Solved New HDD initialized - MBR???

[AaLF]

Seems I have messed up a simple task. Bought a new internal 3.5" HDD & on installing it asked to be initialized. Without paying attention I just clicked away. Now I have created a problem. Its 3TB and divided itself into 2TB & 700GB and only offers the 2TB for partition creation saying something about if I proceed the other part will be lost & something about its MBR?

I just want my 3TB (2.7 net) HDD as one big data (no win7 OS) partition. Advice please??

 

[theog]

To use all of the HDD, will need to be in GPT mode.

 

[bobkn]

GUID Partition Table - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The short answer is that drives larger than approx. 2TB have to use a GPT. To boot from a GPT drive, the motherboard must support UEFI. (That's not required for a data drive.)

If I understand correctly, the existence of "advanced format" drives (4kb sectors) complicates the issue. In principle, those extend the capability of MBR to 8TB. I have no idea how to exploit that.

 

[TVeblen]

As theog says, you need to use a GPT setup.
The problem now is that it will not be as easy as it was when it first asked to be initialized.

If you go into Disk Management and right click on the "Disk #" portion of the screen you might be offered the option to "convert disk to GPT". But most likely that will be greyed out now.

You could use a Partition Wizard bootable CD. That will have an option to convert the disk to GPT.

Or you could use Diskpart "Clean All" command to wipe the drive (write all zeros) turning it back into a clean, unallocated drive, which will activate the "you must initiate the drive" dialog again when you connect it in Windows.

If you need help with any of these ideas, just ask.

 

[AaLF]

I have "HDD Nuke" which wipes a drive from one sweep to 35. think i d/loaded it from Win7 forums awhile back. Will that do?

 

[TVeblen]

I would think so. Anything that wipes the drive. One pass is all that is needed.

 

[TVeblen]

I've never tried this, but I believe the first few sectors of the disk holds the partition table mode info. So perhaps you don't need to run through the entire wipe to accomplish what you need. Just a couple of minutes. If you try it, let us know!

 

[theog]

You can use the CLEAN command in diskpart.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/52129-disk-clean-clean-all-diskpart-command.html
than set HDD to GPT in Disk management, & partition to suit.

To use all of the HDD, will need to be in GPT mode.

View attachment 267653

 

[bobkn]

I have "HDD Nuke" which wipes a drive from one sweep to 35. think i d/loaded it from Win7 forums awhile back. Will that do?

That's a utility to securely wipe a disk by overwriting it.

You don't need to use that. Worse, I'm not sure whether it will help with the MBR/GPT issue at all.

Using "diskpart" is probably the easiest way to configure it correctly, as already posted.

 

[AaLF]

I've never tried this, but I believe the first few sectors of the disk holds the partition table mode info. So perhaps you don't need to run through the entire wipe to accomplish what you need. Just a couple of minutes. If you try it, let us know!

Woooooooooo. Partial "nuking" was enuff. Put it on while i went into town. 25% was completed on returning. Rebooted & asked for initialization again. Thank you muchly. Case closed.