GPT Loader / GPT Manager doesn’t see the whole capacity of a GPT drive

Scenario: you install GPT Loader to a Windows XP system. When partitioning a GPT drive, GPT Loader / GPT Manager doesn’t see the first 2 TiB from its beginning

This typically occurs when a high-capacity drive has been incorrectly initialised on a system that doesn’t support GPT and capacities ≥2 TiB. The partitioning data on the drive prevents the GPT Manager from properly reading it and other systems from recognising its full capacity. To solve this, you need to clear the partitioning information and re-initialise the drive as GPT. Do the following.

1. Launch a terminal: Start > All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt.
2. Execute diskpart to launch the disk partitioning tool. The prompt to the left will display DISKPART>. Type help to see the list of available commands, or help [command] to see hints for a particular command.
3. Type list disk to see the available disks, then select disk N to choose the high-capacity drive. Substitute N with its actual number. Double and triple check to ensure this is the right drive, because we’re going to wipe it.
4. Execute clean to wipe all partitioning information from it.
5. Execute exit to leave diskpart.
6. Launch the GPT Manager, select Convert Hard Disk to GPT, and choose the high-capacity drive.
7. Still in the GPT Manager, switch to Partitioning to the left, and Create a partition. Please keep in mind that on a 32 bit operating system it is not possible to manage partitions larger than 2.2 TB. Thus it is necessary to create several partitions any of them being smaller than 2.2 TB.

After that, the drive should be fully operable.

GPT Loader
Tags: gpt, gptloader

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