Okay, I’m going to type out what I’ve done so far…how do I test this new drive?
I bought a new WD Gold 6 TB drive and am not able to test it. I’m using a ASUS motherboard that supports UEFI and Windows 7. I started by using the DOS version of WD’s data lifeguard diagnostics by booting on to a rufus made flashdrive (32 gb, brand new) that uses FreeDOS. I boot to to the flashdrive and see this result in the error messages: Drive is too large to handle, using only 1st 8 GB…drive 81 heads 16 sectors 63 , total=0xbaa0f4b0-00000002 illegal partition table - drive 01 sector 0…" and it fills the screen with similar responses. It finally loads with Freecom version 0.84-pre2 XMS_Swap [Aug 28 2006]. From here, I run the executable: “DOSDLG.exe”. I get an error code “120” which according to WD is “NO DRIVE FOUND”.
I opened the computer, checked all connections, and tried again. Same error code. Third try - same result.
I stopped, re-formatted the flashdrive and can’t match the steps provided by WD and here: Testing a new WD drive (6tb).
I can’t match the steps WD gave because 4096 bytes (mentioned by WD in their instructions) is not an option in this version (3.1) of Rufus, so I use 16 kilobytes for the cluster size, but the drive gets formatted to FAT 32 and MBR. The file is: “DOSDLG” and not “DLGDIAG5” like WD wrote.
I formatted the internal hard drive, installed Windows 7 and opened disk management. I saw a 2 TB partition and couldn’t access about 3.5 TB in unallocated space. I entered disk management and tried to right-click on the area to the left of the drive to “convert to GPT”. The option was not available.
I installed GSmartControl to start testing the drive but noticed only 2 TB was visible and not the entire 5.5 TB. I cancelled the test. The quick test passed. I wanted the extended test with the entire drive.
I booted to the Windows 7 dvd and on the “Where do you want to install Windows” screen, tried to use format/new to make two partitions or otherwise extend one. Not working. I “shift+F10” and use diskpart to “clean” the drive and “convert to GPT”. Success. This worked. But it doesn’t solve the problem of trying to start testing the new drive.
I converted to GPT using DOS and Diskpart but back on the “Where do you want to install Windows” screen, I can’t allocate/format the 3541.0 in GB of space. I understand this is a limitation of NTFS and I need GPT, but every time I boot from the dvd, I am booting into legacy BIOS, and not UEFI.
I went into my BIOS and chose UEFI but it won’t boot into it. (Advanced > Boot > Secure Boot)
I disabled CSM in the BIOS, but “The current BIOS setting do not fully support the boot device” was the result, so I re-enabled it.
I’m confirming I’m booting into BIOS and not UEFI on the command line during the Windows installation.
In the BIOS, I see the entire 6 TB drive. It also shows in diskpart.
What am I missing here? How do I do an extended test on this new 6 TB drive?
