PROCEDURE TO CREATE MBR PARTITIONS + 2 TiB

[Cixert]

I've found that some partitions larger than 2 TiB created from Windows Seven are not visible in XP.
Perhaps this is why some users consider the limit for MBR partitions to be 2 TiB.

The problem is that official tools don't allow this, and third-party tools that don't have options to initialize new hard disks operate strangely on hard drives with 4096 bytes logical sectors. These tools don't measure the hard drive capacity, but rather the number of sectors. This happens at least with Eassos Disk Genius and MiniTool Partition Wizard, these consider the following:
- All hard drives up to 16 TiB are considered MBR unless these are first converted to GPT.
-They work incorrectly with a +2TiB hard drive if it is not initialized as MBR, since by default these consider it already initialized as MBR.
- If partitions smaller than 2 TiB are created, these may be visible in XP.
- After creating partitions larger than 2 TiB on an uninitialized hard disk with these tools, they are not visible in Windows XP, but they are visible in Windows Seven.

This is why I decided to write these instructions for creating partitions larger than 2 TiB from Windows XP.
Incidentally, in the latest Windows Eleven update, Microsoft has increased the official limit for FAT32 partitions from 32 GiB to 2 TiB, although I have managed to create them from XP without any problems, up to 16 TiB.

First, we need to connect the hard drive with an adapter that informs XP of a logical sector size of 4096 bytes, for example, a USB-SATA adapter whose firmware provides this feature.
More info here:
https://msfn.org/board/topic/186645-devices-list-compatibles-mbr-hard-disk-2tb/

STEPS:
1. Clean the disk with Macrorit Partition Expert using the "Clean Up Disk" option.
(equivalent to leaving it in factory settings)
Alternatively, use the "clean" command in DiskPart or Acronis Disk Director 12.5.

2. Initialize the disk with Macrorit Partition Expert using the "Initialize" option.
Alternatively, initialize the hard drive with the XP Disk Manager wizard or with Acronis Disk Director 12.5.

3. Create the partitions.
For NTFS, create the partitions with Eassos Disk Genius 5.6.0.1565.
For FAT32, create the partitions with Macrorit Partition Expert 8.6.0, if you find it appropriate to start the partitions at sector 384. Once created with Macrorit, these can be resized with DiskGenius to any size and sector start.
(Acronis does not support cluster sizes greater than 64 KB, and MiniTool leaves a 9 KB space at the end of the partition.)

4. Verify that the partitions appear in My Computer.
If these don't appear, check the hard drive for any errors in Windows XP's Disk Management:
- If it doesn't show an error, restart the system so that the partitions appear in My Computer and in Disk Management.
- If it clearly shows an error, repeat the steps using alternative programs or another version of the Windows operating system.
- If you're using another version of Windows, verify that the partitions are visible in XP before writing data.

5. The alignment results can be obtained in XP with the "wmic partition get Name,StartingOffset,Size" command, taking the values and dividing by 4096, or using MiniTool Partition Wizard 10.3 Professional with the "verify alignment" option.

Conclusion: Always initialize hard disks with a specific tool that allows it before working with them.

I have not encountered this problem until now because I have always initialized MBR +2 TiB hard disks with Windows 2000 Disk Manager, but Windows XP Disk Manager does not allow this with +2 TiB hard drives.

Edited 40 minutes ago by Cixert

[Cixert]

Below I detail some peculiarities I've found in the most reliable tools. I completely rule out any others not mentioned.

SPECIAL FEATURES OF OFFICIAL TOOLS

Windows 2000 Disk Manager:
-Initializes MBR disks + 2 TiB
-Creates MBR partitions larger than 2 TiB
-Only aligns to sector 63
-Does not format FAT32 partitions larger than 32 GiB

Windows XP Disk Manager:
-Initializes MBR disks + 2 TiB
-Does not create MBR partitions larger than 2 TiB
-Only aligns to sector 63
-Does not format FAT32 partitions larger than 32 GiB

Windows Seven Disk Manager:
-Initializes MBR disks + 2 TiB
-Does not create MBR partitions larger than 2 TiB
-Only allows you to use the first 2 TiB of an MBR hard disk.

DiskPart.exe in Windows 2000
-Does not exist.

DiskPart.exe in XP
-Does not initialize MBR disks +2 TiB
-Does create partitions +2 TiB
-Only aligns to sector 63.
-Does not format any type of partition (it does not have the format command).
-Requires exiting the program to work without errors with other programs, since the disks appear as mounted in it.

DiskPart.exe in Windows Seven
-Initializes MBR disks +2 TiB
-Does not create MBR partitions larger than 2 TiB.
-Requires exiting the program to work without errors with other programs, since the disks appear as mounted in it.

Note: To use third-party programs, you must first exit Diskpart with the "exit" command, or the disks will remain mounted, generating errors in other programs.


SPECIAL FEATURES OF THIRD-PARTY TOOLS

Acronis Disk Director:
- It is linked to the operating system's Disk Manager.
- Partition alignment depends on the operating system; in XP, they are aligned to sector 63 and in Windows 7 to sector 256.
- When expanding a FAT32 partition created with "MiniTool Partition Wizard 9.2" by using the free space left behind, the partition appears marked as "Damaged" in DiskGenius.
- It does not support cluster sizes greater than 64 KB.

DiskGenius:
- It does not have a separate option to initialize the hard drive or leave it in its initial state.
- Creating partitions on a +2 TiB MBR hard drive without initializing the drive letter is not visible in Windows XP, but is visible in Windows 7 (it requires prior initialization by another program).

EaseUS Partition Master
- There is no separate option to initialize the hard drive or leave it in an initial state.
- It does not allow creating +2 TiB partitions on MBR hard drives.

FAT32 Format
-Does not support cluster sizes greater than 64 KB

Macrorit Partition Expert
-Initializes MBR + 2 KB disks
-Only aligns to sector 384.
-There is a section that says "SSD partition alignment," expressed as a number plus the letter K, giving these options: Optimized, 4 KB, 8 KB, 16 KB, 32 KB, 64 KB, 128 KB, 256 KB, 512 KB.
I don't know what its function is; any value selected on a hard drive with a 4096-byte logical sector results in the partition starting at sector 384.
The help says:
4 KB is recommended for partitions smaller than 1 TB, 32 KB for 2 TB, and 64 KB for 3 TB and larger.
https://macrorit.com/partition-magic-manager/how-to-align-ssd-partition.html
I have found that either value gives the same result for the start and end sectors and cluster size on a mechanical disk.

MiniTool Partition Wizard
-There is no separate option to initialize the hard drive or leave it in its initial state.
-When creating partitions, the alignment mode defaults to "Align to Cylinders" instead of "Align to MBs." You must specify MBs manually.
(Align to cylinders is sector 63 / Align to MBs is sector 256)
-When creating partitions on an MBR +2TB hard drive without initializing the drive letter, it is not visible in Windows XP, but it is visible in Windows 7 (it requires a separate initialization).
-Creating a single FAT32 partition on an 8 TB MBR hard drive leaves 9 MB of free space at the end, which is only visible with Acronis Disk Director 12.5 (if expanded with Acronis, the partition appears marked as "Damaged" in DiskGenius; formatting it with DiskGenius now shows it as OK).

Paragon Partition Manager
-There is no separate option to initialize the hard drive or leave it in an initial state.
-Cluster sizes greater than 64 KB are not supported.

Edited 1 hour ago by Cixert