bought a new HDD 3TB, unallocated partition cannot be merged

mitzibishi · 7 Mar 2012 at 14:15

ok i bought a supposedly new HDD off ebay, it came in bubble wrap, no box.

using Win 7 64bit

put it into my PC as a 3rd HDD. i had to allocate and give it a volume in "computer management". make it online and active.

but it has a partition and I can only allocate the main partition.

heres what disk management reads.

2048gb NTFS,health,active, primary.

746.52gb Unallocated, logical

i can right click and do what i want with the main partition. delete volume, format etc, which ive done. only thing i cant do is extend volume

right click on the unallocated partition and the options are unclickable.

i have tried easeus partition manager, partition magic 8 and aomei partition assistant and i cant do any to move this unallocated partition.

ive basically paid for a 3tb hdd which is only 2tb.

is this HDD faulty or am i doing something wrong

bledd · 7 Mar 2012 at 14:18

Anything over 2tb needs to be GPT

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18377039&highlight=GPT

NB -Only new motherboards can use GPT to boot from. But it will be fine as a data drive

mitzibishi · 7 Mar 2012 at 14:23

oh right, fumbling around i saw something about GPT.

im in suspicious mode now. ive heard a few clicks coming from it when spin starts from cold, not every time, about 3 or 4 since i installed it,

bad sign? got the case open and the other HDDs dont make that noise

i redid it as MBR again when messing around, cant find GBT

bledd · 7 Mar 2012 at 14:27

Some drives do click when they spin up. Try doing some hard drive benchmarks with HDTune

http://www.hdtune.com/

There's also a very basic error checking section in the software. If it clicks often when doing the benchmark or the error check, I'd be wary!

Surveyor · 7 Mar 2012 at 14:29

Check your warranty out here.

It might give you some idea of the origins of the drive.

It should also have a manufactured date on the label.

Even an OEM drive should come in some form of original packaging like an anti-static bag or a plastic clamshell box.

mitzibishi · 7 Mar 2012 at 14:53

FIXED...................

ok, your a godsend bledd. salt of the earth.

redid the drive as GPT with Aomei Partition assistant and its all one drive now, allocated it in computer management.

it clicked from cold on a reboot, used HD tune 2.55 and benchmarked. no noise from it
results.

Health ok

Transfer rate:
min.94.6mb/sec
max. 187.1mbmb
Ave. 147.8mb

Access time 17.5ms
Burst rate. 141.5mb
CPU usage. -1.0%

Error Scan: All ok

Temps. 28 degrees C after benchmark

its a Seagate Barracuda 3tb, transfer rate is better than my OS's Western Digitial 640gb HDD, running at 107mb max, 35mb min, Ave 81mb, access. 13.7ms, burst. 127.4mb and temps 33. OS is running of it so by itself it should be a little better

bledd · 7 Mar 2012 at 15:13

Christ that's fast!

I'm still using a WD 640GB as my data drive. Maybe it's time I replaced it

mitzibishi · 7 Mar 2012 at 15:35

got it for *No competitor price hinting*. supposedly new. i think its ok, it does click from cold the odd time but i dont think its going to be a problem.

going to use it for games installs and move a few things over, maybe page file, my 500gb games HDD is almost full or should i use it for OS? would i just transfer all files from OS even hidden and boot from the new HDD change drive letter and windows will load ok?

new test

Transfer rate:
min.98.7mb/sec
max. 189.5mbmb
Ave. 142.8mb

Access time 17.2ms
Burst rate. 152.8mb

temps 27 degrees