Formatting LaCie RAID drive on Windows 8

Dinarius

I've just connected a new LaCie drive to my Windows 8 computer.

The vendor said I'll need to format it in order to make it work - I can't "see" it listed under Computer/Hard Drives at present.

If I go Windows Key + X and open Disk Management, it is listed at the bottom of the list of drives. It is listed as Disk 5, Basic 11177Gb, Online. 200Mb Healthy (EFI System Partition) and 128Mb Unallocated, whatever they are, are also listed on the same line.

If I right click on the 11177Gb bit, Format is greyed out.

It is 16TB and I will be running it in a RAID formation.

If it helps, this is the drive......

http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?id=10601

Thanks, as always.

D.

Ps. When I format it, will it lose its RAID formation that it currently appears to have? i.e only 12tB of 16 showing. Thanks.

Dinarius

Apologies for bumping this to the top, but here are the Reformatting instructions from the LaCie manual............

"Technical Note on volumes larger than 2TB: Windows XP 32-bit - This version of Windows will not
recognize volumes larger than 2TB; Windows XP x64, Vista and 7 - All of these versions of Windows can
recognize volumes greater than 2TB. However, disks must be converted to the GPT file system before
partitions greater than 2TB can be created. To do this, go to Windows Disk Management and right-click on
the disk. Select Convert to GPT. You may now create partitions greater than 2TB.
1. Make sure the storage device is connected to and mounted on the computer.
2. Right-click on Computer and choose Manage. From the Manage window select Disk Management.
3. From the list of storage devices in the middle of the Disk Management window, locate your LaCie device.
4. By default, a partition is already created on the device with LaCie software utilities. Follow your operating
system instructions to reset the existing partition.
5. To create a new partition, select New Simple Volume. Follow the on-screen instructions when the New
Simple Volume Wizard appears."

1. I'm Windows 8 x64. Will it read more than 2TB?

2. When I right click on the disk in Disk Management, there is no Convert to GPT. Only Convert to Dynamic Disk is listed.

Any help appreciated.

Torqay

Try this tool.

Dinarius

Thanks for that.

Mini Tool certainly presents more options than simply working within Widows 8.

However, Format is still greyed out.

Can I use Wipe Disk, an option that isn't in the Windows 8 menu?

Presumably, once I've managed to format the disk, Convert (or Initialize, as it's called in Mini-Tool) to GPT Disk will become an option?

Finally, the disk is currently partitioned into 3, as I said in my original post. Should I use the Delete All Partitions option at any stage?

Thanks again.

D.

Edited: I now realize it's already GPT. So, just formatting is the issue.

Edited: One other thing. The first of the three partitions (200MB) is called EFI System Partition. If I highlight it, I can select Format Partition. Should I try this?

ressem

In Disk Manager you need to create a partition before it can be formatted.

Right-click on the "unallocated" empty space and create a "simple volume".
Then right click on the newly created partition and format it.

Sorry to clarify,

1) Disk 5, Basic 11177Gb, Online. This is the device, not a partition
2) 200Mb Healthy (EFI System Partition) Utility Partition
3) and 128Mb Unallocated. This could be a recovery partition or due to experimentation earlier?

There should be a larger unallocated block, taking up most of the disk.

Dinarius

While you were posting I was on the phone to LaCie. Took 5 minutes to sort it, but it required opening an MS Dos window.

No way would I have worked it out based on the instructions on the DVD.

One last question......

How do I check for the type of RAID formation now running on the drive?

Thanks all.

D.

ressem

That's Raid 5.
http://manuals.lacie.com/en/manuals/4big-quadra-usb3/raid

Dinarius

ressem wrote: »

That's Raid 5.
http://manuals.lacie.com/en/manuals/4big-quadra-usb3/raid

Ressem,

Thanks.

Not having copied anything onto the drive yet, My Computer is showing capacity as 10.9Tb of 12Tb. Does that sound about right? Could I get more?

If it makes any difference, the reformatting done yesterday was a Quick Format.

Thanks.

D.