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3TB Drives

Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2013 2:23 am
by jaydub
I will be purchasing a new Asus Haswell motherboard that, in addition to being UEFI compliant, has a compatability support module (legacy bios). I want to use a 3TB Hitachi HDD as a data drive (non-bootable). Hitachi has a software tool called Hitachi GPT Disk Manager that enables support for data drives over 2.2TB under legacy bios provided the drive is GPT (not MBR) and is not used as a boot drive. So are there any issues using BIBM as a boot manager for the following setup:

BIOS is legacy bios, NOT UEFI
HDD 0: 1TB boot drive is EMBR with unlimited primaries
HDD 1: 3TB data drive is GPT using Hitachi GPT Disk Manager

Bootable O/S partitions include WINXP 32-bit, Win7 64-bit and, maybe down the road, Win8 64-bit.

Any insight would be very much appreciated. Thanks.

Re: 3TB Drives

Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2013 2:59 am
by Brian K
I can't find the thread but people weren't getting good results with the Hitachi tool. Use BIBM to create the partition(s) on your 3 TB drive. Otherwise your system is fine.

This is from a Support post...

The version of Windows you have is wrapping at 2TiB. If you want to use
the 2TiB and forget about the 1TiB then just use BIBM to create a 2TiB (max
partition size it allows) and use that or if you wanted to, after creating
that partition so you're sure it's size is correct, convert to GPT , create
another partition for the rest of the disk (won't be usable with your
current version of windows) and then click View MBR and insert the partition
you want visible to XP under the existing one that is in there.

Re: 3TB Drives

Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2013 4:08 am
by jaydub
So, are you meaning to say that I should use BIBM to create GPT partitions on the data drive up to 3TB or of up to 2TB? How can you create partitions up to 3TB in the absence of UEFI or a proprietary tool like Hitachi GPT Manager? The whole idea is to fully utilize a 3TB HHD as a data drive.

Re: 3TB Drives

Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2013 4:43 am
by Brian K
You won't be using UEFI. You are using MBR mode (legacy).

I know you want to use the 3 TB HD with WinXP. The instructions will allow you to have a 2 TB and a 1 TB partition. WinXP will see the 2 TB partition. Win7 will see both partitions.

Re: 3TB Drives

Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2013 4:50 am
by jaydub
I think I understand you, and I do appreciate your clarity. Except my understanding is that, if you are using legacy bios, 3TB partitions cannot be fully recognized, irrespective of the operating system you are using.

I love BIBM, it's hard to give it up. 8-)

Re: 3TB Drives

Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2013 4:59 am
by TeraByte Support
You can use BIBM to "change disk type" to GPT, then create your partitions
... note that XP would need an driver to see partitions in the GPT, but you
can use BIBM view mbr to add a GPT partition to the MBR so it can be
accessed by XP, in that case that partition is only 2TiB. Of course W7 will
see the GPT partitions so you could have a single 3TiB partition.


"jaydub" wrote in message news:5809@public.bootitbm...

So, are you meaning to say that I should use BIBM to create GPT partitions
on the data drive up to 3TB or of up to 2TB? How can you create partitions
up to 3TB in the absence of UEFI or a proprietary tool like Hitachi GPT
Manager? The whole idea is to fully utilize a 3TB HHD as a data drive.


Re: 3TB Drives

Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 3:24 am
by jaydub
"you can use BIBM view mbr to add a GPT partition to the MBR so it can be
accessed by XP"...

Problem One:
When I go to "View MBR", what I see is the operating system on HDD0 that I last booted to (winxp), and nothing else (because that is the way my boot item is set up). The only partitions available to add are the O/S's on other partitions on HDD0. I want to add data drive partitions on HDD1.
Problem Two:
Just to test things out, when I insert another partition residing on HDD0 (win7) behind the boot partition (winxp), and then resume or reboot, the inserted partition (win7) does not appear in XP's Computer Management. If I added win7 via boot item, that partition would show up in computer management in XP.
Problem Three:
The inserted partition (win7) does not appear in View MBR after re-booting. That is to say, the insertion does't seem to save.

Help.

Re: 3TB Drives

Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 5:40 am
by Brian K
You want to select HD1, your 3 TB HD. Then click View MBR. You will see GPT Reserved. Select the slot below this and then click Insert. Select the partition, etc.

Re: 3TB Drives

Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 6:03 am
by TeraByte Support(PP)
As Brian posted, when using "View MBR" make sure you have the drive selected that you want to change.

After making the changes in "View MBR" be sure to click the Apply button. If you use a boot item to reboot it will load the MBR per that item (undoing your manual changes). You would need to setup the partitions in the MBR how you need, apply the changes, and then do a direct reboot (don't use a boot item) or configure the boot item with the changes. For example, select HD0, click View MBR, add Win7 to the partition table, click Apply, close Work with Partitions, then click the Reboot icon on the desktop.

The loaded partition table should remain until another boot item is used that changes it or you make manual changes. For example, if you load the partition table or do a simulated boot of a boot item and then reboot the computer the partition table should show the same as before the reboot.

Re: 3TB Drives

Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 11:58 pm
by Brian K
It looks like there are two ways you can do this if you want it to work with WinXP ....

1. Start with the 3 TB HD as MBR Disk type. Create a 2 TB partition. Change to GPT Disk type, create a 1TB partition, etc.

2. Start with the 3 TB HD as GPT Disk type, create a 2 TB partition, create a 1TB partition, etc.

Is this correct?