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Unfortunately, two 1T hard drives have abnormalities (Hitachi HDS721010CLA332, which was the first to drop to ¥399 in 2010, and Seagate 12th generation ST31000528AS). The price of hard drives caused by the floods in Thailand has not yet recovered, but to avoid the loss of important N multi-hard drive data, it is still decided to replace the hard drive. Recently, 500G is about ¥400, 1T is about ¥560, 2T is about ¥700, and 3T is about ¥1000+. 500G is still the largest shipment at the top of the post for the time being, suitable for ordinary users to install, but obviously the least cost-effective, 1T I am not enough, so I chose 2T first. Western Digital 2T only has expensive black disks, red disks and green disks criticized by players, but there is no blue disk, so I still chose Seagate and bought a 2T Seagate ST2000DM001. When I came back to test, I found a problem that had been discussed by many netizens on the Internet: now Seagate's latest is 1T single-platter technology, except for the 2T disk, the 2T disk on the market is actually divided into 3-platter version and 2-platter version, and the model is the same ST2000DM001.
Seagate 2T test –
Since I didn't know the situation before buying, I bought the 3-disc version, and you can easily see the difference from the appearance, the groove in the upper right corner of the 3-disc version is shallow, and the etched logo is missing in the middle right position. I later saw 2 platters in action, no need to weigh, and you can actually feel the difference in weight in your hand.
I saw many netizens on the Internet that the 3-platter version bought in March at the beginning of the year, the firmware models are CC96, CC4B, CC4C, all of which only have an average speed of 135MB/s, while the 2-platter version has an average speed of 160+MB/s. I got the 3-disc version in my hand, I don't know if the quality is better, or because the firmware has been updated to the latest version of CC4H, the speed is no different from the 2-disc version.
Tested with the latest AIDA64 and it shows that I bought 3 platters. But in fact, I later tested the same version of AIDA64 with the 2-platter version, which also showed 3 platters. I don't know if it's because Seagate's official white paper introduces that the hard drive of this model is 3 platters, so it's just the information read from the firmware.
Some netizens commented that the 3-disc version may be a product that shields bad channels, and the defective product of the 3T disk. So much so that I lost confidence in the 2T disk product and simply took the disk back and returned it. (When I bought it, I mentioned the problem of 1T single platter to the boss, but the boss didn't answer at the time, so I still had a reason to return it.) Although I know that this is actually Seagate's problem, I feel that Seagate is a bit deceiving consumers, hehe~)
Put your heart horizontally and simply go straight to 3T. So I bought another 3T ST3000DM001, 3 platters, 1T per platter, psychologically I feel that the 3T disk is relatively good.
MBR and GPT partition format selection problem for 3T disk——
I believe many people will encounter problems when using 3T hard drives for the first time. "Why does the system only recognize that I only have a 764G hard drive when I install xp?" Or "Why do I install win7 and find that the hard drive is only 2T?" "Why do I see my 3T hard drive becoming a 2T and a 746G in the disk manager of win7, but the 746G cannot be partitioned? ”
This is the problem that will be encountered when using a hard drive of more than 2T, I believe that the online search will also be a lot of introduction, and I will use the method of screenshots to introduce this problem to you, it should be relatively simple and easy to understand, suitable for friends who have not used 3T hard drives, please take a detour.
I am on the machine with the win7 system installed, plus this Seagate 3T hard drive (S3000DM001), so that everyone can see what will happen to the new 3T disk.
The first time you open the disk manager under win7, the prompt will automatically pop up, asking you to initialize the 3T disk and select the partition type, MBR or GPT
Here is a brief introduction to what is MBR? GPT？ MBR (Master Boot Record) is our commonly used partition method, which supports up to 2.19TB (2 to the power of 32 * 512byte), which can be divided into 4 primary partitions or 3 primary partitions + 1 extended partition. Hard drives larger than 2.19T will not be able to recognize the full capacity, so children's shoes that use 3T hard drives for the first time are estimated to encounter the problems mentioned above.
