HDD replacement

12harry

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. . . . . . . I've checked this Forum, but not found this. . . . . .

+ I have two Q's
1) Why does the HDD light keep flashing even when the PC is not running any programs?
I don't think this is a virus as it happens with/without the internet connected. It appears to be one of the extra HDD's drive-K, which is fairly active....

BTW, I have no free SATA connectors on the MBO. That would be a easy-fix but they are all used

2) I want to increase the internal capacity ( I have external drives, but that's not quite the same IMHO.). . . The K-drive is 500G and I'd like to forestall this happening again...so I'm wondering if there is now a "fix" for the 2Tb Win7 (32bit) address-limit? - I'm OK with external drives and have one of 3Tb - but it's got stuff on it, so can't be used "clean". I'm hoping I can fit a 3Tb . . . .

Thoughts, etc.?
 
1) Your PC is never doing nothing, you might not be running your email or editing a document but there are lots of programs that keep your computer ready and able to respond to your latest mouse movement. If you open task manager you can choose columns to monitor and this includes disk read\write and so you can see what programs are using your hard disk. Typically its Anti-virus software, search indexing that tend to read the most. There is nothing to worry about.

2) The issue with the >2TB drive is booting from it on a 32bit version. If you have your boot device on another hard drive and simply add a 3TB drive then so long as you initalise the drive as GPT and your MB\controller card support it then it will work.
 
1), Thanks ChuckMountain, that's good to know . . . . I suppose my worry was that the drive was wearing itself out ( although I know they are nearly always spinning ). Win7 32b... OS is on C-drive and the one that's showing the Active light is HDD, drive K.
2), So, do I understand that provided the OS is booting correctly under 2TB ( It's a 1Tb), then by using GPT ( I'll have to Search for that). ...my MB/Controller might support 3Tb ? . . . . I looked at the Printed MBO Manual and it seems I wrote a note about 2Tb-limit about 1 year ago . . . . so I'm guessing it won't . . . . . . . Oh dear!

The MBO appears to be quite an old design, bought because it supported IDE as well as SATA ( I had some lowly IDE drives...), and in the text they mention upgrading XP . . . so that dates it. . . . . It was built for me, about4 years ago - so, I guess that's probably ruling out much hope.

May I ask..? Is the 2Tb Limit a function of Win7(32b), -or the hardware on the MBO?. I'm thinking of upgrading MBO . . . . . with quad-core processor, separate 2G Graphics and more SATA connectors.
 
1) No I wouldn't worry about it, don't get me wrong mechanical drives can and will fail because of moving parts on the whole but they will either fail in the first month or probably outlast your usage i.e. you need to upgrade to a bigger\faster drive.

2) It depends over the years that have been many hard disk limits as we get bigger and bigger with storage.

This limit is a limit of the partition types you can either have MBR (Master Boot Record) or GPT (GUID Partition Table) the latter allows bigger than 2TB and you can set in Windows Disk Management.

Windows XP (from memory) is not compatible with GPT disks and neither is W7 32 bit to boot.

You MB may well work, even some MB that state 2TB max limit where written as the biggest time. It might not boot of it so your setup might work as expected but I wouldn't want to guarantee without looking at the specs. My SATA2 boards work with +2TB drives.

Since you are likely to buy the drive anyway you might as well try.

Also if you do ever upgrade your MB\CPU I would suggest you could get an SSD as your boot disk as this will give an even further boost to your system.
 
IIRC the 2.2TB limit is for partition sizes rather than drive sizes.
 
Thanks, guys I may try a partition.... I presume the drive-letters can be whatever I like?
I see on Az there are cheap PCI cards that provide 2x eSATA at rear of PC, and internal 2x SATA.

What I don't understand is why my USB3 external caddy appears to address the full 3Tb (under "Properties"), . . . . . so I did consider bolting it to the PC case, so it would always be present ( ie like "internal", although physically outside.).

However, buying an internal card is the "tidier" solution....and I do have a spare SATA-Power connector (the wide one).... and two vacant PCI slots.

