Can Windows XP SP3 see a 4tb External Hard Drive?

blackster · 2 Jan 2014 at 06:29

Morning Guys, I had a hard drive failure last night

, my 2tb seagate had been overheating and now it's failing to spin, however all backed up thank god!

My desktop runs Windows 7, however my works Laptop runs Windows XP SP3, I'd like to be able to access it on my laptop too, I cannot upgrade to Windows 7 as I use fire alarm software that only runs on XP.

just seen one review where Windows XP would only see the drive as a 2.2tb drive?

Is this true, if so what can be done apart from an OS upgrade

Cheers

bledd · 2 Jan 2014 at 11:44

Does the fire alarm software work from a Virtual PC? Windows 7 Pro has one built in

Or buy this

http://www.paragon-software.com/technologies/components/gpt-loader/

(Not used it personally)

tnx · 2 Jan 2014 at 12:11

A 4TB drive has to be a GPT drive.
Win XP x32 will not see the GPT drive.
Win XP x64 can use it as data only.

I suppose splitting the drive into two equal 2TB drives and having them set to MBR may work. But that might have to be done on Win 7\8, I don't know really.
If you only have Win XP connect the drive and run Disc Manager to make two drives and convert to MBR.
Or under DOS using DISKPART.

But to be honest. Win XP is way out of date. Time to upgrade really.

rpstewart · 2 Jan 2014 at 15:14

tnx said:
I suppose splitting the drive into two equal 2TB drives and having them set to MBR may work

You can't do that. A physical drive can only have one partition table either MBR or GPT.

tnx · 2 Jan 2014 at 15:36

rpstewart said:
You can't do that. A physical drive can only have one partition table either MBR or GPT.

Why not.I believe you can partition any drive .

blackster · 2 Jan 2014 at 15:37

Thanks for the replies guys

Just to answer bledd, no the software will not run under a virtual one, the software is very picky and just either refuses to run or crashes (I've never done it but one of the lads on the field has)

Theres a couple of makes of drive in 4tb format.

Looking at the western digital model is says this on their website under the 4tb model

Formatted NTFS
Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8
Mac OS X 10.6.5 or later (requires reformatting)

tnx · 2 Jan 2014 at 15:47

If you have not actually bought one yet, why don't just buy a 2TB drive. Save a little bit of money too and no problems.

rpstewart · 2 Jan 2014 at 16:15

tnx said:
Why not.I believe you can partition any drive .

Yes you can however GPT and MBR are formats of PARTITION TABLES, the areas which store the partition information. Each physical drive only has a single partition table.

tnx · 2 Jan 2014 at 16:18

rpstewart said:
Yes you can however GPT and MBR are formats of PARTITION TABLES, the areas which store the partition information. Each physical drive only has a single partition table.

ahhhh. Ok...Nice info..

blackster · 2 Jan 2014 at 17:04

tnx said:
If you have not actually bought one yet, why don't just buy a 2TB drive. Save a little bit of money too and no problems.

Well it is actually looking like that lol

I've been having a look at various other ways and another is to have a duel bay enclosure, although I'm not too sure how well these work as JBOD setup, I've found one made by Hornettek but unsure if I can post a photo on here, with this setup I could just chuck in 2 x 2TB Drives