New hard drive

[CRV]

I'm trying to install an extra hard drive to my desktop pc. I purchased a bare 3 TB hard drive plus cables. Do I need software to install it and to make it work?

 

[corkyg]

If you are running Windows 7 or 8, it should be plug and play. Power off, make all the connections (data and power) and power up. You may have to format the drive to use it.

 

[CRV]

If you are running Windows 7 or 8, it should be plug and play. Power off, make all the connections (data and power) and power up. You may have to format the drive to use it.

I'm running Windows 8.1.
Will it let me know what I need to format it to if so?
It's a Seagate Barracuda 3 TB HD.

 

[PlayCrackTheSky]

Hopefully it will go that smoothly...but in some cases you may have to go into Disk Management if the drive is not recognized. From there...initialize the disk, format unallocated space, and assign a drive letter.

Software will not be required.

 

[HOSED]

CorkyG is spot on - open disk management it should show up as a distinct physical volume. Right click (if unallocated) and create new simple volume ... then partition as you choose.
WOW people are fast in this forum !!!

 

[PlayCrackTheSky]

With a 3tb drive you are likely going to want to format to NTFS...in order to store larger files. Other than that...just use default/recommended settings.

Again...make sure you format to NTFS.

 

[CRV]

Thanks all, I will try and see when I get it deliver in a bit.

 

[CRV]

Thanks everyone, I got it to work.

 

[PlayCrackTheSky]

Glad to hear it.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I'm interested to know from this discussion of the OP's original question whether or not Windows 7 SP1(64) will accommodate a GPT-partition NTFS 3TB HDD as a single logical volume, as opposed to requiring the space above 2TB used as a separate logical volume.

I'd been led to expect that WHS-2011 would only allow such a drive to contain two or more logical volumes. Supposedly, True Image 2014 actually has a fix for this.

But what about Windows 7 SP1?

 

[Essence_of_War]

My back-up drive is an GPT, NTFS formatted 3 TB external drive, all one volume.

Win7 Ultimate 64bit mounts it just fine as a 3TB volume.

 

[Virgorising]

CorkyG is spot on - open disk management it should show up as a distinct physical volume. Right click (if unallocated) and create new simple volume ... then partition as you choose.
WOW people are fast in this forum !!!

Cause we R all running from Global Warming. 😎

 

[BonzaiDuck]

My back-up drive is an GPT, NTFS formatted 3 TB external drive, all one volume.

Win7 Ultimate 64bit mounts it just fine as a 3TB volume.

That's what I thought, but I didn't have a 3TB HDD to prove it on Win 7 64. I'd have to go back and check again, but the skinny at "WeGotServed" and other WHS forums seemed to say that WHS by itself would partition a 3TB GPT drive, but required two logical volumes (2TB + 1TB). Then, loading up the True Image 2014 so I could clone the server system disk shows me an option to allow for "large drives as a single logical volume."

The trouble with transitions -- as with "AF" and "GPT" -- there are "loose ends."

This of course, is a burr in my side for a "server" system. I could even be wrong about this, or there is "more accurate info" available. But for drive-pooling, I'd think one would want single logical volumes. This isn't currently my trouble, since I deemed it more than adequate for both storage capacity and my budget to get 2TB NAS drives and format them as MBR.

If I get anything bigger, I suppose I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. But I'm seriously bent on getting a few more years out of my $50 WHS-2011 license. I suppose that a server RAID configuration wouldn't have the supposed limitation. But I don't "like" RAID much these days: I want "drive-pooling."