3 TB HD headache

[Farscape1]

i bought my first 3 TB HD (Hitachi 0S03230 5400 RPM 6.0 GB/s) because newegg had it for $119.00. just got it today and went to format it like any other drive except that i used GPT instead of MBR. process went smoothly and soon it was formatted and one of my windows 7 machines (x32) recognized it. i then threw some large files at it and it performed flawlessly.

so i popped it out of that machine and popped it in (eSATA on both machines) a windows 7 (x64) machine and it isn't showing up. so i go into computer management and it says the drive has to be initialized. i don't initialize it, then i pop it back into the machine that is was formatted in and it showed up as normal.

i decided to format it in the x64 machine. again, process went smoothly and then the x64 machine recognized the drive and i copied files to it with no problems. so then i pop it back into the x32 machine and it isn't recognized in that machine. says i have to initialize the disc...etc.

so i was hoping someone could explain to me how a HD formatted in one windows 7 machine (both are fully up to date with SP1) can't be read in another. i have never had this problem before.

[deadrats]

it's nothing to worry about, i've had this issue with various hdd's formatted in a 64 bit OS when plugged into a 32 bit OS and vice versa, go ahead and initialize it in the other OS, it will work fine (no need to reformat).

[edDV]

Those 3GB drives are nice. Got my first at Frys.

I'm going to watch the sales and add 3 more (eco versions) to the server step by step.

[Farscape1]

it's nothing to worry about, i've had this issue with various hdd's formatted in a 64 bit OS when plugged into a 32 bit OS and vice versa, go ahead and initialize it in the other OS, it will work fine (no need to reformat).

ok, i initialized it, but it just says it's unallocated. how do i get it to show up as a drive?

initializing it on the x32 machine made it unreadable on the x64 machine (said it wasn't initialized).

there has to be some reason why this is happening.

[deadrats]

ok, i initialized it, but it just says it's unallocated. how do i get it to show up as a drive?

initializing it on the x32 machine made it unreadable on the x64 machine (said it wasn't initialized).

there has to be some reason why this is happening.

that's odd, i've never had that happen to me, if it's saying it's unallocated it means that it doesn't see a partition on it, on xp (32 and 64) as well as vista once it was initialized all the hdd's worked fine, i'm wondering if microsoft changed something in win 7.

just so we're on the same page, you created a partition, formatted it and initialized it in either 64 bit version of win 7 and when you install it on the system with the 32 bit version it refuses to see the drive and you are forced to reformat and vice versa going the other way, correct?

edit: i just realized something, i think win 7 32 bit may have a 2tb partition size limit, i'll look it up and get back to you.

[Farscape1]

that's odd, i've never had that happen to me, if it's saying it's unallocated it means that it doesn't see a partition on it, on xp (32 and 64) as well as vista once it was initialized all the hdd's worked fine, i'm wondering if microsoft changed something in win 7.

just so we're on the same page, you created a partition, formatted it and initialized it in either 64 bit version of win 7 and when you install it on the system with the 32 bit version it refuses to see the drive and you are forced to reformat and vice versa going the other way, correct?

that's correct. i had a new drive. plugged it in, initialized it, partitioned it and then formatted it (quick format). the same procedure i've done many times before. except this time had to choose GPT instead of MBR.

the drive runs perfect in the machine it was formatted in. but when i swap it out into the other machine, it's like it's a new drive all over again.

the 2 TB partition limit is for MBR. GPT allows for partitions greater than that.

[edDV]

The one thing I've learned about 3TB drives in Windows Home Server (WHS) is they need to be formatted externally and not currently used as a WHS OS system drive. They are working on that. If so 3TB should work and mine does although as 2.72 TB (you should know why).

[Farscape1]

The one thing I've learned about 3TB drives in Windows Home Server (WHS) is they need to be formatted externally and not currently used as an OS system drive. They are working on that. If so they should work and mine does.

that's how i've formatted the last dozen HDs. i just don't understand how i can format the drive in one win7 machine but the other win7 machine treats it like an formatted drive.

[edDV]

The one thing I've learned about 3TB drives in Windows Home Server (WHS) is they need to be formatted externally and not currently used as an OS system drive. They are working on that. If so they should work and mine does.

that's how i've formatted the last dozen HDs. i just don't understand how i can format the drive in one win7 machine but the other win7 machine treats it like an formatted drive.

I've avoided 64 bit for these reasons. All 32 bit here.

[jman98]

I haven't read this in detail, but a quick search turned up the following hotfix from Microsoft which may or may not be helpful in this case.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/982018

[p_l]

(eSATA on both machines)

Just a thought, so as to rule it out, but you know that eSATA isn't hot swappable like USB, right? You have to either reboot the computer after the eSATA drive is plugged in or as a shortcut right-click on your computer at the top of the list in Device Manager and select "Scan for harware changes." Then your eSATA drive shows up.

[valvehead]

(eSATA on both machines)

Just a thought, so as to rule it out, but you know that eSATA isn't hot swappable like USB, right?

eSATA is hot-swappable if you enable AHCI on the controller. If it's set to IDE then it won't work.

[p_l]

You can enable it in the BIOS, is that correct?

And if it's your boot drive, in order to avoid getting a BSOD, you have to first modify the registry thus, right?

Exit all Windows-based programs.
Click Start, type regedit in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.
If you receive the User Account Control dialog box, click Continue.
Locate and then click one of the following registry subkeys: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\Msahci
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\IastorV
In the right pane, right-click Start in the Name column, and then click Modify.
In the Value data box, type 0, and then click OK.
On the File menu, click Exit to close Registry Editor.

So I'm thinking OK, I'll enable it. Then I read the following and get cold feet.

Common problems switching to AHCI under Windows

* Enabling AHCI in a system BIOS will cause a 0x7B Blue Screen of Death STOP error on installations of Windows XP where AHCI/RAID drivers for that system's chipset are not installed. Switching to AHCI mode requires installing new drivers before changing the BIOS settings.
* When attempting to install Microsoft Windows XP or a previous version on an AHCI-enabled system will cause the setup to fail with the error message "set up could not detect hard disk drive...". This problem can only be corrected by using a floppy disk with the appropriate drivers or by slipstreaming the appropriate drivers into the Windows XP installation CD.
* Enabling AHCI in a system BIOS with Windows Vista already installed will result in a BSoD if SATA has been running in IDE mode during Vista's installation. Before enabling AHCI in the BIOS, users must first follow the instructions found at Microsoft Knowledge Base article 922976 (currently unavailable in English, see this workaround using babelfish).
* Enabling AHCI or receiving a system with AHCI enable, will cause EPHD (Encryption Plus Hard Drive) from PC Guardian) to error out when attempting to Hibernate out of Windows OS (such as Windows XP). The major aspect of this issue is that it can NOT be changed without reimaging/re-installing the entire system. There may be a root level fix not apparent on new (Circa April 2007) HP Compaq NC8430 laptops.
* Enabling AHCI in a system BIOS on installations of Windows XP or Windows Vista, will cause SATA Optical drives to disappear. A Hotfix for Windows Vista is available. SATA optical drives are not available after you start a Windows Vista-based computer.[2]