USB 2 vs USB 3 compatibility


It seems the drive was formatted with Advanced Format which allowed its maximum size to exceed 2TB.
With GPT now widely used I was stay away from the Advanced Format. I found the following on another forum...
Your drive uses Advanced Format 4Kn, where the drive exposes its native 4K sector size instead of emulating 512-byte sectors (512e). This ensures compatibility with devices that do not support GPT by extending the MBR limit to 17.6 TB (16 TiB), thereby avoiding the need to use GPT.
Click to expand...
How can a MBR formatted hard drive exceed 1.81 TiB capacity?

Advanced Format
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro 24H2
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS TUF Gaming A15 (2022)
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 7 6800H with Radeon 680M GPU (486MB RAM)
    Memory
    Crucial DDR5-4800 (2400MHz) 32GB (2 x 16GB)
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA RTX 3060 Laptop (6GB RAM)
    Sound Card
    n/a
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15.6-inch
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080 300Hz
    Hard Drives
    2 x Samsung 990 Evo Plus (2TB M.2 NVME SSD)
    PSU
    n/a
    Mouse
    Wireless Mouse M510
    Internet Speed
    2000Mbps/300Mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Malwarebytes
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro 24H2
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom build
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Strix B550-F Gaming WiFi II
    Memory
    G.SKILL Flare X 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4
    Graphics card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-RTX3060TI-08G-V2-GAMING (RTX 3060-Ti, 8GB RAM)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung G50D IPS 27"
    Screen Resolution
    1440p/180Hz
    Hard Drives
    2TB XPG SX8200 Pro (M2. PCIe SSD) || 2TB Intel 660P (M2. PCIe SSD)
    PSU
    Corsair RM750x (750 watts)
    Case
    Cooler Master MasterCase 5
    Cooling
    Scythe Mugen 6
    Mouse
    Logitech M310 (MK540 keyboard/mouse combo)
    Keyboard
    Logitech K520 (MK540 keyboard/mouse combo)
    Internet Speed
    2000 Mbps down / 300 Mbps up
    Browser
    Firefox, Edge, Chrome
    Antivirus
    Malwarebytes (Premium)
    Other Info
    ASUS Blu-ray Burner BW-16D1HT (SATA) || Western Digital Easystore 20TB USB 3.0 external hard drive used with Acronis True Image 2025 backup software || HP OfficeJet Pro 6975 Printer/Scanner
kanenas said:
The warning came up soon as the system booted up and before I accessed it.

Canary-warning.png


Where did that come from?
Click to expand...
It came from jumanji. 4TB external disk is shown as MBR formatted. How is this possible? - Windows 10 Help Forums
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    11 Home
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Asus TUF Gaming F16 (2024)
    CPU
    i7 13650HX
    Memory
    16GB DDR5
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile
    Sound Card
    Eastern Electric MiniMax DAC Supreme; Emotiva UMC-200; Astell & Kern AK240
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Sony Bravia XR-55X90J
    Screen Resolution
    3840×2160
    Hard Drives
    512GB SSD internal
    37TB external
    PSU
    Li-ion
    Cooling
    2× Arc Flow Fans, 4× exhaust vents, 5× heatpipes
    Keyboard
    Logitech K800
    Mouse
    Logitech G402
    Internet Speed
    20Mbit/s up, 250Mbit/s down
    Browser
    FF
  • Operating System
    11 Home
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Medion S15450
    CPU
    i5 1135G7
    Memory
    16GB DDR4
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel Iris Xe
    Sound Card
    Eastern Electric MiniMax DAC Supreme; Emotiva UMC-200; Astell & Kern AK240
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Sony Bravia XR-55X90J
    Screen Resolution
    3840×2160
    Hard Drives
    2TB SSD internal
    37TB external
    PSU
    Li-ion
    Mouse
    Logitech G402
    Keyboard
    Logitech K800
    Internet Speed
    20Mbit/s up, 250Mbit/s down
    Browser
    FF
hdmi said:
It came from jumanji. 4TB external disk is shown as MBR formatted. How is this possible? - Windows 10 Help Forums
Click to expand...
Nice place to come from :)

In my previous post (#20), I posted a related link. At the end of it somebody posted 3 more links.
Impressive stuff. Lots of explanation and I doubt I'd have the patience and stamina to get that involved even when I was still young.

Anyway, first try of converting that USB disk to GPT, didn't work. Probably because I put a small EFI partition on it (data disks don't need an EFI) before I converted it to GPT. The disk wasn't recognized because presumably it was some sort of GPT not understandable by older Windows. The system cleared up that EFI on its own.
Second try is in process. Just a single partition converted back to MBR, reboot, and then converted to GPT again.
It's readable now but after a reboot, Windows said there was something wrong with it and I should run a check. Tools like Easeus did it in seconds claiming all was fine, Windows complained again after a reboot so I gave it to chkdsk to check. But this will take at least a day if its statistics are working properly.
I'll wait...

And here's the USB disk (the TOURO as disk 3) in its original enclosure connected with a USB 2 cable and still in MBR mode. Strange now to see the 4TB but knowing the reason makes it less dramatic.

Original-USB-2.png
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASRock
    CPU
    6C+4c Intel 13th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-13400, 4100 M
    Motherboard
    ASRock B660M-HDV
    Memory
    64 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060, Intel UHD Graphics 730
    Sound Card
    Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    AOC 24V2W1G5
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    SPCC M.2 PCIe SSD
    CT4000MX500SSD1
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Mouse
    Logitech
    Internet Speed
    1GB
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
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