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Compatibility help formatting 3TB Drives with GPT

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endoftheline2

Junior Member
I am planning to setup a windows 7 64bit based HTPC, and I have realized that I need more then 2TB of storage, so I am planning to use 2x3TB Hard drives, setup in Raid 1. Right now there are two ways I am thinking of setting it up, either with the 2x3TB drives in Raid 1 directly attached to the HTPC (sata3), or with the 2x3TB drives in a separate NAS drive, so I can make the media more available on the network.

I read the thread here and on the windows 7 forums, and I see that I would need to format the drives as GPT instead of MBR, and I have some questions on how would work with my setup and if it would be compatible. If I put the drives locally in the HTPC, I would just be using them as data drives setup in Raid 1, the OS would still boot from a separate normal MBR hard drive.

It has also been mentioned that you may need a EFI bios, which I understand is very new and few motherboards ship with this type of bios, or can even be upgraded to to it? Is this needed at all for using these drives, if I am not attempting to boot from a GPT drive?

>>>So my main questions are, if I install win 7 normally on a separate MBR hard drive on this AM3 motherboard, and then connect the 3TB drives, should I be able to format them as GPT with no issues, and setup them up in a raid 1? And then if I share them on the network, should other computers be able to access them with no issues?

Also should they work fine in this dlink NAS listed below, and be accessible on the network as normal? Would I need to format them to GPT first in a win 7 computer, or could they maybe be formatted directly in the NAS?

Thanks for any guidance on this, I have never worked with anything bigger than 2TB requiring these GPT partitions before.

Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157195

Harddrives: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822145472

Potential NAS I might use: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822155003
 
endoftheline2 said:
It has also been mentioned that you may need a EFI bios, which I understand is very new and few motherboards ship with this type of bios, or can even be upgraded to to it? Is this needed at all for using these drives, if I am not attempting to boot from a GPT drive?
Click to expand...

I don't necessarily have the answers for you, but I just went through some issues getting a 3TB Hitachi to work in my new computer. New system uses an Asus P8P67 Pro B3 with UEFI BIOS so it should be good, right? Well, trying it hooked up to the Intel SATA 3G ports and I was unable to create partitions in Windows 7 (using as data drive, not boot drive). I had two of these drives and both gave the same errors. I tried one on the Marvel SATA 6G controller and it worked right away. I have not tried it on the Intel SATA 6G because they are both in use so I don't know if it would have worked.
 
Zap said:
I don't necessarily have the answers for you, but I just went through some issues getting a 3TB Hitachi to work in my new computer. New system uses an Asus P8P67 Pro B3 with UEFI BIOS so it should be good, right? Well, trying it hooked up to the Intel SATA 3G ports and I was unable to create partitions in Windows 7 (using as data drive, not boot drive). I had two of these drives and both gave the same errors. I tried one on the Marvel SATA 6G controller and it worked right away. I have not tried it on the Intel SATA 6G because they are both in use so I don't know if it would have worked.
Click to expand...

Hmm, that's disturbing. You would think that with these shiny new UEFI bioses on the new boards, that they would "just work" with 2TB+ drives.
 
That's what I thought. Again, I did not try the Intel SATA 6G ports, only the Intel SATA 3G (you'd expect backwards compatibility) and the Marvel SATA 6G. Right now I've got both on the Marvell and they both work.
 
Zap said:
I don't necessarily have the answers for you, but I just went through some issues getting a 3TB Hitachi to work in my new computer. New system uses an Asus P8P67 Pro B3 with UEFI BIOS so it should be good, right? Well, trying it hooked up to the Intel SATA 3G ports and I was unable to create partitions in Windows 7 (using as data drive, not boot drive). I had two of these drives and both gave the same errors. I tried one on the Marvel SATA 6G controller and it worked right away. I have not tried it on the Intel SATA 6G because they are both in use so I don't know if it would have worked.
Click to expand...

Damn!

Like Virtual Larry, I thought this 2TB+ stuff would be plug and play with w7 regardless of interface speed.

Baloney! :thumbsdown:
 
Old Hippie said:
MS musta heard us bitching.

Looks like this update may take care of a few problems.
Click to expand...

Dated 4/29. Damnit! There is the possibility that the update happened around the time of my swapping SATA ports. Screw it! I'll leave them on the Marvell SATA 6G ports, since the drives are native SATA 6G anyhow.

Now to fix the wake from S3 problem - as in it doesn't. I fixed it on my wife's system with same motherboard, but the fixes aren't working on mine.
 
You don't need EFI if it's not a boot drive.

I have two Hitatchi 3K5000 3TB drives in my PC which is using a pretty old P965 (Asus P5B-Deluxe) mobo which is obviously BIOS only, on old ICH8R SATA3 ports. Both drives were detected and formatted fine (one large NTFS partition) in Windows 7 Pro x64 with no special software. Actual usable size is around 2.7TB.
 
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