How do I re-format a 4 TB drive to NTFS used in a Linux raid EXT2(?)  

jimbo45 said:

Hi there

@roy111
no need for all that diagnostic stuff - simply just format
...
Cheers
jimbo

Hi,

why?

@jimbo45 @cerebrus...
Here's what I did:

--snip, snip--

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.17134.345]
(c) 2018 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>diskpart

Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.17134.1

Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: LAPTOP

DISKPART> list disk

Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
-------- ------------- ------- ------- --- ---
Disk 0 Online 931 GB 0 B *
Disk 1 Online 1678 GB 1678 GB *

DISKPART> select disk 1

Disk 1 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> convert gpt

The disk you specified is not MBR formatted.
Please select an empty MBR disk to convert.

DISKPART> create partition primary

DiskPart succeeded in creating the specified partition.

DISKPART> list partition

Partition ### Type Size Offset
------------- ---------------- ------- -------
Partition 1 Reserved 15 MB 17 KB
* Partition 2 Primary 1678 GB 16 MB

DISKPART> select partition 2

Partition 2 is now the selected partition.

DISKPART> format quick fs=ntfs

100 percent completed

DiskPart successfully formatted the volume.

DISKPART> assign

DiskPart successfully assigned the drive letter or mount point.

DISKPART> list disk

Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
-------- ------------- ------- ------- --- ---
Disk 0 Online 931 GB 0 B *
Disk 1 Online 1678 GB 0 B *

DISKPART>

--snip, snip--

Thanks but no change :-(

I'm in California and it's almost 2 am. Time to go to bed..... till later... thanks.

Hi there
@bofhlusr

You forgot or omitted the CLEAN command

After select disk xx

you must type CLEAN

then CONVERT GPT.

Clean clears all the old structures otherwise you can't remove the MBR sector on the HDD and you can't format fully.

Cheers
jimbo

After the above commands were run:

jimbo45 said:

Hi there
@bofhlusr

You forgot or omitted the CLEAN command

After select disk xx

you must type CLEAN

then CONVERT GPT.

Clean clears all the old structures otherwise you can't remove the MBR sector on the HDD and you can't format fully.

Cheers
jimbo

Jimbo, here it is again but this time with 'clean':

--snip, snip--

DISKPART> list disk

Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
-------- ------------- ------- ------- --- ---
Disk 0 Online 931 GB 0 B *
Disk 1 Online 1678 GB 0 B *

DISKPART> select disk 1

Disk 1 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> clean

DiskPart succeeded in cleaning the disk.

DISKPART> convert gpt

DiskPart successfully converted the selected disk to GPT format.

DISKPART> create partition primary

DiskPart succeeded in creating the specified partition.

DISKPART> list partition

Partition ### Type Size Offset
------------- ---------------- ------- -------
Partition 1 Reserved 15 MB 17 KB
* Partition 2 Primary 1678 GB 16 MB

DISKPART>

--snip, snip--

Still no change :-(

-Dupe, deleted-

Hi there
It might be if you have an old Mobo or old OS that the computer doesn't support large capacity drives -- on those old computers to get capacity over 2TB there used to be some software which would create in the BIOS a thing called LBA (Large Block Arcitecture).

Check the BIOS to see if the HDD is recognized as a 4TB HDD. Otherwise see if it can be formatted on another computer. Linux itself uses different file systems so it's likely to work in any case even on an old computer provided the Bios can handle the Disk geometry.

Cheers
jimbo

jimbo45 said:

Hi there
It might be if you have an old Mobo or old OS that the computer doesn't support large capacity drives -- on those old computers to get capacity over 2TB there used to be some software which would create in the BIOS a thing called LBA (Large Block Arcitecture).

Check the BIOS to see if the HDD is recognized as a 4TB HDD. Otherwise see if it can be formatted on another computer. Linux itself uses different file systems so it's likely to work in any case even on an old computer provided the Bios can handle the Disk geometry.

Cheers
jimbo

@jimbo, I'm using a relatively recent 3-4 year old WIndows 10 laptop (upgraded from the original W8.1 it came with):

Amazon.com: Asus N550JX-DS71T 15.6-Inch Full HD Touchscreen Laptop (Intel Core i7-4720HQ, 8GB DDR3L RAM, 1TB HDD, Windows 8.1), Silver: Computers Accessories

I've attached external 6-TB drives on it without problems:

Amazon.com: Seagate Backup Plus Hub 6TB External Desktop Hard Drive Storage + 2mo Adobe CC Photography (STEL6000100): Electronics

So I'm really at a loss on why I'm only able to see 2 TB instead of the 4 TB on these internal drives. If you have any other ideas, they'd be most welcome. Thank you much.

Hi there
I'm almost out of ideas

Are you using EFI or MBR boot -- although that disk doesn't appear to be boot disk so that really shouldn't matter.

Try booting up a live Linux distro and then see if that HDD formats as a full 4TB HDD

After you've booted the Linux distro say the HDD is /dev/sdf

then as root (or sudo) type the following mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdf -f
you'll be prompted to use whole drive
after formatting you should see if disk is recognized as 4TB. If that works then you've proved the HDD is OK -- now we can have a go at the windows problems.

Cheers
jimbo