HDD 4 TB in windows 7 with Aspire M1641?

andcar
andcar Member Posts: 8 New User
edited March 2023 in 2014 Archives

I have installed Windows 7 on my Aspire M1641 and want to use a 4 TB HDD.
How do I manage that? I have set it as a GPT disc but it recognize the disc as 1678 GB.

Best Answer

  • andcar
    andcar Member Posts: 8 New User
    Answer ✓
    IronFly wrote:

    it uses NVIDIA GeForce 7050 / nForce 620i and it will be very hard to find new drivers, since it's a very old chipset and not well supported from nvidia.

     

     for windows 7 x64, this is the latest available:

    http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/57492/en-us

    Unfortunately that did not work, but at last I found the driver for the SATA controler and then everything worked. It was : NVIDIA nForce Serial ATA Controller  10.6.0.319 that finaly did the job.

     

    Thanks for everybody trying to help!

     

Answers

  • Sharanji
    Sharanji ACE Posts: 4,328 Pathfinder

    Normally you would do this in Disk Management:

    Delete all partitions -
    Then right click on the "Disk #" box on the left side of the Disk Management Window > and select "Convert to GPT Disk"
    Then create the new partition using the Wizard.

    It sound like this is what you did, but just be sure you deleted all existing partitions.

    Normally when you install a brand new hard drive you will get a window opening that asks if you want to initialize the disk the first time you start Windows. It is here where you would normally choose to initialize it GPT.

  • andcar
    andcar Member Posts: 8 New User
    Sharanji wrote:

    Normally when you install a brand new hard drive you will get a window opening that asks if you want to initialize the disk the first time you start Windows. It is here where you would normally choose to initialize it GPT.

    I did exactly that. I have not created any partition yet and I initialized it as GPT. Have tried to convert it and convert it back to GPT but same size of unallocated space.

  • IronFly
    IronFly ACE Posts: 18,413 Trailblazer

    Can you please check your BIOS version?

     

    press DEL at boot.

     

    the latest is R01-B4.

     

    i suspect that can be a chipset limitation.

    I'm not an Acer employee.
  • andcar
    andcar Member Posts: 8 New User

    I already had R01-B4 but there was a newer version R01.C2 that I updated to.

    But unfortunately it didn´t make any difference. Still not 4 TB unallocaded space.

  • IronFly
    IronFly ACE Posts: 18,413 Trailblazer

    ok, are you on 32 or 64 bit version?

     

    the 32 bit can only us 4TB HDD as storage, not as system HDD

    the 64 bit can do both.

    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2581408

     

    reading aroung the web, it looks also that your chipset can't manage more than 3TB on a single HDD.

    I'm not an Acer employee.
  • andcar
    andcar Member Posts: 8 New User

    It is 32 bit and I will use it as storage not system so it should work.

    I have followed the microsoft article:

     

    Overall requirements for a non-bootable data volume

    For a system to be able to address the maximum capacity of a device that has a storage capacity of more than 2 TB, the following prerequisites apply: 

    • The disk must be initialized by using GPT. check!
    • The Windows version must be one of the following (32-bit or 64-bit, unless otherwise noted, but including all SKU editions):
      • Windows Server 2008 R2 (only 64 bit version available)
      • Windows Server 2008
      • Windows 7 check!
      • Windows Vista
    • The latest storage drivers from your storage controller manufacturer must be installed. For example, if your system uses an Intel storage controller that is set to “RAID” mode, make sure that you have the latest applicable drivers from the Intel support site
    • Overall, you should contact your system vendor to determine whether the system supports device sizes of more than 2 TB.

    The last point is what I am doing right now. The only thing left is the storage controler, how do I find that in the device manager?

    If the chiopset can control 3 TB, why do I only get 1,6 TB?

  • IronFly
    IronFly ACE Posts: 18,413 Trailblazer
    What i found was a user claiming this, not an official paper.
    So i agree with you about 3TB support vs 1,6TB available, it looks more to a 2TB size limit.
    I'm not an Acer employee.
  • IronFly
    IronFly ACE Posts: 18,413 Trailblazer
    Ok, probably the limit is in the BIOS itself.
    Chipset will support up to 3TB by technical paper but you can limit to increase reliability by BIOS.

    So at the end, i think you must work with 2 2TB partitions.
    I'm not an Acer employee.
  • andcar
    andcar Member Posts: 8 New User

    But I am only seeing one part and that is 1,6 TB. Not two... See Disk 2 below:Skärmklipp.GIF

  • IronFly
    IronFly ACE Posts: 18,413 Trailblazer

    Ok, i need the exact model and brand of your HDD.

    I'm not an Acer employee.
  • andcar
    andcar Member Posts: 8 New User

    WD Red WD40EFRX 64MB 4TB

  • andcar
    andcar Member Posts: 8 New User

    After som research it seems like this is not an uncommon problem. The sollutions seems to be finding the latest drivers for the SATA controler.

    Does anyone know what SATA controler it is in the Aspire M1641 or what drivers to use?

  • IronFly
    IronFly ACE Posts: 18,413 Trailblazer

    it uses NVIDIA GeForce 7050 / nForce 620i and it will be very hard to find new drivers, since it's a very old chipset and not well supported from nvidia.

     

     for windows 7 x64, this is the latest available:

    http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/57492/en-us

    I'm not an Acer employee.
  • andcar
    andcar Member Posts: 8 New User
    Answer ✓
    IronFly wrote:

    it uses NVIDIA GeForce 7050 / nForce 620i and it will be very hard to find new drivers, since it's a very old chipset and not well supported from nvidia.

     

     for windows 7 x64, this is the latest available:

    http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/57492/en-us

    Unfortunately that did not work, but at last I found the driver for the SATA controler and then everything worked. It was : NVIDIA nForce Serial ATA Controller  10.6.0.319 that finaly did the job.

     

    Thanks for everybody trying to help!

     

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