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This article discusses the manner in which Windows supports hard disks that have a storage capacity of more than 2 TB and explains how to initialize and partition disks to maximize space usage.

Original product version: Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2012 R2
Original KB number: 2581408

Summary

In order for an operating system to fully support storage devices that have capacities that exceed 2 terabytes (2 TB, or 2 trillion bytes), the device must be initialized by using the GUID Partition Table (GPT) partitioning scheme. This scheme supports addressing of the full range of storage capacity. If the user intends to start the computer from one of these large disks, the system's base firmware interface must use the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) and not BIOS.

This article outlines Microsoft support across all Windows versions since Windows XP. It also describes the requirements to address the full storage capability of these devices.

Note

• This article refers to disk capacity in powers of two instead of powers of 10, which is the more common designation on storage device capacity labels. Therefore, references to 2 TB actually refer to a product that is labeled as having 2.2 TB of capacity.
• The operating system-specific behavior that is noted in this article also applies to the server variants of that system. Therefore, a reference to Windows 7 includes Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Vista includes Windows Server 2008, and Windows XP includes Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003 R2.

More information

The management of modern storage devices is addressed by using a scheme called Logical Block Addressing (LBA). It's the arrangement of the logical sectors that constitute the media. LBA0 represents the first logical sector of the device, and the last LBA designation represents the last logical sector of the device, one label per sector. To determine the capacity of the storage device, you multiply the number of logical sectors within the device by the size of each logical sector. The current size standard is 512 bytes. For example, to achieve a device that has a capacity of 2 TB, you must have 3,906,250,000 512-byte sectors. However, a computer system requires 32 bits (1 s and 0 s) of information to represent this large number. Therefore, any storage capacity that is greater than what can be represented by using 32 bits would require an additional bit. That is, 33 bits.

The problem in this computation is that the partitioning scheme that is used by most modern Windows-based computers is MBR (master boot record). This scheme sets a limit of 32 for the number of bits that are available to represent the number of logical sectors.

The 2-TB barrier is the result of this 32-bit limitation. Because the maximum number that can be represented by using 32 bits is 4,294,967,295, it translates to 2.199 TB of capacity by using 512-byte sectors (approximately 2.2 TB). Therefore, a capacity beyond 2.2 TB isn't addressable by using the MBR partitioning scheme.

To make more bits available for addressing, the storage device must be initialized by using GPT. This partitioning scheme lets up to 64 bits of information be used within logical sectors. It translates to a theoretical limitation of 9.4 ZB (9.4 zettabytes, or 9.4 billion terabytes). However, the issue that affects GPT is that most currently available systems are based on the aging BIOS platform. BIOS supports only MBR-initialized disks to start the computer. To restart from a device that is initialized by using GPT, your system must be UEFI-capable. By default, many current systems can support UEFI. Microsoft expects that most future systems will have this support. Customers should consult with their system vendor to determine the ability of their systems to support UEFI and disks that have storage capacities that are greater than 2 TB.

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Overall requirements for a non-bootable data volume

For a system to be able to address the maximum capacity of a device that has a storage capacity of more than 2 TB, the following prerequisites apply:

• The disk must be initialized by using GPT.

• The Windows version must be one of the following (32-bit or 64-bit, unless otherwise noted, but including all SKU editions):

  • Windows Server 2008 R2 (only 64-bit version available)
  • Windows Server 2008
  • Windows 7
  • Windows Vista

• The latest storage drivers from your storage controller manufacturer must be installed. For example, if your system uses an Intel storage controller that is set to 'RAID' mode, make sure that you have the latest applicable drivers from the Intel support site.

• Overall, you should contact your system vendor to determine whether the system supports device sizes of more than 2 TB.

Overall requirements for a bootable system volume

Assume that you want to meet the following conditions:

• Have a storage device on which you can install Windows.
• Make the storage device bootable.
• Enable the operating system to address a maximum storage capacity for that device of greater than 2 TB.

To meet these conditions, the following prerequisites apply:

• The disk must be initialized by using GPT.

• The system firmware must use UEFI.

• The Windows version must be one of the following (64-bit only, but including all SKU editions):

  • Windows Server 2008 R2
  • Windows Server 2008
  • Windows 7
  • Windows Vista

• The latest storage drivers from your storage controller manufacturer must be installed. For example, if your system uses an Intel storage controller set to RAID mode, make sure that you have the latest applicable drivers from the Intel support site.

