Hard Drive Help!!!!

[iUseNukes]

So i just finished building a rig and decided i needed a storage drive as to not fill up my raided SSD's. So i go ahead and buy a 3tb Western Digital Caviar Green hard drive. I plug it in and have trouble finding it. I look around on line until i realize i have to initialize it first. I go ahead and do that but after initializing it turns out Windows only read it as around 750 GB instead of the 3TB. After searching around my BIOS i found that my motherboard did indeed recognize it as a 3TB hard drive and so at this point i figured it was some kinda of software error and not a broken hard disk. Ive tried multiple methods of fixing this problem including installing a Disk Unlock er Utility off of my motherboard driver disk but when i ran that it didn't show any hard disks over 200k MB, which of course my 3TB hard disk should be. Please if anyone could help me with this id be very grateful! Feel free to email me or just post on here. Thanks again.

:edit:

I have windows 7 professional
-16GB DDR3 Corsair
-2x80GB Intel SSD hard drives which are Raid 0 together
-2 ASUS GTX570 VGA cards
-P8Z68-V Pro motherboard

I'm not too experienced at building or "tweaking" a computer to do what i want but i do learn fast and follow directions well, If you have any questions or suggestions that might aide me in finding a solution again id be very VERY appreciative!

[Geek-9pm]

Welcome!
Computer Hope is the number one location for free computer help.
The forum will help everyone with all computer questions.

The import details are:
-P8Z68-V Pro motherboard
windows 7 professional 64 bit
3tb Western Digital Caviar Green hard drive
Is that correct? Is the 3TB a SATA drive?
is the Model: WDBAAY0030HNC-NRSN ? It makes a difference with huge drive. The still are some issues with very large drives that users may not understand fully. Look over the installation guide carefully.

Western Digital has turned a deaf ear on some users and they have removed negative remarks from individuals who bad mouthed the product. Hopefully, this will not be your experience.

[iUseNukes]

The answer to all your questions is yes, It is a SATA drive and that is the exact model number. I do NOT fully understand the hard drive ill agree to that LOL and the installation guide is wimpy at the least. It literally says how to mount the drive inside the tower and then to look at "systems installation guide" for more help. Its a big daisy chain that led me nowhere!

[Geek-9pm]

Thanks for coming back. Sorry you are troubleshooting. That model had to have a firmware update this year. Hopefully, you got it after the update.

You have to persist with Western Digital to either give you support or else you will send it back as a fielded drive. The installation is supposed to be painless. And a number of users say it really  is. But not in you case. And some others.

In their Knowledge Base it is documented the case where the BIOS can see your drive but the OS can not. You may need to use a special driver just for that model. And it would have to be a 64 bit drive for your Windows 7 64 bit system. I assume you did not try it with the 32 bit version of Windows 7.**

The WDBAAY0030HNC-NRSN is a special huge drive with power savings features that can make some things harder than necessary.

It would take me hoers to I will try to find the exact information. Or maybe somebody else here has the specific information about this model.

** The WDBAAY0030HNC-NRSN 64 bit driver is NOT compatible a 32 bit system.

[iUseNukes]

Hmmm, i cant gurantee that i didnt try it with the 32 Bit Windows. From what ive noticed somethings in the system are running 32 bit and some are 64? idk ive seen both those numbers alot and wish i could get everything to 64 just to make it easy. Where could i look to see what Bit im running?

[Geek-9pm]

My post sounds like I am down on WD. Actually, Western Digital makes quality products. It is just hard on some users to understand the installation requirements.

My preference is anecdotal examples rather tan the tech jargon in the Manufacturers documents. Here are some I found:

Western Digital has never let me down. I've always used their products and with these 3TB drives, I put them to use in my Drobo system for all of my professional ...
--------------------------------
Very useful, seems to to its job well. Surprisingly does its jobs fast, faster than I though...
--------------------------------
I use this for ext back drive - so far it works greatnd ...you just need to be sure your puter can format and use 3 gigs...
---------------------------------
I got 3 of them
Energy efficient at 6W max, reasonable performance for a NAS box. I've put the drives into my NAS box...
Note of caution: this is one of them WD's Advance Format drives. Read about them before putting it into a Windows box.
Yes, I would recommend this to a friend

That would seem to point the finger at Windows.

[Geek-9pm]

The Microsoft site may have some help.
Windows 7 Ultimate won't format more than 2 TB in a partition.
I don't know anything about the PCI adapter they mention.

The 64 bit version of Windows 7 is need for extreme drives.

[iUseNukes]

Well good news is i WAS running 32 bit system and have changed it to 64 bit system. Bad news is im not sure how to fix the problem now as to the fact that windows still thinks its only 764 GB. Im reformatting the disk now hoping that with the new 64 bit system it will re-recognize it as its true 3TB. If you have any other ideas of how to fix this problem now that im on 64 bit thatd be great

[Geek-9pm]

From what  read you have to stick with the 64 bit system. However, you can run 32 bit programs inside the 64 bit Windows 7. If you use a virtual machine, your huge drive may have  to have more than one partition. Not sure about that.

[iUseNukes]

ugh well after the reformat im still stuck with 750 GB instead of my 3 TB. im all outta ideas

[Geek-9pm]

Watch this video and tell me what it means.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAAyEnHvlq0
She looks cure. But I don't get it.

[kimsland]

Watch this video and tell me what it means.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAAyEnHvlq0
She looks cure. But I don't get it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=yAAyEnHvlq0#t=62s
"I'm going to show you how to add a 3TB Hard Drive as secondary storage in a Windows 7 PC"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=yAAyEnHvlq0#t=463s
Um, say what?
This is Windows XP !!!
Seriously they don't know the difference? Or did the Windows 7 computer not take too well to the 3TB hard drive? Lol

I don't 'get it' either.

[iUseNukes]

gahhhh my hard drive didnt come with the HBA card :/
Maybe im connecting the SATA to the wrong SATA reciever :/ i have like 6!


Not to mention when she was giong through the procedure on disk management her drive still only said like 1.3 TB for her 3TB drive lmao! UGH!

[patio]

Boot to the WD Data Lifeguard tools CD and prep the drive for use...

If you didn't get one it's available at their site.

[iUseNukes]

im actually doing that right now and am also sharing my computer with Windows hoping they can fix it. Thanks for all the help, ended up paying for the help from windows hopefully it pays off! Will definatly keep this forum in my bookmarks you guys are great and very helpful!