Generally, using BIOS x86 architecture PCs, 3T hard disks must use MBR partitioning methods for system disks (main disks). Since the Vista and win7 eras, GPT (GUID partition table) has been added to solve the problem of hard disk capacity limit. GPT supports a maximum capacity of 9.4ZB (1ZB=1024PB, 1PB=1024EB, 1EB=1024TB, that is, 9.4ZEB=9.4 billion TB) capacity, and supports 128 primary partitions (window limit, there is information to introduce that it is actually unlimited), but the hard disk using GPT partitioning can only be used as a data disk (slave disk), and note that xp 32-bit cannot recognize the data disk in the form of GPT partition.
In addition, Apple computers using EFI (an upgrade scheme for replacing BIOS launched by Intel, which we understand as a newer BIOS), or Itanium-based window machines (ordinary users don't care what it is), can use GPT partitioning form for the system disk. There is also a type of PC with x86 architecture that we commonly use, such as the motherboard with UEFI BIOS used by P67, H67, 890GX, etc. released in 2011, which can support the system disk to use GPT partition form. (What motherboards are supported, I won't discuss it here)
The following is a table illustrating the support situation. (This form is from the Internet)
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Data disk
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System disk
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Windows XP 32bit
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GPT partitioning is not supported
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GPT partitioning is not supported
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Windows XP64bit
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Support GPT partitioning
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GPT partitioning is not supported
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Windows Vista 32bit
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Support GPT partitioning
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GPT partitioning is not supported
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Windows Vista 64bit
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Support GPT partitioning
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GPT partition requires UEFI BIOS
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Windows 7 32bit
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Support GPT partitioning
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GPT partitioning is not supported
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Windows 7 64bit
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Support GPT partitioning
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GPT partition requires UEFI BIOS
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Linux
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Support GPT partitioning
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GPT partition requires UEFI BIOS
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In summary, generally everyone uses hard disks, which is BIOS+MBR, and most children's shoes that are using win7 can consider using 3T disks in the form of GPT partitions for data disks (slave disks). For new motherboards with UEFI BIOS, consider using GPT directly on the system disk (main disk) and installing win7 x64. Apple machines are EFI+GPT.
When I select the MBR partition format of the 3T hard drive, it will automatically become a 2T region + a 746G region.
MBR 2T section allows you to create a simple volume
The MBR 746G part cannot create a new simple volume
MBR disk, which can be converted into GPT disk
Similarly, GPT disks can be converted to MBR disks, but there is information that they must be converted in the case of blank disks. I didn't test this, this evaluation is just for simple literacy, it is recommended to choose a good partition method as needed and do not convert at will, it is best to back up first, otherwise the data will be lost, and the gain outweighs the loss.
There is also an option to convert to dynamic disks, which will be explained separately below.
I decided to use MBR partitioning, but the 746G disk area cannot be operated (even new volumes are not allowed), what should I do? At this time, you can install Seagate DiscWizard, a software specially designed for 3T hard drives downloaded from Seagate's official website, which is used for "expansion management" and automatically install and recognize the 746G driver. As for Western Digital hard drives, it is reported that it needs to add an additional expansion card to support the operation of the 746G disk area, and Seagate has done a good job in this regard.
Use Seagate DiscWizard's Expanded Capacity Manager feature and select the Expand Capacity section (746G region)
dot application
to complete the support for the 746G region.
After Seagate DiscWizard allocates the expanded capacity, you can see that the 3T disk has become two disks (one 2T disk, one 746G disk) on the disk management interface.
Then you can do partitions separately, using NTFS, 4k per cluster (note, now the mainstream uses 4k cell size, compared with the previous default use of 512 to improve the speed, but it consumes a little more space, please search for the specific principle yourself.) Please form a habit of using 4k, especially SSD SSDs)
Reboot into my other system xp, and found that the 2T disk area could not be recognized, only the 746G disk area was recognized, and it was displayed as raw
When the hard drive is plugged into another xp, only the raw 746G disk is also displayed, and the 2T disk area cannot be recognized. After installing Seagate DiscWizard and restarting (required), all partitions should be recognized normally. 746G disk does not need to be repartitioned, so there is no need to worry about data loss.
Now that the 746G disk has been "expanded capacity" with Seagate DiscWizard's Extended Capacity Manager, you can now uninstall the software and keep only the extended capacity driver (you will be prompted to keep it when uninstalling).
