When I put my 6TB HDD (spinner) loaded with 3.4 TB of media in my Gen8 a couple of weeks ago Windows 10 decided it had two partitions, one of 2TB
and one of 4TB and rendered it unreadable. It takes a long time to re-load that much data on to a HDD.

I would like to use that drive in the Gen8 preferably but don't want to destroy it again. Is anybody aware of any sort of utility that I could run that looks at hardware/drivers and can tell me the maximum HDD the Gen8
will take?

Many thanks.

--
Jeff Gaines Dorset UK
There is absolutely no substitute for a genuine lack of preparation

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.14
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 08/05/2026 22:06, Jeff Gaines wrote:

When I put my 6TB HDD (spinner) loaded with 3.4 TB of media in my Gen8 a couple of weeks ago Windows 10 decided it had two partitions, one of 2TB
and one of 4TB and rendered it unreadable. It takes a long time to re-
load that much data on to a HDD.

I would like to use that drive in the Gen8 preferably but don't want to destroy it again. Is anybody aware of any sort of utility that I could
run that looks at hardware/drivers and can tell me the maximum HDD the
Gen8 will take?

A friend who collects video captures came across this some time ago.

I think what you are looking at is the same as he, a combination of
32-bit LBA limitations where 48-bit LBA is not supported (or even 64-bit
LBA), and this can vary by the interface / driver used. My friend found
such differences in his USB enclosures.

https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/4-0tb-gpt-wd-hard-drive-only-showing-as-1-6tb.1867476/

Also crucial is the use of GPT disk layout rather than MBR. https://uefi.org/specs/UEFI/2.10_A/05_GUID_Partition_Table_Format.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logical_block_addressing
Google "32-bit LBA" and "48/64-bit LBA" and your choice of interface.

I'm not aware of a utility, but using those words may show something in searches.

--
Adrian C

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.14
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 09/05/2026 in message <n6869uFi028U1@mid.individual.net> Andy Burns
wrote:

Jeff Gaines wrote:

When I put my 6TB HDD (spinner) loaded with 3.4 TB of media in my
Gen8 a couple of weeks ago Windows 10 decided it had two partitions,
one of 2TB and one of 4TB and rendered it unreadable.

I think the vague consensus was that you didn't diagnose what actually >happened.

I put a drive with about 3.5 TB of data on it into the Gen8 and it decided
it was a 2 TB drive and 4 TB of empty space and unreadable. I didn't
diagnose anything!

It takes a long time to re-load that much data on to a HDD.

It wouldn't take long to re-create an empty 6TB partition, a minimal file >system, and copy a couple of MB of files onto it, then move it back into
the microserver ...

My ONLY 6 TB drive has 3.5 TB of data on it now

--
Jeff Gaines Dorset UK
Did you know on the Canary Islands there is not one canary?
And on the Virgin Islands same thing, not one canary.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.14
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 08/05/2026 in message <n675ikFcursU1@mid.individual.net> Adrian
Caspersz wrote:

On 08/05/2026 22:06, Jeff Gaines wrote:

When I put my 6TB HDD (spinner) loaded with 3.4 TB of media in my Gen8 a >>couple of weeks ago Windows 10 decided it had two partitions, one of 2TB >>and one of 4TB and rendered it unreadable. It takes a long time to re- >>load that much data on to a HDD.

I would like to use that drive in the Gen8 preferably but don't want to >>destroy it again. Is anybody aware of any sort of utility that I could >>run that looks at hardware/drivers and can tell me the maximum HDD the >>Gen8 will take?

A friend who collects video captures came across this some time ago.

I think what you are looking at is the same as he, a combination of 32-bit >LBA limitations where 48-bit LBA is not supported (or even 64-bit LBA),
and this can vary by the interface / driver used. My friend found such >differences in his USB enclosures.

https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/4-0tb-gpt-wd-hard-drive-only-showing-as-1-6tb.1867476/

Also crucial is the use of GPT disk layout rather than MBR. >https://uefi.org/specs/UEFI/2.10_A/05_GUID_Partition_Table_Format.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logical_block_addressing
Google "32-bit LBA" and "48/64-bit LBA" and your choice of interface.

I'm not aware of a utility, but using those words may show something in >searches.

Many thanks Adrian :-)

I think for my own satisfaction I will have to try again and see what
happens. Googling shows people have 10 TB and 16 TB drives running fine as long as it is UEFI/GPT.

I do have an HP Z230 that I could use but these Microserver are so neat
and easy to tuck away.

--
Jeff Gaines Dorset UK
There are 3 types of people in this world. Those who can count, and those
who can't.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.14
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 09/05/2026 in message <xn0ppkf999o6cp901g@news.individual.net> Jeff
Gaines wrote:

I think for my own satisfaction I will have to try again and see what >happens. Googling shows people have 10 TB and 16 TB drives running fine as >long as it is UEFI/GPT.

It just worked :-)

I did cross my fingers when I turned the machine on, may have helped? Good
job it's Windows and not Linux, I've run out of goats.

--
Jeff Gaines Dorset UK
The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil but by those who
watch them without doing anything. (Albert Einstein)

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.14
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)