Note

Windows does not support starting GPT-initialized volumes by using UEFI systems on 32-bit versions of Windows. Also, legacy BIOS systems do not support starting GPT-partitioned volumes. Consult your system vendor to determine whether the system supports both UEFI and the startup of devices that have storage capacities of greater than 2 TB.

Support matrix

The following tables list Microsoft support for the various concepts that are discussed in this article. This information provides an overall support statement about disks that have a storage capacity of greater than 2 TB.

Table 1: Windows support for partitioning schemes as data volumes

Hybrid-MBR is an alternative style of partitioning that isn't supported by any version of Windows.

Table 2: Windows support for system firmware

Table 3: Windows support for combinations of boot firmware and partitioning schemes for the boot volume

Table 4: Windows support for large-capacity disks as non-booting data volumes

Capacity beyond 2 TB cannot be addressed by Windows if the disk is initialized by using the MBR partitioning scheme. For example, for a 3-TB single disk that is initialized by using MBR, Windows can create partitions up to the first 2 TB. However, the remaining capacity cannot be addressed and, therefore, cannot be used.

Initialize a data disk by using GPT

The following steps show how to initialize a fresh disk by using the GPT partitioning scheme to help ensure that Windows can address the maximum available storage capacity. Make sure that you back up any important data before you try these steps.

1. Click Start, type diskmgmt.msc in the Start search box, right-click diskmgmt.msc, and then click Run as Administrator. If it's necessary, enter the credentials for a user account that has Administrator privileges.

   Note

   When a non-initialized disk is detected by Windows, the following window opens to prompt you to initialize the disk.

2. In the Initialize Disk dialog box, click GPT (GUID Partition Table), and then press OK.

   Note

   If you select this option, this hard disk will not be recognized by Windows versions earlier than and including Windows XP.

3. Check the Disk Management window to verify that the disk is initialized. If it is, the status row for that disk at the bottom of the window should indicate that the disk is Online.

4. After the disk is initialized, you must create a partition, and then format that partition by using a file system. It's to be able to store data in that partition, and assign a name and a drive letter to that partition. To do it, right-click the unallocated space on the right side of the status row for that disk, and then click New Simple Volume. Follow the steps in the partition wizard to complete this process.

Convert an MBR disk to GPT

If you have previously initialized the disk by using the MBR partitioning scheme, follow these steps to initialize the disk by using the GPT scheme. Make sure that you back up any important data before you try these steps.

1. Click Start, type diskmgmt.msc in the Start search box, right-click diskmgmt.msc, and then click Run as Administrator. If it's necessary, enter the credentials for a user account that has Administrator privileges.

2. In the Disk Management window, examine the disk status rows at the bottom. In the following example, the user has a 3-TB disk that was previously initialized by using the MBR partitioning scheme. That device is labeled here as Disk 1.

3. Disk 1 contains two separate unallocated sections. This separation indicates that the first 2 TB of the disk space can be used. However, the remaining space is non-addressable because of the 32-bit addressing space limitation of the MBR partitioning scheme. To enable the system to fully address the total capacity of the storage device, you must convert the disk to use the GPT partitioning scheme.

4. Right-click the label on the left for the disk that you want to convert, and then click Convert to GPT Disk.

   Note

   The display should now show that the full amount of available space in unallocated.

5. Now that the disk is initialized to access the full storage capacity, you must create a partition, and then format that partition by using a file system. It's to be able to store data in that partition, and assign a name and a drive letter to that partition. To do it, right-click the unallocated space on the right side of the status row for that disk, and then click New Simple Volume. Follow the steps in the partition wizard to complete this process.

Known issues or limitations

Because the transition to a single-disk capacity of greater than 2 TB has occurred fairly recently, Microsoft has investigated how Windows supports these large disks. The results reveal several issues that apply to all versions of Windows earlier than and including Windows 7 with Service Pack 1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 with Service Pack 1.

To this point, the following incorrect behavior is known to occur when Windows handles single-disk storage capacity of greater than 2 TB:

• The numeric capacity beyond 2 TB overflows. It results in the system being able to address only the capacity beyond 2 TB. For example, on a 3-TB disk, the available capacity may be only 1 TB.

• The numeric capacity beyond 2 TB is truncated. It results in no more than 2 TB of addressable space. For example, on a 3-TB disk, the available capacity may be only 2 TB.