Device Manager can see that the disk drive is actually a 746G driver that is automatically installed when Seagate DiscWizard is installed.
Go back to win7 to see the device manager as well
There is another question please pay attention to, if you use xp to install the CD on this 3T disk, partition and install the system:
You will see that the xp installation interface only recognizes the unknown partition of "764G". Attention! The 764G space here is the capacity in the 2T area, and only the 764G in it is recognized, which is completely different from the 746G disk area, figure it out! The settings of the partition have been divided just now, and it cannot be recognized here, it is understood that it is because only one main partition is supported here. Therefore, if you repartition in this interface, the first partition will be made into the main partition, and the subsequent partitions will automatically become the logical partitions in the extended partition.
Seagate 3T hard drive performance test -
win7 hard drive score is still 5.9 (Seagate 12th generation 1T is in the same machine, I don't know if it has an impact)
AIDA64, the parameter of the 2T disk area displayed by the Windows storage item
AIDA64, the parameter of the 746G disk area displayed by the Windows storage item
AIDA64, the parameter displayed by the ATA item
Or AIDA64, the parameters shown by the ATA item
Or AIDA64, the parameters shown by the ATA item
ATTO read and write speed test in the 2T disk area, write 160 read 220+
In the ATTO read and write speed test of the 746G disk area, the write and read are only about 120+. It is obvious here that there is a big gap in the read and write speed between the two regions, and I don't know if it is Seagate's drive problem or the common characteristics of 3T hard drives.
CrystalDiskMark read and write speed test for 2T disk area, 168 writes and 174 reads
CrystalDiskMark read and write speed test for 746G disk area, write 134 read 138. Although the speed measurement of CrystalDiskMark is different from ATTO, the same software still measures a significant gap between the 746G region and the 2T region.
HD Tune Pro benchmark read speed test in the 2T disk area, average 166
746G disk area HD Tune Pro benchmark read speed test, average 120
The actual reading speed of a single file in a large capacity copy in the 2T disk area is amazing! And 3xx is just an average, and I have noticed that the peak is actually 600 or even 1G
Under normal circumstances, the actual write speed of copying small capacity and multiple files is about 70; I tried using fastcopy to copy the file, but the speed improvement was not obvious, which was comparable to direct copy-paste.
PCMark Vantage x64 default setting, test the first 30G partition of the 3T disk area in the 2T disk area, with a running score of 6000
The health of HD Tune Pro in the 2T disk area is normal, and there is no "three yellows"; The 746G disk area cannot load the health, somehow.
2T disk area to check the health status of CrystalDiskInfo; The 746G disk area is likewise unrecognized.
The red "bad" state is the Seagate 12th generation 1T (ST31000528AS) in use, which has changed from "three yellows" to "remapping sector count red", and win7 pops up a prompt window prompting you to back up the file and contact the computer manufacturer to repair or replace the hard drive.
Experiment with conversion to dynamic disk -
Many people think that the MBR partitioning method is rigid and divides 3T hard disks into 2T disk area + 746G disk area, which wastes space and is inconvenient to manage. In this case, you can try to use a cross-partition volume partition to merge the remaining space in the 2T region with the 746 region into a partition. But be careful! Under normal circumstances, this operation is irreversible, once the cross-partition volume partition is used, the entire 3T disk becomes a "dynamic disk" (a prompt will pop up before converting to a dynamic disk). You can see that the main partition in the form of ordinary MBR partition is dark blue, the extended partition is framed with a green box, and each logical partition is light blue. The primary partition under dynamic disk is brownish-yellow, and the cross-volume partition is purple-red. If you want to restore the entire 3T disk to a normal MBR, you can either delete the entire 3T disk and then repartition it; or it is necessary to use special software to modify the magnetic track data, which is more complex and easy to operate errors. Please be careful with dynamic disks!
Acronis Disk Director Suite does not support dynamic disks
Acronis Disk Director Suite does not support dynamic disks, and the 2TB area displays 0 bytes
After repartitioning the simple volume, the space of the 746G region and the 2T region is separated. The 746G disk returns to normal, while the 2T disk is still a dynamic disk. You can't directly transfer back to the basic disk in the window, you need to use special software.
