I have just bought a 4TB external USB 3.0 hard drive. The plan is to copy all of the data from my current internal 2TB drive to the 4TB, then I'm going to crack the case of the external hard drive open, take the drive out, and put it in my PC to replace the 2TB drive that's in there now (which I know will void the warranty). This isn't going to be a boot drive as I have an SSD for that.
I had read that Windows does not support large drives of this size and that it would show up as 2 partitions, so I was prepared to convert the drive to GPT in order to have 1 large partition. However, I connected the drive up to my Windows 8.1 machine and it shows as 1 large partition of 3.63TB, which is about what I expected.
Does this mean I don't have to convert the drive after all? Can I do what I'm planning to do and everything will work fine? Or do I need to convert it to GPT before I copy all of my data over and if so, how do I do that exactly?
Thanks.
I had read that Windows does not support large drives of this size and that it would show up as 2 partitions, so I was prepared to convert the drive to GPT in order to have 1 large partition. However, I connected the drive up to my Windows 8.1 machine and it shows as 1 large partition of 3.63TB, which is about what I expected.
Does this mean I don't have to convert the drive after all? Can I do what I'm planning to do and everything will work fine? Or do I need to convert it to GPT before I copy all of my data over and if so, how do I do that exactly?
Thanks.
My Computer
System One
-
- OS
- Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center (64 bit)
- Computer type
- PC/Desktop
- CPU
- Intel Core i7 3770K
- Motherboard
- Asus Maximus V Gene
- Memory
- Corsair 4 x 4 GB 1,600 MHz
- Graphics Card(s)
- Gigabyte GTX 670
- Sound Card
- RME HDSPe AIO
- Monitor(s) Displays
- Dell U2713HM
- Screen Resolution
- 2,560 x 1,440
- Hard Drives
- Samsung 830 SSD 128 GB
Hitachi 7K3000 2 TB
- PSU
- Seasonic X-760
- Case
- Silverstone TJ08-E
- Cooling
- Noctua NH-D14 Special Edition
- Keyboard
- Logitech K800
- Mouse
- Logitech M570
- Internet Speed
- 60 Mbps/3 Mbps cable
- Browser
- Opera 12.16