3tb external drives with win XP?

dtokez · 9 Sep 2013 at 12:43

Hi all. I'm looking to get a 3TB external drive for backups etc but have read somewhere that I might have trouble getting the full 3tb on win XP?

I thought this might only be the case on the internal drives but I'm not sure?

Thanks

Clav · 9 Sep 2013 at 16:14

It depends. XP can only access MBR disks and MBR is limited to 2TB. However some 3TB external drives contain some low level sector emulation that allows XP to read the 3TB out of the box. You'll need to check reviews/manufacturer spec sheets on a drive by drive basis to find a suitable one.

InfiniteNoise · 9 Sep 2013 at 21:54

If it supports GPT, then it can see the full 3TB, not sure if XP supports it.

Why not partition the drive? 1TB + 2TB, works fine that way.

demon8991 · 9 Sep 2013 at 23:08

dtokez said:
Hi all. I'm looking to get a 3TB external drive for backups etc but have read somewhere that I might have trouble getting the full 3tb on win XP?

I thought this might only be the case on the internal drives but I'm not sure?

Thanks

I know this is slightly off topic but have you considered installing Windows 7? Its a far better operating system and will work perfectly with a 3TB external drive.