Acronis Disk Director Suite also shows that the 746G region has returned to normal, and the 2T disk throws a dynamic disk that shows up as 0 bytes
Since it is only for testing, I finally used a simple method to directly delete all partitions, repartition, and divide the 3T hard drive into ordinary MBR form. After that, I used it as a system disk and prepared to install XP+Win8 Enterprise Edition x64.
Upgrade firmware to the latest version of CC4H -
Finally, I tried to update the firmware, the firmware version of the 3T disk I got is CC4B, and the official website shows that the version that supports upgrading to the latest firmware version CC4H is the version after CC4C, which does not include CC4B. Some netizens on the Internet said that CC4B could not be upgraded, while some netizens said they could. In the spirit of DIY of guinea pigs and the intellectual curiosity of curiosity that kills cats, I tried to update to the latest firmware of CC4H for the purpose of reducing the noise of the disk reading according to the official introduction (I don't know if it is effective, anyway, the new hard drive may wish to try).
First, use Seagate's official Drive Detect to detect the firmware version, which is displayed as CC4B
Click New Firmware Check to automatically pop up the official page wizard
Or download the upgrade CC4H tool directly from the official website
41. Next: The system will be prompted to reboot at the end, and the screen will be displayed after the restart, indicating that the hard disk firmware is being refreshed to CC4H
Check with Drive Detect and it shows a successful update to the latest CC4H firmware
Single-disk 1.5TB was born Count the 3TB hard disk partitioning skills In normal Win7/XPOperating systemThe 3TB hard drive uses traditional partitioning tools, and without the help of special tools or BIOS, there are hard disk capacities up to 746.52GB that cannot be used. Therefore, netizens jokingly call the 3TB hard drive a 2B hard drive (that is, only 2024GB capacity can be recognized), and the 4TB hard drive is as much as 1746.52GB of space that cannot be recognized and used. Users will not stare at the 60TB hard drive in the future, so it is better to buy a piece directly to save trouble2TB hard drive。
Traditional MBR partitions can only recognize 2TB space, and 3TB hard drives cannot recognize up to 746GB of space When Microsoft developed the Windows Vista/7/8 operating system, it fully considered the complete support of large-capacity hard drives, and resolutely abandoned the MBR format and chose the more advanced GPT format for the current two mainstream hard drive formats, MBR and GPT. In GPT format, not only can the 3TB capacity of the entire system be used as the system disk; You can also perform multiple partitions, select one of the partitions as the system disk, and divide the other hard disk partitions according to customer needs, and make the most of the 3TB hard disk. This is worried about the majority of WinXP users, the WinXP system does not support the GPT system, is the MBR format going to bed at the end of its life? Of course not! This article will introduce how to identify partitioning methods using 3TB and above large hard drives in GPT and MBR formats.
GPT format easily converts and recognizes 3TB hard drives
Since the Vista and Win7 eras, in order to solve ithard driveThe problem of limitations has been added, and the GPT format has been added. GPT stands for GUID Partition Tables, and GUID stands for Globally Unique Identifier. The full name of GPT is the world's unique identification partition table. GPT partition table uses 8 bytes, i.e64bitto store the number of sectors, so it can support up to 264 sectors. Also calculated at 512 bytes per sector, the maximum capacity per partition can reach 9.4 ZB (9.4 billion TB). GPT breaks the 2.19TB limit of MBR. In addition to the limitations of BIOS,Operating systemThere are also many drawbacks to the new 3TB hard drive:
| | Data disk | System disk | | Windows XP 32bit | GPT partitioning is not supported | GPT partitioning is not supported | | Windows XP64bit | Support GPT partitioning | GPT partitioning is not supported | | Windows Vista 32bit | Support GPT partitioning | GPT partitioning is not supported | | Windows Vista 64bit | Support GPT partitioning | GPT partition requires UEFI BIOS | | Windows 7 32bit | Support GPT partitioning | GPT partitioning is not supported | | Windows 7 64bit | Support GPT partitioning | GPT partition requires UEFI BIOS | | Windows 864bit | Support GPT partitioning | GPT partition requires UEFI BIOS | | Linux | Support GPT partitioning | GPT partition requires UEFI BIOS |
If you want to enjoy a full 3TB hard drive, then you should use a more advanced operating system such as Windows 7/8, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003 SP1, etc. These systems can use GPT partition tables to support large hard drives. Although using GPT partition tables can to:ComputerThe support capacity for hard disks has been greatly improved, but for most ordinary computers, after using GPT partition tables, the hard disk can only be used as a slave disk, and users will not be able to install the system on a 3TB hard drive. So we right-click on the 3TB disk and select Convert to GPT disk in the dialog box that appears.
