HDD Situation (Page 2): Be sure to run it as administrator (type in “command prompt”, right click and choose “run as administrator”) and get the syntax (including spaces) exactly...

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

jerryc41 wrote:

I didn't get very far with diskpart. I'll try again today.

Be sure to run it as administrator (type in “command prompt”, right click and choose “run as administrator”) and get the syntax (including spaces) exactly right. Once in diskpart, I would use the clean and convert mbr commands.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/diskpart

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

TriX wrote:

Be sure to run it as administrator (type in “command prompt”, right click and choose “run as administrator”) and get the syntax (including spaces) exactly right. Once in diskpart, I would use the clean and convert mbr commands.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/diskpart

Thanks. I've used diskpart quite a bit, but I always have to get "Help." "Format Help" is incorrect. It must be "Help Format." The syntax must be exact, but finding the correct format isn't easy.

I did List, Select, Clean, Create Partition Primary, and fs=ntfs.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

jerryc41 wrote:

Thanks. I've used diskpart quite a bit, but I always have to get "Help." "Format Help" is incorrect. It must be "Help Format." The syntax must be exact, but finding the correct format isn't easy.

I did List, Select, Clean, Create Partition Primary, and fs=ntfs.

And did it resolve the issue?

Cheers

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

TriX wrote:

And did it resolve the issue?

Cheers

It's still formatting. I didn't enter "quick" at the end of the command. Since it's formatting, it should be fine. I wonder why it didn't format like other drives, though.

Desert Gecko Loc: desert southwest, USA

TriX wrote:

Be sure to run it as administrator (type in “command prompt”, right click and choose “run as administrator”) and get the syntax (including spaces) exactly right. Once in diskpart, I would use the clean and convert mbr commands.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/diskpart

Bingo! Now I remember. This is exactly what I did when I faced this problem: first clean then convert (after list and select). It's exceedingly easy, Jerry, so easy that even you can't mess it up. Well, unless your naughty gremlins pay a visit.

I should have expected that TriX would have the answer.

Modnar Loc: Batley' West Yorkshire, UK

Jerry
External disks > 2Tb cannot be set up by conventional means. They are best attached to a SATA bus in order to be configured accurately.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Modnar wrote:

Jerry
External disks > 2Tb cannot be set up by conventional means. They are best attached to a SATA bus in order to be configured accurately.

Whew. So far my largest is a 2TB.
Works great in my external drive dock.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Thanks. Done and dusted!

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Modnar wrote:

Jerry
External disks > 2Tb cannot be set up by conventional means. They are best attached to a SATA bus in order to be configured accurately.

It’s a SATA drive connected to a SATA bus in the JBOD.

BTW, if Jerry successfully converted it to MBR, he should end up with four 2TB partitions. If he wants a single 8TB partition, he can convert it back to GPT now that the protected partition has been removed.

Merlin1300 Loc: New England, But Now & Forever SoTX

jerryc41 wrote:

I didn't get very far with diskpart. I'll try again today.

Try again with the free version of Partition Master or Disk Genius.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

TriX wrote:

It’s a SATA drive connected to a SATA bus in the JBOD.

BTW, if Jerry successfully converted it to MBR, he should end up with four 2TB partitions. If he wants a single 8TB partition, he can convert it back to GPT now that the protected partition has been removed.

I'm all set. Using diskpart, I followed the steps and have one 8TB partition. Now, I have to decide what to do with all this storage.

My Synology NAS dates from 2014, with two WD 3TB Re drives. Yes, WD makes Red drivee and Re drives. Nothing confusing about that. 🤣

A lot of online people use the Seagate Ironwolf for their NAS, but my Re drives have been faultless for almost ten years. The Ironwolf has a large cache and a larger price. I don't need industrial-level performance to do a backup every couple of days, so I might get a pair of new, larger WD Re drives. It looks like I currently have 965GB of data on these drives, but I'd like to have the entire D drive (1.63GB) backed up there.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

jerryc41 wrote:

I'm all set. Using diskpart, I followed the steps... (show quote)

Glad you’re up and running Jerry (and congrats on having the good judgement to do regular backups).

Cheers

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

TriX wrote:

Glad you’re up and running Jerry (and congrats on having the good judgement to do regular backups).

Cheers

I've always backed up seven "important" folders, but I figure I might as well backup all of D since I have the drives available.

Merlin1300 Loc: New England, But Now & Forever SoTX

jerryc41 wrote:

I've always backed up seven "important" folders, but I figure I might as well backup all of D since I have the drives available.

Automated backup is the ONLY way to go. Otherwise you just keep putting it off and one day you're 6 months behind when the bottom falls out! Choices include Easus Todo Backup Home (or enterprise), Macrium Reflect, ViceVersa Pro, and others. The Easus offering is least expensive AND if you watch, you can get some real discounts on lifetime updates. ALL have a learning curve, but ALL are far less than paying Thousands for recovery services after the fact.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Merlin1300 wrote:

Automated backup is the ONLY way to go. Otherwise you just keep putting it off and one day you're 6 months behind when the bottom falls out! Choices include Easus Todo Backup Home (or enterprise), Macrium Reflect, ViceVersa Pro, and others. The Easus offering is least expensive AND if you watch, you can get some real discounts on lifetime updates. ALL have a learning curve, but ALL are far less than paying Thousands for recovery services after the fact.

Do you backup the system or your data?