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dtleahyFlag for United States of America

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Windows XP and a 3TB drive that Windows cannot see

Problem: Motherboard BIOS recognizes a new 3TB hard disk drive, but Windows XP does not.

OS: Windows XP SP3

This is an old XP box I'd like to keep running a bit longer. My secondary 2TB physical drive ("D") crashed, and I forgot about XP's 2TB limit when I shopped for a new drive, and I bought a 3TB drive. When I boot the computer after installing the 3TB drive, BIOS finds the hard drive, but in Windows XP, the drive letter does not even show. After rebooting, the new 3TB drive does show up in Device Manager  (but not in Windows Explore, so it cannot be accessed.)

I have found a bunch of various "solutions" by searching, but most are concerned with getting a brand new drive to operate, and include partitioning and formatting that obviously cannot be done on my new drive that is already formatted and partitioned and has probably 1TB of data moved onto it.

Does anyone know of a non-destructive way to get XP to see a 3TB drive?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Dennis
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Tom Cieslik
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Not possible.
Windows XP can operate with MBR drives only but for MBR limit is 2TB.
All you can do is install this disk into some Windows 7/10 x64 computer, create 2 MBR partitions 2TB and 1TB, format it, then move to old XP machine.
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Edward Pamias
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Thanks for the reply, Tom.

"install this disk into some Windows 7/10 x64 computer, create 2 MBR partitions 2TB and 1TB, format it, then move to old XP machine. "

If possible, I don't want to format the new D drive again and have to find a way to copy a TB of data again. I *think* I remember that you can change partitions (if not making them smaller) on a working drive, but IIRC, there is no way to just format a particular partition. So, is there no way without starting over and reformatting the new drive?

This is an old XP box that I had planned to upgrade to Win 7 after a project is completed, but I suppose that is another way to get the drive to be recognized...
You can also use a boot CD such as Ultimate BOOT CD or Hirens Boot CD, see if one of those will work so you can back up the data.
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Thanks for the replies, Edward and Ramin

"Windows XP GPT Loader"
Does that require a reformat of the hard drive?

This drive is data only, not OS. If this helps, I don't really care right now if the full 3TB is accessible in Windows XP. I have about 1TB of data on that drive, and would just like to be able to access that data. Within a month or two, my desire to maintain an XP box will end, and I will upgrade this machine to Win 7 (where I will have access to the whole drive.)
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Evidently, there is no free download of Paragon GPT Loader. I see it on Paragon's site for about $20: http://external.informer.com/paragon-software.com/technologies%2Fcomponents%2Fgpt-loader
Try the boot CD's as I suggested to see if you can access the drive an copy the data over to something that XP will recognize.
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I just bought a copy of GPT Loader.

I need to ask, can I install GPT Loader on a drive that is already formatted, partitioned, and has 1TB of data on it that I want? I do not want to format the drive (though I do not mind adding a partition at 2TB, if necessary.)

GPT Loader is installed, but when I open the application, what opens is Paragon GPT Disk Manager. I assume that GPT Loader is now part of that tool.

On the Paragon GPT Disk Manager screen, "Conversion" is pre-selected on the left menu, and the only active button says: "Convert Hard Disk to GPT" , with the subtitle, "Convert your Hard drive partitioning style from MBR to GPT."

Doesn't seem like a driver to me.

I don't want to proceed if I am going to lose the data already on the drive. I don't want to start over.
I would back up the drive prior to doing anything.
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That sentence should have been:

I need to ask, can I run GPT Loader, considering that my data drive ("D") is already formatted, partitioned, and has 1TB of data on it that I want?
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Ramin

for converting the MBR to GPT format you have to Back up all your data (if things go wrong).  and if it needs to format or erase any data, it will ask for  your permission.
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Solved.

OK, I rebooted (again), and Windows XP now sees the 3TB drive. Evidently, just by installing the Paragon GPT Disk Manager, a driver must also be being loaded. I did not have to run the Convert.
I am glad you got it working,
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Thank you VERY much to Edward, Tom, and Ramin. I greatly appreciate your time and expertise.
Thanks,