The system supports larger capacity hard drives by converting disks
The disk display after the conversion is completed Through the conversion of GPT, the system automatically identifies the 3TB hard drive, which has an actual capacity of 2794.39GB. This also allows you to store data normally on a 3TB hard drive. So can a 3TB data disk in GPT format be used as a system disk? Of course, you need to use an advanced UEFI BIOS and 64-bit operating system here, so that the system can easily recognize the 3TB capacity and not waste the 746GB space, which is also the solution that the author focuses on.
How to make a system disk in GPT format?
In the early 32-bit version of Win7Operating system, GPT formattinghard driveIt can be used as a slave disk to divide multiple partitions, but it cannot be used as a system disk. To 64-bit Win7 and the latest Win8 operating system, GPT format hard disks with a capacity of more than 3TB have been given a new function, that is, GPT format hard disks can be used as system disks. It does not need to enter the operating system and solve it through special software tools; Instead, it passesMotherboardThe UEFI BIOS is completely solved at the hardware level.
The ASUS A75 motherboard in this test comes with UEFI BIOS
First, we need a new motherboard that supports UEFI BIOS, which is currently available on all new motherboards. The system installed on the USB drive or CD must be 64-bit Win7 or Win8, which the author demonstrates here is Win8.
UEFI BIOS user interface UEFI BIOS is not complicated, the interface is very user-friendly, and many manufacturers take the initiative to sinicize it. Users do not need to install any programs, just select the first "Startup Option" as UEFI XXX (XXX is) in the "Startup" column of UEFIOptical driveor USB drive). Then enter the normal Win8 installer. 1. Win8 is installed with 3TB of integrated capacity
Win8 partition interface (separate C drive)
Win8 disk management interface The author successfully installed Win8 and entered "Disk Management" to view: Disk 0 is the Win7 system disk, and there is still 746.52GB of storage space that has not been recognized; Disk 1 is the Win8 system disk in use, the capacity of the C drive is 2794GB of the whole system, and the other 400MB is automatically divided by the Win8 system. 2. Install Win8 under multiple partitions
Win8 Partition Interface (Multi-Partition)
Win8 disk management interface The author tried to partition a single Seagate new Barracuda 3TB hard drive, dividing 254.9GB and two 1269GB hard drive partitions in GPT format, of which the 254.9GB capacity hard disk partition is the C drive system disk. After that, the author successfully installed Win8 and entered the main operation interface to use, and the whole process was quite smooth. Summary: Win8+UEFI BIOS+GPT format can easily solve the problem of identifying and using the full capacity of a 3TB hard drive, and this method is also applicable to 64-bit Win7 operating systems. Unfortunately, Win8/64-bit Win7 operating systems do not fully recognize the use of 3TB hard drives under non-UEFI BIOS. Users can use special tools to identify the remaining 746.52GB capacity in MBR format, and the author will focus on solving MBR format hard disks to identify hard drives above 3TB.
MBR format does not recognize full 3TB hard drive?
hard driveBefore use, it needs to go through partitions to install the system, and the hard disk partition is essentially a formatting of the hard disk, and then the hard disk can be used to save various information. When creating a partition, the physical parameters of the hard disk are set, and the storage location of the main boot record (generally referred to as MBR) and boot record backup of the hard disk is specified.
The 3TB hard drive is automatically split into two partitions by the system
As far as the current mainstream is concernedMotherboardFor BIOS, MBR partitions define 512 bytes per sector, and the disk addresses 32-bit addresses, and the maximum disk capacity that can be accessed is 2.19TB (232*512byte). Windows boots from MBR, so each MBR is limited to 2.19TB. This is one of the reasons why 3TB hard drives cannot be recognized normally. Therefore, we use MBR format hard drives, there is always 746.52GB of space that cannot be recognized, so what is the way to identify this remaining capacity? MBR formatted hard drive Compared with GPT formatted hard drive, it has to recognize and use the remaining 746.52GB storage capacity, which is painful.