• The storage device isn't detected correctly. In this case, it isn't displayed in either the Device Manager or Disk Management windows. Many storage controller manufacturers offer updated drivers that provide support for storage capacities of more than 2 TB. Contact your storage controller manufacturer or OEM to determine what downloadable support is available for single-disk capacities that are greater than 2 TB.

SCSI sense data

When a disk encounters errors that are related to unreadable or unwritable sectors, it reports those errors and the relevant SCSI sense data to the operating system. SCSI sense data may contain information about LBA for sectors that were found to be unreadable or unwritable.

For LBA address space that is greater than 2 TB, the disk requires SCSI sense data in Descriptor format. This format isn't supported by Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2, which retrieves SCSI sense data in Fixed format. Therefore, the retrieved SCSI sense data either does not contain information about bad sectors or it contains incorrect information about bad sectors. Administrators should note this limitation when they look for bad sector LBA information that's recorded in the Windows event log.

Summary :

What's the Windows 10 maximum hard drive size, how to break maximum drive size limits, and why there are such limits? Here you can find the correct answer. And MiniTool Partition Wizard is very easy to manage the hard drive & partition and would not bring any damage to the original data.

Recently, I found lots of people asked the following or similar question on the internet: what is the maximum hard drive size supported by Windows 10. For example:

I would like to know what is the maximum HD and partition size supported by Windows 10. I have a PC with Windows 7 with a 3 TB hard drive, but about 1 TB of the drive being unusable. Can I use all disk space if I upgrade my computer to Windows 10

Actually, those people misunderstand the issue, because it is not the version of Windows but the partitioning scheme that rules maximum hard disk size. In addition, the maximum size of a hard drive partition depends on the file system used to format it rather than depends on Windows versions.

External usb hard drive not detected. Therefore, disks initialized with the same partitioning scheme have the same disk size limit, and partitions with the same file system have the same partition size limit, no matter they are in Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, or other Windows OS.

Want to know the exact size limit? Please keep reading.

What's the Maximum Hard Drive Size in Windows 10/8/7

Windows 7/8 or Windows 10 Maximum Hard Drive Size

Like in other Windows operating systems, users can only use 2TB or 16TB space in Windows 10 no matter how large the hard disk is, if they initialize their disk to MBR. At this time, some of you might ask why there are 2TB and 16TB limit. To answer this question, let's start from introducing hard disk sector.

Traditional hard disks are always using 512B sector, but new disks often employ 4K sector though most systems emulate a 4K physical sector to 8 512B sectors for compatibility, which is the so called 512e.

If your MBR disk is using 512B sector or 512e sector, you can only use 2TB space. But if it is employing 4K native sector and your Windows supports this type of sectors, you can use 16TB space.

For more details of these types of sectors, please refer to Advanced Format of Wiki.

However, if the disk was initialized to GPT, we can totally ignore the hard disk size limit, because it can be up to 9.4ZB or 9.4 billion terabytes even if the disk uses 512B sector.

Windows 7/8/10 Maximum Hard Drive Partition Size

There is a 32GB limit for FAT32 volume. To be specific, you are not allowed to create an FAT32 partition larger than 32GB or format a NTFS partition larger than 32GB to FAT32 in Windows Disk Management.

But luckily, Windows can mount a 2TB partition, and third party partitioning software is able to create such a partition. More surprisingly, a large FAT32 partition could function well.

For a NTFS partition, it can be very large. Maximum NTFS volume size = 2^64 allocation units, so the larger allocation unit is, the bigger NTFS partition is. Currently, the largest allocation unit for NTFS and FAT32 is 64K, so the maximum NTFS partition size is 2^64*64K.

However, if your current allocation unit size prevents you from extending an existing NTFS partition, you can change it without losing data to fix the issue. Detailed steps will be shown soon.

Maximum Hard Drive Partition Amount

If you initialize the disk to MBR, you can create 4 primary partitions at most. But if you initialize it to GPT, you can make up 128 volumes.

Well, do you want to break such limits? If yes, go on reading.

How to Break Maximum Hard Drive Size Limit in Windows 10/8/7

If you want to let Windows 10 support for hard disks that are larger than 2TB so as to use all disk space, you need to initialize one hard drive to GPT or convert it to GPT (when data have been saved). To create FAT32 partition larger than 32GB or increase NTFS partition cluster size, you need to employ third-party program. To create more than 4 primary partitions, you can convert MBR to GPT or set one of primary partitions as logical.

