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How to partition a 3 TB hard drive , in particular , size allocation . I want to use it as a back up drive. Thank's in advance.


Asked by
Alex Powell
2014/08/21 03:02
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WD 30EFRX 3 TB NAS hard drive , will be using it for back up .
Operating System:
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Answered by
Nish
2014/08/21 05:12
Hi Alex,

Assuming you are using a 64bit version of Windows 7 and do not have the Windows OS installed on your 3 TB hard drive, I recommend converting it from MBR (Master Boot Record) to a GPT (GUID Partition Table) disk before you create a partition. The GPT format is newer and supports up to 9.4 Zetabytes :)

Once you have done this, you can use the New Simple Volume wizard available in the familiar Windows Disk Management tool to create a partition.

Here\'s a quick guide for Windows:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;2581408

It is also important that your BIOS and storage controller drivers are up-to-date, when you\'re using 3 TB drives.

Note that once you convert it to a GPT drive, you can\'t boot Windows from it unless your motherboard\'s BIOS supports UEFI.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Good luck,

James


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Answered by
Lokesh Yadav
2015/09/02 02:06

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Hi Alex,

You can follow the below steps:

  1. Go to Control Panel -> Administrative Tools-> Computer Management. Choose Disk Management on the left and you should see in the lower portion of the screen a list of your installed drives. 
  2. The larger drive should appear in the list with a capacity displaying on the left. 
  3. Note, a 3TB drive will only have a storage capacity of LOWER than 3TB (read: when you add formatting and a file system, both of those require space on the drive, so you will not have a full 3TB of space to use-this is the nature of hard drives-you will never have the full stated capacity-ever since it is required to make the drive useable).
  4. Now, assuming you're using it as a data storage drive, ensure that nothing is still stored on it and right click on the partition on the right, right click the partition (if there is one on the drive already) and click "Delete Volume".
  5. Next, right click on the name on the left "Disk #" and choose "Convert to GPT Disk". 
  6. Now this should allow you to right click on the unformatted space on the right and to create a new partition which can hold the full available capacity of your drive.
I hope this helps.

Thank You!
Lokesh
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