How to get Win 7 to recognize a large HDD

November 27, 2012 11:49 AM

How can I get Windows 7 64bit to recognize my 3 TB SATA hard drive? BIOS sees it, it works fine under Ubuntu, but it doesn't show up in Win 7's disk manager / storage tool.

Approaches so far:
- Updated BIOS
- Formatted disk as GPT under Ubuntu
--- first with two 1.5 TB partitions
--- later without any partitions (just GPT format)
- Rescanned / refreshed under disk manager

Further info:
- The disk won't be used as boot disk (but as additional storage)
- Disk doesn't show up under Win 7 device manager
- BIOS shows disk, but with reduced size
- Ubuntu shows the disk as it should be.

Is there a third party driver I could use under Windows 7?
Am I missing something to get this HDD to work?

posted by lord_yo to computers & internet (4 answers total)

You might need to install a driver for your SATA card/adapter. What type of PC/laptop do you have? Is the drive internal or external?
posted by aceyprime at 11:51 AM on November 27, 2012

Might need a firmware update for your drive for windows to see more than 2 TB, from what I've seen of 3 TB drives recently. Sorry I can't suggest more than looking for firmware updates from the manufacturer.
posted by davemee at 12:09 PM on November 27, 2012

@aceyprime: It's a Dell Studio XPS 8100 desktop (http://www.dell.com/us/dfh/p/studio-xps-8100/pd#TechSpec). There might be a SATA firmware update for it.

The HDD is an internal WDC Green 3TB SATA (http://www.wdc.com/global/products/specs/?driveID=927&language=1). I'm not sure if there's a firmware update for it.
posted by lord_yo at 12:22 AM on November 28, 2012

According to this page Western Digital recommends using version 9.6 or later of their Rapid Storage Technology driver with the drive you have.

Dell's downloads for your system only offers version 9.5

I'd recommend downloading and installing the latest version direct from Intel, version 11.6

Download the iata_enu.exe file and install from that (assuming your OS is set to use English).

Hopefully that gets you up and running with it!
posted by aceyprime at 9:22 AM on November 28, 2012