large HDD then I'd personally partition it.

The GUID/GPT is a newer standard for the partitioning table layout. The MBR partition table lives in the first 512 MBR bytes on the disk and is more restricted and doesn't support large drives > 2TB.

There is a difference between the boot drive and additional data drives. If you want to boot to a drive > 2TB then you need UEFI/GPT booting. Why you want to have a really big boot drive is beyond me.

My understanding is that you can have an MBR boot/OS drive and GPT data drives when they exceed 2TB.
Others with more first hand experience may want to comment.

 

[DavidE]

My understanding is that you can have an MBR boot/OS drive and GPT data drives when they exceed 2TB.

Yes you can have a MBR boot/OS drive and GPT data drives.
For drives > 2 TB they must be GPT or Windows won't be able to use all the space.

As far as partitioning that is a personal choice.
It depends on how a person is going to use the drives.
I use large drives as "Backup/Archive" drives that are normally offline.
I don't partition them, i use folders to organize data.

If i used them online and some data changed daily i probably would do some partitioning.
With partitioning you can better control scans and maintenance such as security programs, defrag, update checkers, etc.
For me i don't need these type of scans done regularly on "static" data that doesn't often change.

I use 1 TB or smaller drives for online data drives.
If i had larger drives online, i'd somehow fill it with data that i really don't need everyday.
This way i force myself to do better at keeping online data lean and clean