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Partitioning 3T drive for storage only for WinXP [Solved by Breaking It]

cornemuse

cornemuse

Joined
May 19, 2016
Messages
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I have a new (3 yrs old but never used) 3T WD hdd. Actually had it powered up for ½ hour or so attempting to partition it.
I want to use the whole drive for storage on an 'unplugged' no i-net access XP-Pro-64 bit computer. Yeah, , yeah, , I know, but it does everything I want flawlessly. I attempted partitioning on the machine & got only 754(?) ± gigs out of it. Not even 1T. Could it be partitioned under some flavor of linux & work under XP? I have a Ubuntu computer. Or would something like "GParted Live" work?

https://gparted.org/download.php

I think this can be run from a CD.

Thoughts or ideas??

-corne-
 
Read this.

https://www.pcworld.com/article/235088/everything-you-need-to-know-about-3tb-hard-drives.html

"you can boot Windows from a 3TB drive only if it's 64-bit Vista or 64-bit Windows 7--and then, only if you have a PC with an EFI/UEFI BIOS. EFI is Intel's Extensible Firmware Interface, and UEFI (United EFI) is the nonproprietary version based on the 1.10 EFI spec."

I have used as externals / non boot drives ... usually do it w/ one of these

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...&Description=blacx&ignorear=0&N=-1&isNodeId=1
 
Just seen this online.. http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/hard-disk-drives-capacity-limits/6/

No idea of how true or not, but surely you could partition the drive before putting it into the XP machine or partition in situ? Saying that, if using XP, I'm not sure you'd really use such a big drive, would there be a possibility of using a smaller drive? It's been a while since I've used XP so I can't remember hitting any particular limits at the time....
 
You'll need to partition the drive in GPT format.

If you can't do it from within Windows XP, try an old version of Acronis True Image WD Edition (restart after installation), use the extended capacity manager to partition the drive.

If it doesn't work, Paragon offers GPT Loader for Windows XP for $20.
 
Last edited:
Regeneration said:
You'll need to partition the drive in GPT format.

If you can't do it from within Windows XP, try an old version of Acronis True Image WD Edition (restart after installation), use the extended capacity manager to partition the drive.

If it doesn't work, Paragon offers GPT Loader for Windows XP for $20.
Click to expand...
A live Linux image might also help.

But seriously, what do you do with 3TB of storage on WinXP? I don't think it can play 4k movies and it probably doesn't run modern photo/video editing software either. (Genuinely curious)
 
bug said:
I don't think it can play 4k movies and it probably doesn't run modern photo/video editing software either. (Genuinely curious)
Click to expand...

But you can play Crysis....:D
 
Is this a primary drive or secondary? To partition the whole drive it has to be GPT. XP 32 bit will not boot to GPT. XP 64 bit reports it can but XP 64 bit is a nightmare

Its only 754 Gb because of the Fat32 limitation. MBR NTFS will get you 2Tb
 
Interesting, I used XP64 for years without issue. Didn't know it supported GPT, and it does! Yes, only for data, but it does. I use Win 7, still can't boot GPT, but considering
you usually use 256G or 512G ssds to boot, not really an issue.....
 
cornemuse said:
I have a new (3 yrs old but never used) 3T WD hdd. Actually had it powered up for ½ hour or so attempting to partition it.
I want to use the whole drive for storage on an 'unplugged' no i-net access XP-Pro-64 bit computer. Yeah, , yeah, , I know, but it does everything I want flawlessly. I attempted partitioning on the machine & got only 754(?) ± gigs out of it. Not even 1T. Could it be partitioned under some flavor of linux & work under XP? I have a Ubuntu computer. Or would something like "GParted Live" work?

https://gparted.org/download.php

I think this can be run from a CD.

Thoughts or ideas??

-corne-
Click to expand...
Do you want to use it as a boot drive or would you be ok with it as a secondary storage drive?

If you're ok with a dual drive situation, setup Windows on your main drive first, then put the 3TB drive in an external enclosure through USB 3. Through USB, the partition structure, MBR VS GPT, will not matter as the hardware only sees the USB mass storage controller which the drive will sit behind. You will then have all of the available capacity open to you. I've done this a few times. It's a 'round-about way of doing it but it does work.
 
https://www.pcworld.com/article/235088/everything-you-need-to-know-about-3tb-hard-drives.html
read this before starting this thread, , , no help

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...&Description=blacx&ignorear=0&N=-1&isNodeId=1
I have a Kingwin one of these, , , just connection via usb 2 - 3 --- & cloning

If you don't want newer version of Windows other than XP, maybe go Linux?
If linux et al ran my chosen programs, I would already have (I tried various Ubuntus)

if using XP, I'm not sure you'd really use such a big drive
I have 18-20 1T drives 'full', , ,

But seriously, what do you do with 3TB of storage on WinXP? I don't think it can play 4k movies and it probably doesn't run modern photo/video editing software either. (Genuinely curious)
back up dvds = 4 - 8 gigs per, , , how modern? paintdotnet, graphics workshop pro, etc, etc, they work, , ,
& what are 4k movies anyway? dvds for me, not even bluray discs, , , plus huge amounts of graphics and vid cam vids, , , ads up pretty quick, , ,

cornemuse said:
I want to use the whole drive for storage on an 'unplugged' no i-net access XP-Pro-64 bit computer.
Click to expand...
from original post ^ ^ ^

D, or D + E + F, or whatever, would work for me, , , , ,
 
Subscribed for nostalgia sake... :p

Not to mention I was going to try XP 32 just to run a program that won't run on any other version of windows, and... well that's all I'm going to say.
 
Sasqui said:
I was going to try XP 32 just to run a program that won't run on any other version of windows
Click to expand...
As has been mentioned in other threads, I've got a dedicated system for running XP because of reasons like yours. Granted, most of the programs in question will run on other systems, but run much better on XP because of the way XP works. Compatibility mode in Vista, 7 and up works most of the time, but not always perfectly.
 
lexluthermiester said:
As has been mentioned in other threads, I've got a dedicated system for running XP because of reasons like yours. Granted, most of the programs in question will run on other systems, but run much better on XP because of the way XP works. Compatibility mode in Vista, 7 and up works most of the time, but not always perfectly.
Click to expand...

I've got one that simply WONT work on anything other than XP
 
cornemuse said:
Problem solved. I took hdd out of (caseless) drive bay & dropped it on the floor, it hit hard & is now junk, nothing sees it now, , , , ,

(I didnt drop it on purpose.)
Click to expand...
More like problem removed.
 
Time to use a 1tb ssd lol
 
No just let it die
 
cornemuse said:
Is there a 'Problem Solved' button here?
Click to expand...

We could mark the thread solved, but it would be great if you posted what it was that resolved the issue. ;)
 
sneekypeet said:
We could mark the thread solved, but it would be great if you posted what it was that resolved the issue. ;)
Click to expand...
The OP sure did!
cornemuse said:
Problem solved. I took hdd out of (caseless) drive bay & dropped it on the floor, it hit hard & is now junk, nothing sees it now, , , , ,

(I didnt drop it on purpose.)
Click to expand...
 
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