ep45-ud3r rev. 1.1 + 4TB

[astrotits]

hello guys.. i just want to ask, if it is possible for my mobo ep45-ud3r rev. 1.1 to recognize a 4tb hdd's? if not. will you guys be able to modify a bios for my mobo. i've been contemplating to buy a new i5 rig so that i'll be able to use a 4tb hdd. hardisk for me is very important i like collecting movies, as of now i have 8 hdd's. 4 x 2tb, 2 x 1tb, 1 x 640gb and 250gb for my OS. hehe

thanks!

[gto4ben]

hello guys.. i just want to ask, if it is possible for my mobo ep45-ud3r rev. 1.1 to recognize a 4tb hdd's? if not. will you guys be able to modify a bios for my mobo. i've been contemplating to buy a new i5 rig so that i'll be able to use a 4tb hdd. hardisk for me is very important i like collecting movies, as of now i have 8 hdd's. 4 x 2tb, 2 x 1tb, 1 x 640gb and 250gb for my OS. hehe

thanks!

I'm attaching a modified F12 for your GA-EP45-UD3R rev1.1 with the following updates:

ICH10R southbridge - v13.1.0.2030
8111C ethernet - rtegrom259.lom
SATA2 chip - jmb362_C_1.07.28
AHCI-pchahci_1.20E

Both the GSATA RAID and Intel RST RAID can recognize 4TB HDD; however, the MB bios is not EFI so you'll need to partition the boot drive to 2047 GB max as an MBR and create a second partition for the remaining space (likely in GPT). Win7 and up can read a 4TB GPT partition directly or you can break it up into smaller MBR partitions. I have a GA-EP45T-USB3P and a GA-EP45-UD3P MB with two 4TB each in a RAID0. Works well.

[astrotits]

thanks gto4ben! but im not planning on raiding the 4 TB or use it for boot drive.. i'll just used it for storaging files.. so if i boot my computer, the bios will not recognize it as 4000gb it will only show as 2047gb.. but if is already in windows (im using win7 64bit), can i format it to its full capacity which is 3.7tb? i dont want to have multiple partition.. i only want it as a single partition.

thanks again!

[gto4ben]

thanks gto4ben! but im not planning on raiding the 4 TB or use it for boot drive.. i'll just used it for storaging files.. so if i boot my computer, the bios will not recognize it as 4000gb it will only show as 2047gb.. but if is already in windows (im using win7 64bit), can i format it to its full capacity which is 3.7tb? i dont want to have multiple partition.. i only want it as a single partition.

thanks again!

Yes, you can setup the drive as you described. For a 4TB single partition second drive, initialize the drive as a GPT partition in Win7-x64 and format it to the full capacity. You can also use the windows disk management, Easeus partition master or Paragon hard disk manager for this purpose.

[astrotits]

here's another question gto4ben, in the bios what setting should i choose SATA MODE: RAID OR AHCI?

cheers!

[gto4ben]

here's another question gto4ben, in the bios what setting should i choose SATA MODE: RAID OR AHCI?

cheers!

My preference is Intel RAID since I need maximum flexibility to configure my drives for both speed (RAID0) and reliability (RAID5) at the same time. RAID contains the elements of AHCI. You can also use it for a single drive as well so when you feel the need to add a drive for reliability, Intel's RST can migrate the single drive to a RAID array. The downside is if you want RAID, you will need to install the correct RAID driver during a fresh OS install. Since your goal is a single 4TB HD for large capacity storage, AHCI is simple and adequate and fine for your needs.

The GSATA should be in AHCI. I avoid using it in RAID mode since the GSATA RAID drivers do not recover the data well. The GSATA AHCI works fine with the native AHCI windows drivers.

[astrotits]

tried using AHCI it did'nt detect my hardisk, revert it back to IDE mode.

[gto4ben]

tried using AHCI it did'nt detect my hardisk, revert it back to IDE mode.

The Msahci driver in Windows 7 is disabled when the original install was made with the BIOS set to native IDE. KB922976 explains more and provides a fix, however, IDE will work fine if you don't want to spend a lot of time on it.

[astrotits]

so even if i used IDE mode in the bios, it will still detect the 4TB (3.7GB full capacity) in windows 7 64bit?

[gto4ben]

so even if i used IDE mode in the bios, it will still detect the 4TB (3.7GB full capacity) in windows 7 64bit?

Yes it should for newer hard drives. The limitation would then be how you partition the HD. For a continuous partition, the second hard drive should be set to GPT. It you use MBR, you'll be set to 2047GB limit and will need to make second partition in the hard drive.

Historically, IDE HDs did have limitations but these were overcome with the use of LBA in conjunction with a properly written bios.

RAID systems have the same problem. I have two 3TB drives into a RAID0 and it looks like a 6TB drive. Since I use it to boot and since the MB BIOS is not UEFI, one is a 2047GB MBR partition and the second is a 3541GB DPT partition.

EF