This was still bugging me since Just a Bunch of Disks shouldn't have any
special characteristics regarding the disks. I think your problem is
(and this was news to me but not terribly surprising) Windows XP doesn't
support disks larger than 2TB at all, and Win Vista and later may balk
at disks larger than 2.19TB depending on your hardware and if the
manufacturer of your 3TB disk pre-formatted it with a 2TB NTFS
partition. To uses disks larger than 2.19 TB they must be formatted
differently with what's called a GPT format (GUID PT or Globally Unique
Partition Table). Basically, the 3TB disk is up against the limits of
32-bit logical block addresses of the older MBR (Master Boot Record
Format). GPT is a newer standard which uses 64-bit logical block
addresses. In addition, if the disk was pre-formatted at the factory
with a 2TB partition that partition will have to be deleted and the disk
reformatted using GPT. See this item for more details of what to do.
See answer #16 to question #12 at top of the page
<http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-performance/i-have-a-3-tb-drive-windows-7-ultimate-wont-format/b1cc3811-f25f-e011-8dfc-68b599b31bf5>
If you follow the instructions there you should recover all of the
space. But do be aware that that's only for a data drive. If you want
to be able to boot from a 3TB drive there are hardware requirements
going back to the motherboard and a 64-bit OS is required.
This is just another of the many disk size limits DOS and Windows have
encountered over the years. I think this should be the last one.
64-bit logical block addresses should probably be enough space to
encompass the universe... at least this universe. :-)
Good luck,
Chuck Norcutt
On 12/18/2013 3:40 PM, Chuck Norcutt wrote:
> I should have realized that on my response. 3GB drives haven't been
> around for a long, long time. So it really was 745GB afterall? That's
> a much different story. That's about 25% of the space on a 3TB drive.
> Sorry, I don't have a clue. I think you may have to check the docs for
> the Disks box as I don't think it's Windows doing that.
>
> Chuck Norcutt
>
>
> On 12/18/2013 1:46 PM, Tina Manley wrote:
>> That should be 3TB not 3GB.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Tina
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Dec 18, 2013 at 12:48 PM, Tina Manley <images@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>>> PESO:
>>>
>>> I just installed a new 3GB hard drive in my Just a Bunch of Disks box.
>>> Windows 7 will not allow me to allocate the whole 3GB. I know some is
>>> needed for indexing, etc., but they are keeping 745.52GB as Unallocated. I
>>> don't have a Raid or any other system. It's just a bunch of disks in a
>>> box.
>>>
>>> Is there any way I can use Disk Management to allocate more of the 3GB? I
>>> hate to waste 745 GB that could be holding photos!!
>>>
>>> I've searched and only find incomprehensible (to me) Microsoft documents
>>> that don't tell me a thing.
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>>
>>> Tina
>>>
>>> --
>>> Tina Manley
>>> http:// <http://tina-manley.artistwebsites.com/>www.tinamanley.com
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
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