Clever use software to identify MBR format 3TB hard drives
We mentioned earlier about early 32-bit Win7 and WinXPOperating system3TB is not recognizedhard drive, GPT hard disk format + manual operation UEFI BIOS + 64-bit operating system and a series of requirements are really troublesome for ordinary users, and a large number of them were purchased earlierMotherboardThere is no UEFI BIOS. For this reason, Seagate has specially developed a software, for Seagate 3TB or larger capacity hard drives can not be installed in the system for use, the operation interface is very simple, the following will introduce in detail the cracking method of Seagate 3TB hard drive. First we need to start with the official Seagate websiteDownloadOneDiscWizard tool。
Seagate DiscWizard software installation interface
Follow the steps to the next step until "Done" Click on the Seagate DiscWizard software to install, select the first item to install "Disc DiscWizard", and then click "Next" until "Finish" to complete the installation.
Select Expand Capacity Manager After opening the Seagate DiscWizard software, start automatically scanning all disks and select "Extended Capacity Manager".
Select the "Allocate Space" button in the bottom right corner
Seagate DiscWizard software "allocate space" is running
To simulate another hard drive through software, you need to select MBR or GPT format After waiting for about 20 seconds, we found that the capacity limit of more than 700 GB that was not recognized had been lifted. Then users can go into Disk Manager to partition.
746.52GB of simulated space In Disk Management, we found that the previous 3TB hard disk was divided into two separate hard disks, and then you can right-click to create a new disk partition for use, but the partition format is still MBR.
The DiscWizard software virtualizes the excess capacity into SCSI hard drives to run Long before the advent of 3TB hard drives, there was some panic about the scalability of existing BIOS systems, but as 3TB hard drives continue to mature, the problem is actually easy to solve. In addition to Seagate's solution, many high-end motherboards provide software to crack the capacity of 3TB hard drives, such as Gigabyte's 3TB+ Unlock and ASUS Disk Unlocker software, which can achieve full capacity, so with the upgrade of motherboard BIOS and the release of more cracking software, the capacity growth of the hard drive will no longer be limited. Tips:Seagate hard drivesSolution – DiscWizard Whether on WinXP or Windows 7, regardless of whether the motherboard supports UEFI in BIOS or not, Seagate's DiscWizard tool can be used to use a 3TB Seagate hard drive as a data disk or system disk.
ASUS/GIGABYTE software crack 3TB partition tutorial
★ GIGABYTE 3TB+ Unlock software GIGABYTE 3TB+ Unlock software can break through the traditional 32-bitOperating systemFor 3TBhard driveUnrecognized capacity limit, which turns the unrecognized capacity into a virtual disk with a maximum capacity limit of 2048GB (2TB), so it can support up to 3TB-4TB hard drives. If the user's hard disk partition format is traditional MBR, the maximum number of partitions that can be created on the virtual disk is limited to 8. However, if the partition format uses the latest GPT, the number of partitions can be up to 128.
The 3TB+ Unlock software supports GIGABYTE's mainstream modelsMotherboard
At present, the software now supports Gigabyte's mainstream model motherboards, there are as many as 60 specific models, the author tested three brands of motherboards such as ASUS, ASRock, and Colorful, and the software can work normally. Click on the softwareHereDownload。
Installation interface for GIGABYTE 3TB+ Unlock software The Gigabyte 3TB+ Unlock software has only one executable file, and the installation is fairly simple, basically the "next step".
GIGABYTE 3TB+ Unlock software user interface After the user installs the software, execute the software, click "Establish", and then the machine requires a restart, after restarting, enter the above picture, click the "1" area, and then click "2" to split, and then enter the virtual disk process, waiting.
After performing the cracking of the Gigabyte 3TB+ Unlock software, enter the "Disk Management" of the Win7 system After the virtual disk of the software ends, enter the "Disk Management" of the Win7 system, and the box in the picture above will automatically pop up, and the steps after that will be similar to the Seagate DiscWizard software. ★ Asus Disk Unlocker software Disk Unlocker is a software solution launched by ASUS to solve the capacity limit of hard drives with a capacity of more than 2TB, and with this software, you can crack the storage space limit of more than 2048GB. This software is inconvenient to install, the author can successfully install it under Win7, and the installation failed several times in Win8. Secondly, the installation and operation interface of this software are all in English, which causes a certain degree of inconvenience to users.