EDIT:
Thanks folks, much useful info. Today (Tues.) I finally bit das bullet. Bought a 2Tb HDD from local shop - installed it as drive K after copying I now have 1.5Tb free. Have shifted 200G onto K and dup/copied to external drive....and deleted same from L. -so now L has enough spare space for about six 32G master Copies. This represents under a year, but hopefully another solution will present itself.
I may investigate buying one of those PCI-Multi-SATA cards, then I can start with the (now surplus) 500G old drive.
Seems my MBO's 6xSATA was never enough!
 
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IIRC the 2.2TB limit is for partition sizes rather than drive sizes.

Yes but that's it then you can't create any more on the MBR so unless you use a further piece of software (some drive manufactures have drivers\utilities) then you lose the space above. Seagate's for example creates a further virtual MBR that then uses the space above as the rest of the disk if it was a 3TB.

USB2 is typically slower than a direct connected disk and can be dropped\go missing\disconnected accidentally etc. If you go into disk management on your machine select the disk your external disk it will say something like Disk 2 Removable right click on that (not the partition area) select properties, select volume and it will tell you what the partition style is. It might already be GPT or it might be that USB method of access allows bigger than 2TB. Its all about drivers and changes in technology at the end of the day.

If you want to save money just open up the 3TB drive and put it in your machine, you can always upgrade to a GPT disk. As always make sure you have a backup of your data.

I wouldn't bother with a separate PCIe card until you have tried your MB sata connection. I think it may well work.
 
Hi, further to earlier EDIT abt replaced driveK...

During Formatting I took the MBR Option (being 2Tb), although the alternative "for larger than 2Tb" was GBT ( Here, earlier GPT was written, was that a Typo? ).

During Formatting/letter-changing I'd copied-over the original K-content.. All went fine, although copying took over 1hr, but a notice flagged up giving a very strange/long filename which I needed Administrator Permission for...I looked at the Old-K disc Contents and could find nothing that it could be.... So, I "skipped" and now the next day, the new drive is still working perfectly... and the HDD LED light is OFF. Previously this was ON most of the time when the PC was idle.... was this file creating work, I wonder....?
Sadly I didn't copy down the many numbers/letters but it wasn't anything obvious (to me)... that's why I "Skipped" it.

++ Thanks for your help, suggestions, etc. guys.
 
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Hi, further to earlier EDIT abt replaced driveK...

During Formatting I took the MBR Option (being 2Tb), although the alternative "for larger than 2Tb" was GBT ( Here, earlier GPT was written, was that a Typo? ).

During Formatting/letter-changing I'd copied-over the original K-content.. All went fine, although copying took over 1hr, but a notice flagged up giving a very strange/long filename which I needed Administrator Permission for...I looked at the Old-K disc Contents and could find nothing that it could be.... So, I "skipped" and now the next day, the new drive is still working perfectly... and the HDD LED light is OFF. Previously this was ON most of the time when the PC was idle.... was this file creating work, I wonder....?
Sadly I didn't copy down the many numbers/letters but it wasn't anything obvious (to me)... that's why I "Skipped" it.

++ Thanks for your help, suggestions, etc. guys.

No its GUID Partition Table (GPT) not sure where GBT came from.

Do you have show hidden folders and system files enabled in Folder Options under control panel. If you don't you won't see all the files and folders that might have been created.

If Windows has a file\folder path longer than 255 characters you can run into problems especially if you try and say copy original file and path at 254 and then put into K:\Backup then this will break and then ask you for admin permissions before breaking again. If you click skip then you won't have copied it.

I personally wouldn't use Explorer to copy files in this type of scenario as just too much can go wrong.

You now potentially have missed files and there may or may not be important to you. Have you still got the original data. Personally I would download BeyondCompare by ScooterSoft which will do a direct comparison between old and new to check. You can then use it to make any changes.

Re the hard drive light, this could be a number of things but hard to say. What is the rest of the system and how have you managed to use all 6 SATA ports? Not sure you mean by numbers and letters.

Re thanks if you thank the posts too that give us more points ;)
 
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