Old PC can't see 3TB HDD

Park@82

Park@82

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Old PC can't see 3TB HDD - solved

Edit:
Solved thanks to FlatspinZA
http://www.nvidia.com/object/nforce-vista-win7-64bit-15.58-driver.html
http://duntuk.com/how-get-3tb-hdd-work-nvidia-motherboards-windows

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Hi guys, I am using an old PC as a HTPC and recently bought a 3TB Seagate, the problem is that my old PC picks up the HDD as +-746GB (even before any partitions are created.)


What I've tried so far:

1. Created a 3TB partition on another PC and put it in the HTPC, It picks up as 3TB but I can only copy about 750GB to it.

2. I've checked in the BIOS and it picks it up their as a 3000GB HDD.
(I don't see any newer BIOS available)

3. Seagate DiscWizard Software doesn't seem to do anything besides wanting to change the disk to GPT which it already is... (I ran it anyway and it made no difference)

4. Motherboard drivers: Checked my SATA controller in device manager and it seems to be a Nvidia controller, I can not get the driver updated to anything newer than currently installed.

5. Tried to partition it into one 2TB and one 1TB partitions on another computer. But it only sees the 2TB.


I get the feeling that the SATA controller on my board has some sort of limitation.


Options:

1. Buy a PCI SATA card and hope that works.

2. Buy an external enclosure and hope it picks up the 3TB via USB (Another 2TB is working currently via USB).

Any opinions on if this would work? Any other advice?



Thanks!
 
Last edited:
Park@82 said:
Not sure what you mean? Disable it in the BIOS? I don't care if its bootable or not.
Click to expand...

Its been a while since I have done it, but for ide you could say what's connected where or set it to "None". For SATA I think you can set the modes or none. The bios then doesn't do all the addressing and stuff on the drive. So just see if you can leave the controller enabled but make the bios not initialize the drive.

Used to do this trick all the time to get 1TB+ drives working on Pentium 1.
 
Partition the drive using GPT not MBR - that should solve your problem. MBR doesn't support anything over 2TB.

EDIT: If you want to boot from it, check the compatibility list for your OS here.
 
Last edited:
FlatspinZA said:
Partition the drive using GPT not MBR - that should solve your problem. MBR doesn't support anything over 2TB.
Click to expand...

Easiest way for this is stick it in a windows 7 PC, computer management, disk management, delete all partitions, right click, convert to gpt, format. No need to use seagate software, and you can actually then see what the OS is presenting while doing it.
 
Yes yes it is on GPT as bolded in the OP :twisted:

3. Seagate DiscWizard Software doesn't seem to do anything besides wanting to change the disk to GPT which it already is... (I ran it anyway and it made no difference)
Click to expand...

I tired it fist in disk management, then via the Seagate software.
 
Last edited:
@ encrypted
Thanks Ill see if I cant set the disk to none....

But I somehow doubt that this is a BIOS problem. The BIOS picks the drive up as 3000GB.

Ive read some, and many suggest updating Intel SATA controller drivers. I don't have an Intel SATA controller, and cant find any newer Nvidia controller drivers for my motherboard.
 
You keep saying your bios is on the latest firmware. whats the motherboard name/make/model

Maybe someone could then actually look at the specs and determine IF it is the motherboard or not
 
Park@82 said:
@ encrypted
Thanks Ill see if I cant set the disk to none....

But I somehow doubt that this is a BIOS problem. The BIOS picks the drive up as 3000GB.

Ive read some, and many suggest updating Intel SATA controller drivers. I don't have an Intel SATA controller, and cant find any newer Nvidia controller drivers for my motherboard.
Click to expand...

Is it a nforce chipset ?
 
AcidRaZor said:
You keep saying your bios is on the latest firmware. whats the motherboard name/make/model

Maybe someone could then actually look at the specs and determine IF it is the motherboard or not
Click to expand...
http://www.ecs.com.tw/ecswebsite/pr...ilid=685&detailname=feature&menuid=24&lanid=9 This is the board. Here is the bios:
BIOS Name BIOS for GeForce6100SM-M (PCB:1.x)
Version 08/05/23 (2008/06/05 released)
Update Description Release Reason:
Update AGESA 2.08.15.
Click to expand...
encrypted said:
Is it a nforce chipset ?
Click to expand...
It looks like it yes.
 
Boot ubuntu from a live cd or usb. Run the disk utility or gparted. What does it report?
 
Nuro said:
Boot ubuntu from a live cd or usb. Run the disk utility or gparted. What does it report?
Click to expand...

I already know it isn't a disk problem if that is what you are getting at. It picks up as 3TB on two other systems. Running Linux is not a option unfortunately as my wife has some windows based software that needs to work on it as well.
 
Park@82 said:
CHIPSET º Single chipset: NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE/nforce 405
Click to expand...

ABANDON THREAD!

You have a cr@p sata controller on your motherboard.

Your probably going to end up putting that external 2TB into your pc then putting the 3tb in the usb. Last possible thing you can try is:

Find a small linux live with gparted cd/usb. A data recovery one works well.

run Gparted.

Format drive.

If this doesn't solve the problem, go USB. I have owned ATI and NVIDIA motherboards, in both cases I got a bunch of silicon scrap attached to pci-express slot.
 
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