New 3TB external disk formatting as 800GB

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Level 1

7 points

New 3TB external disk formatting as 800GB

I purchased a new external HD (Hitachi 3TB) for my iMac. I just tried formatting it via my Icy Dock enclosure, but it's reporting is as only an 800GB drive (801.57 GB to be exact). My enclosure is connected via a FireWire 800 cable, if that makes any difference.

I've read anything from it being an issue w/ OSX and external drives, and that it has to be installed internally, to it being a bad drive.

I'm hoping it's just a setting in Disk Utility or a step I'm failing.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

iMac 2.93, 4GB, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Jul 17, 2011 9:55 PM

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Answer 1

Kappy

Level 10

362,007 points

Jul 17, 2011 10:00 PM in response to jader201

My guess is your enclosure only supports 1 TB as a maximum.

Did you partition and format the drive using Disk Utility?

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Answer 2

Jul 17, 2011 10:01 PM in response to jader201

What disk format are you using? I know certain filesystems like FAT only support a certain size.

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Answer 3

jader201 Author

Level 1

7 points

Jul 17, 2011 10:04 PM in response to Kappy

I don't understand why an enclosure would have this limit, though -- isn't it just physical housing with an interface and cable? I've never heard of enclosures have such a limit (but I have been wrong before, of course).

Yes, I'm using Disk Utility to partition and format. I've tried both, and both yield a maximum of 800GB.

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Answer 4

jader201 Author

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7 points

Jul 17, 2011 10:04 PM in response to Mac OS 9000

Regarding the format, I'm using Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

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Answer 5

Jul 17, 2011 10:08 PM in response to jader201

What partition table? With some Googling, it seems that there is a 2 TB limit on Master Boot Record. As for the format, Mac OS Extended Journaled should be able to support 3 TB.

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Answer 6

jader201 Author

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7 points

Jul 17, 2011 10:11 PM in response to Mac OS 9000

I'm using the default (GUID) partition table. I've also tried various combinations of partition tables and formats, and all are yielding 800GB.

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Answer 7

Jul 17, 2011 10:15 PM in response to jader201

A GUID partition table and Mac OS Extended formats should not limit the size to 800 GB. When you said that Disk Utility reported the drive as being 800 GB, is that the size of the partition or the size of the drive in the drive information area?

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Answer 8

K T

Level 7

23,889 points

Jul 17, 2011 10:17 PM in response to jader201

Run System Profiler/Firewire and check info there.

If it shows a 3TB capacity drive ( or a pair of 1.5's?) stop by http://www.icydock.com/, find contact info and talk directly to them....it shouldn't be so difficult to use 🙂

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Answer 9

jader201 Author

Level 1

7 points

Jul 17, 2011 10:21 PM in response to Mac OS 9000

Both. The "Total Capacity" at the bottom lists "801.57", as well as next to the name of the drive in the left panel where it lists all of my drives.

It also lists 801.57 under the partition tab (no matter which format I select).

I just double checked the drive to make sure they didn't send me a 800GB drive, and it has 3TB on the label.

Here is one of the threads I mentioned earlier, where it suggests I am forced to use it internally -- and that's not an option for me. I can't believe that would be my issue, and that I would not be able to properly use all 3TB as an external.

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Answer 10

Jul 17, 2011 10:26 PM in response to jader201

Then the only possible limitation should be on the enclosure unless we made a mistake. I'm having no trouble with 2 TB drives in enclosures, and yours is stuck at 800 GB. You should probably ask them about it.

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Answer 11

jader201 Author

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7 points

Jul 17, 2011 10:28 PM in response to Mac OS 9000

*sigh*

Ok, thanks. I'll check with them and see if that's what's going on. For the record, I had a 1TB drive before this one, and i'm 99% sure it recognized the full 1TB (or 1 trillion bytes, rather, whatever that equates to in TB).

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Answer 12

Kappy

Level 10

362,007 points

Jul 17, 2011 10:48 PM in response to jader201

As you asked before the enclosure also consists of a bridge card between the drive and the port interfaces. Most enclosure manufacturers specify the size limit for their enclosures.

A standard 1 TB drive will typically format to approximately 930 GBs less some overhead for the directory.

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Answer 13

jader201 Author

Level 1

7 points

Jul 18, 2011 8:05 PM in response to Kappy

Unfortunately, you guys were right -- my enclosure does not support a 3TB drive. So I guess I will be holding onto this until I get something like this set up.

Thanks for everyone's help.

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Answer 14

Jul 19, 2011 1:16 AM in response to jader201

There are plenty that support 3TB drives, I have a Rosewill enclosure from NewEgg that supports 3TB drives, or from macsales.com has one for 79$ that does it as well.

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Answer 15

Tony10am

Level 1

0 points

Sep 9, 2011 10:36 AM in response to Mac OS 9000

I use a BlacX external enclosure and called them and they said it is not enclosure's fault as it is rated to handle the 3TB drive, it is some problem with the Mac OX not recognizing larger drives.

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