The installation interface of the ASUS Disk Unlocker software The principle of ASUS Disk Unlocker software is similar to that of Gigabyte 3TB+ Unlock software, its installation/use method is simple, the installation process is basically to click "next", and finally "Finish".
The interface of the Asus Disk Unlocker software After this installation, open the interface, and hard drives with a capacity of 2TB or more will automatically appear in the "Drive" bar. Click "Create", and the system will create a virtual disk with the capacity of the hard disk above 2048GB. After partition formatting the virtual disk normally, it can be used.
Asus Disk Unlocker software virtual disk
ASUS Disk Unlocker software completes the "Disk Management" interface after the capacity cracking ASUS Disk Unlocker supports all versions of Windows 7/Vista/XP operating system under MBR, and only supports data storage under GPT and does not support booting. The software must be used on the ASUS motherboard platform, and the author is using an ASUS F1A75-M PRO motherboard. Summary: The GIGABYTE 3TB+ Unlock software interface is simple to operate and Chinese, and supports motherboards from other brands, but the function is relatively simple. The ASUS Disk Unlocker software is not complicated to use, but the interface is in English and does not support other brands of motherboards.
Full text summary: Virtual disks and systems coexist and die
Full text summary:memory/hard driveStuck in capacity limits: Single8GB RAMBelow the 400 yuan mark, cheap single4GB RAMIt has entered popularity, and memory and hard disks are also limited by 32-bit systems. Memory selection 64-bit system breakthrough4GBcapacity limits and do not need to be addressed at the BIOS or software level. The slight shortcoming is 64 bitsOperating systemThere are compatibility issues with some 32-bit software/games. We broke through from this time2TBThe above multiple solutions for hard disk capacity limitations can be seen. 1. GPT format hard disk + UEFI BIOS + 64-bit Win7/Win8 solution
AsusMotherboardUEFI BIOS interface
UEFI BIOS is a standard developed by Microsoft and more than ten industry leaders such as Intel, HP, and IBM, which combines the advanced GPT format and the memory to break through the 4GB capacity limit, all based on a 64-bit operating system. This solution tries to solve the partition and capacity limit of more than 2TB at the hardware level, which is unfortunately a compromise product, and it is difficult for ordinary users to operate the UEFI BIOS. Advantages: Strong curability, even if the user changes the motherboard/system, other hard disk partitions still exist, and can also be used as slave disks. Disadvantages: Users need to enter the BIOS and manually debug the UEFI boot option, which is suitable for a small group. Regret: Neither 64-bit Win7 nor Win8 can automatically lift the 2TB capacity limit. 2. Software-level solutions
Win8 uses Win7/Vista kernel? It is difficult to break through the capacity limit of more than 2TB At this level, Seagate, Asus, and Gigabyte are the most typical, among which Seagate's DiscWizard software is the most professional and easy to understand, and the software capacity has also reached an astonishing 147MB, which is also the most of the three software. All three software opted to virtualize unrecognized hard drive space. Advantages: No need to debug in BIOS, can be solved by installing software in the system. Disadvantages: Weak curing, once the system is changed, the virtual disk disappears and the data is lost. Unfortunately: coexisting with the system, it also failed to automatically lift the 2TB capacity limit.
Compared with the current Win8 system supports the largest 128GB memory, the operating system faces a hard disk capacity of up to 4000GB, which is very difficult to break through the capacity limit. It is obviously difficult to solve by motherboard and hard disk manufacturers alone, due to the large storage density of hard disks, and the complex and diverse formats of hard disks, the storage bytes are 512KB and 4KB two, deeply involved 4K alignment, Microsoft can not solve it unilaterally, and it is expected that hard disk manufacturers and Microsoft will work closely together to solve the problem. Users break through even under the latest Win8 operating system2TB hard driveCapacity limits, still not enough, how to talk about future 60TB hard drives. We expect future versions of the operating system to solve this problem perfectly.
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Posted on 11/23/2014 8:05:50 PM
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