This is *NOT* a computer that I put together myself.
This is a computer that I bought pre-assembled with the OS pre-installed. It
only came with a 1TB SSD M.2 module (which I have not touched). But I knew I
would have to add additional drives.
I've never had these kind of problems with the computers I built for myself,
although when Micro$oft nagged me into attempting to "upgrade" from Windows 7 to
Windoze10 it was a disaster.
At this point, I'm beginning to believe the computer itself is defective.
I'm using Windows Disk Manager, signed in as Administrator. Disk Manager is the
utility built into WindowsNT (which is the basis of Windows XP, VISTA, 7, 8, 8.1
and 10). It's the tool provided by Micro$oft for adding disks to Windows.
The pre-installed Windows is a 64bit version and I was allowing Disk Manager to
choose the "partition scheme".
The 4TB drive I connected to SATA 1 initialized, partitioned into a single
(3.7TB) volume and formatted with no problem. The 4TB drive I connected to SATA
2 initialized and partitioned into a single (3.7TB) volume, but would not
format. It would begin, but ended with a "Windows was unable to complete the
format" error.
I have 4 of these Seagate 4TB drives I purchased in August (I have about 8 more
that I'm currently using - 5 in my file server & 3 in my Photoshop computer
(both of which I did build myself).
I switched out the second 4TB drive connected to SATA 2. That third drive is the
one that would only partition to 2048GB, and it did so with a GPT partition that
could not be initialized, formatted, resized or deleted.
Seagate's web site had information on how to use DISKPART to remove the stuck
GPT partition.
It's apparently a known problem & they've already got the "solution" on their
web site, because Micro$oft Help is no help.
I did that and used Disk Manager to partition the drive with a MBR. That gave me
a 2048GB partition again, but this time it could be initialized & run format ...
although format again ended with the "Windows was unable to complete the format"
error.
This is compounded by neither the seller nor the manufacturer providing
technical support because of the Federal holiday today (yesterday by now).
And to top it off, the video in the new computer just stopped working.
It blinked off a couple of times while I was trying to open web pages, and then
came back. After doing that three or four times it just blinked off and wouldn't
come back. The monitor says there is no video signal and shuts itself down.
I let it cool down for a while and the video came back up lasting just long
enough to get to the login screen before shutting off again ... "No input
signal" and the monitor shuts down again.
For those who are wondering the reason a 4TB drive partitions into 3.7TB, it's
because the what the disk manufacturers call a 4TB drive is 4,000GB.
A true 4TB drive would be 4096GB. 4,000GB comes out to about 3.7TB.
On 10/12/2021 01:59:07, John Francis wrote:
The more posts I see with people reporting the problems they have trying
to put computer systems together themselves, the more I think my decision
to pay the extra cost of buying a ready-built system is the right one.
It's not all that much more expensive, and all I have to do is plug it in.
And if there is a problem, they typically come with 12 months of support.
If you're initializing disks using 512-byte sectors, you're going to be stuck
with a 2TB partition size limit (because the sector number is a 32-bit value).
Windows 10 can handle larger disks, but you're either going to have to set up
multiple partitions on 2TB or less, or use a different partitioning scheme.
Microsoft have something called GPT (GUID Partition Table). For details, see
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-server/backup-and-storage/support-for-hard-disks-exceeding-2-tb#initialize-a-data-disk-by-using-gpt
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On Mon, Oct 11, 2021 at 05:42:51PM -0400, John wrote:
Windows 19 will not format disk 1. It says I have a healthy primary
partition, but when I try to format it, it churns for a while and then pops
up a window with an error:
"Windows was unable to complete the format."
Doesn't give me any further information. This is a 4TB drive, but windows
would not create a partition larger than 2048.00GB. This is the second drive
I've tried. I thought the hard disk was defective, but now I'm pretty sure
it's Windoze10.
Have I mentioned lately how much I despise Windoze10.
There are not enough vile disgusting swear words in the English language to
allow me to express my true feelings about it.
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Religion - Answers we must never question.
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