Here is the guide on how to break Windows 7/8 or Windows 10 maximum hard drive size in two aspects.

How to Break 2TB Hard Disk Limit in Windows 10/8/7

To break this limit, please initialize or convert disk to GPT, and MiniTool Partition Wizard could help do this with ease. Please download and install the freeware.

Option 1. Initialize the disk as GPT

To break the limit, you can choose to initialize the disk to GPT if the disk is a new one and no data has been saved on it. You can initialize it to GPT disk with the free partition manager – MiniTool Partition Wizard or with the Windows built-in tool – Disk Management.

Option 2. Convert MBR disk to GPT

If you have saved data on the MBR disk, you can choose to convert MBR disk to GPT to break the hard disk limits. You can also choose MiniTool Partition Wizard and Disk Management.

In Disk Management, you can convert MBR to GPT unless you have deleted all partition. In this way, you will lose all your data on. Thus, if you want to do use Disk Management to convert MBR to GPT, please back up all your important files in advance.

Thus, you can choose to use MiniTool Partition Wizard to convert MBR to GPT which would not bring any damage to your original data.

Then you can launch it to enter its main interface. Then choose the disk you want to convert and choose Convert MBR Disk to GPT Disk to continue.

Then click 'Apply' to confirm the changes.

Once the disk is converted to GPT, you can use all hard disk space, not limited to 2TB.

Obviously, using Disk Management is not a wise choice to break 2TB hard disk limit when data have been saved, and third-party partitioning tool is better.

How to Break 32GB Partition Size Limit in Windows 10/8/7

As we know, FAT32 is supported by Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and other systems, and some game machines like Xbox 360 and PlayStation recognize FAT partition only. Therefore, there are a huge number of people who need to create a large FAT32 partition or format a large NTFS partition to FAT32.

In addition, many people need to increase cluster size of NTFS partition so as to enlarge the partition. But disappointingly, they have to suffer data loss if they employ Windows Format Utility.

But fortunately, using best partition manager - MiniTool Partition Wizard, you can create a 2TB FAT32 partition, or convert large NTFS partition to FAT32 without losing data. Moreover, it is able to increase cluster size without data loss, too.

Please download and install the program to your computer.

Then, launch the program to get its main interface.

To create a FAT32 partition larger than 32GB, please select an unallocated space and choose 'Create Partition' feature. To convert NTFS to FAT32, please select the NTFS partition and choose 'Convert NTFS to FAT'. To enlarge cluster size, please select the partition and choose 'Change Cluster Size'.

Here, we take creating a FAT32 partition for example.

First, select the unallocated space and choose 'Create' from the context menu to continue.

Then, specify the size, location, label, drive letter, partition type, and other information for this new partition. Finally, click the 'Apply' button to perform this change.

How to Break 4 Primary Partitions Limit in Windows 10/8/7

To break this limit, you can also use MiniTool Partition Wizard.

And you have 2 choices.

Option 1: Initialize or Convert Disk o GPT

You can choose to initialize the disk to GPT with MiniTool Partition Wizard or Disk Management. Thus, you can create up to 128 partitions on a GPT disk in Windows.

Option 2: Set One of Primary Partitions Logical

Setting one of 4 primary partitions to be logical will create an extended partition where lots of logical drives could be created, and MiniTool Partition Wizard can help you do this without data loss.

Just run this software. Select one of primary partitions and choose 'Set Partition as Logical' feature. We highly suggest changing the hard drive partition which has lots of unused space to logical, and it should be a common data partition rather than Windows system partition and boot partition.

At last, click 'Apply' button to make all changes performed.

Once a logical partition is made, you can create lots of logical partitions by taking free space from this partition.

After knowing how to break the hard drive size limit, maybe some of you are also interested in why there are such limits. Please keep reading to get what you want.

Why There Is Windows 8/10 or Windows 7 Maximum Hard Drive Size Limit

We have said partitioning scheme rules the maximum hard disk size and partition amount, and file system affects the size of maximum partitions. But how do these 2 items generate such limits?

Here are answers.

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As we know, capacity of a hard disk = the number of logical sectors within the device × the size of each logical sector, and a computer system requires bits of information to represent sector amounts. The partitioning scheme used by most modern Windows-based computers is MBR (master boot record), which sets a limit of 32 for the number of bits that are available to represent the number of logical sectors. Therefore, the maximum hard disk size is 2^32 * sector size.

If the sector size is 512 byte, then the maximum hard disk size = 2^32*512 byte = 2,199,023,255,552 byte = 2TB.

If the sector size is 4K native, then the hard disk size limit = 2^32*4k = 16TB.

However, the GPT partitioning scheme sets the limit for the number of bits available to represent the number of logical sectors to 64, so maximum size for GPT disk is 2^64*512B (9.4EB) or 2^64*4k, which could be very large.

Why There Is 32GB Limit for FAT32 Partition

The maximum size of a hard drive partition depends on the file system used to format the partition. In Windows XP, the maximum possible number of clusters on a volume using the FAT32 file system is 268,435,445. With a maximum of 32 KB per cluster, this equates to a maximum disk size of approximately 8TBMicrosoft

Hard drive partition size = the number of clusters × cluster size (here we ignore space for File Allocation Table since it is so little). So theoretically, a FAT partition can be very large. But disappointingly, format utility built-in Windows 7,Windows 8, Windows 10, and other Windows OS limits FAT32 partition size to 32GB while third-party partitioning tool could help create or format a very large FAT32 partition.

Why There Is Hard Drive Partition Amount Limit

We have said users can only create the maximum number of 4 primary partitions on an MBR disk and 128 partitions on a GPT disk, so it is the partitioning scheme that sets the limit.

MBR, namely Master Boot Record, is composed of 3 parts, including master boot code, disk signature, and the partition table for the disk. An MBR partition table is allocated with 64 bytes to hold entries of primary partition, and one partition entry uses 16 bytes. As a result, MBR partition table can hold the maximum number of 4 entries, which means that it represents 4 primary partitions at most.

However, on a GPT disk, the partition table header defines the number and size for partition entries. EFI requires the minimum of 16,384 bytes for partition table, and each entry uses 128 bytes. Therefore, a GPT partition table can hold 16,384 ÷ 128 = 128 entries, which means you can create up to 128 partitions on a GPT disk under Windows.

How Big Is Windows 10?

Windows 10 is a series of personal computer operating system produced by Microsoft as part of its Windows NT family of operating system. Windows 10 is released on July 29, 2015. And it is the successor to Windows 8.1. Windows 10 provides four different versions including Home, Pro, Education and Enterprise.

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Windows 10 also brings some new features: Timeline, Focus Assistant, Nearby Sharing, Night Light and so on.

Windows 10 is commonly used in a variety of devices such as a computer, phone, laptop, etc.

So with so many features, some users may choose to upgrade to Windows 10. But how big is Windows 10 or how big is Windows 10 on SSD? Do you know how much space Windows 10 need?

If there is not enough space for Windows 10, you will fail to install when updating. So before updating, you need to know how big Windows 10 is and what the requirements are for installing Windows 10.

How Big Is Windows 10?

The size of Windows 10 is highly variable since it depends on many factors. Thus, you may wonder how much space the Windows 10 need.

Do I Need 1tb Or 2tb Hard Drive

In fact, the size of Windows 10 is increasing starting Windows 10 May 2019 Update. The size of Windows 10 is increased from 16GB for 32-bit and 32GB for 64-bit to 32GB for both versions.

After knowing the size of the Windows 10, you also need to know the requirement for installing Windows 10.

The Requirement for Installing Windows 10

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• Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz)or faster compatible processor or System on a Chip (SoC).
• RAM: 1GB for 32-bit or 2GB for 64-bit.
• Hard Drive size: 32GB or larger hard disk.
• Graphics card: Compatible with DirectX 9 or later with WDDM 1.0 driver.
• Display: 800X600

These are the requirement for installing Windows 10. However, if the hard drive is not large enough, you can choose to extend it or upgrade it to a larger hard drive.

After meeting the requirements, you need to prepare a Windows installation disk or a Windows 10 repair disk to install the Windows 10.

Conclusion

Now, all the information about Windows 10 maximum hard drive size is told to you. Though there are hard drive size limits in Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and other Windows OS, you can break them in easy steps.

If you want to use all space of hard disks larger than 2TB, or hope to create FAT32 partitions larger than 32GB, or plan to create more than 4 primary partitions, now try the methods offered by MiniTool Partition Wizard.

Should you have any suggestions or issues, please tell us by sending an email to [email protected] Microsoft office bundle price. or leaving a comment.