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May 28th, 2025 16:38
Tower Plus EBT2250, HDDs larger than 2TB?
Can the Dell Tower Plus EBT2250 use HDDs larger than 2TB? According to page 20 of the Owner's Manual, the storage capacity of HDDs installed in the box is 2TB. Is this limitation real? I would like to install a pair of 4TB HDDs in the EBT2250 that I just got. Will it work?
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ispalten
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July 18th, 2025 22:56
@rwgrimm
Got some of it, but not the DISK MANAGEMENT part.
Under DEVICE MGMT, select the VOLUMES tab, should show the same data.
There is no real size restriction in Windows, and people have reported attaching 20TB driver to Dell PC's.
I don't think you created a Drive letter for the OS to see?
Is this what you bought --> https://support-en.wd.com/app/products/product-detailweb/p/2241 and if so, it is make for a NAS, and in RAID0 configuration.
Check this out too --> https://support-en.wd.com/app/answers/detailweb/a_id/50333
It could be the drive is set for RAID0 and needs another drive, that or you might need to delete the partition (using DISKMGMT) and create a new partition and format it before you can use it.
Before doing anything, I'd suggest contacting WD's support, Or you could try the FORUM here after you JOIN it --> https://community.wd.com/c/wd-internal-drives/wd-red-hdd/307
DELL-Chris M
Community Manager
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May 28th, 2025 16:44
Unknown by Dell. We only validated the sata3 3.5" 2CYW3 2TB Seagate 2UB102 and RD03W 2TB Western Digital WD20EZBX-75AYR.
Chino de Oro
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May 29th, 2025 04:17
Dell specs indicates the storage they tested and validated to be sold with the system. As for standard SATA protocol, it's not a limitation. You can install a pair of 4TB HDDs (or larger) and it will work. Take note that with an M.2 drive and up to two hard-disk drives, the M.2 drive is the primary drive.
ispalten
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May 29th, 2025 18:16
I just got my wife that PC, and I basically 'cloned' her old XPS8500 with 4 drives. an SSD boot drive, 2 1TB hard drives (SATA) and a 4TB WD External Drive... and the NEW Tower Plus had 2 drives when purchased, an SSD and a 2TB Sata hard drive, add an additional 2TB SATA hard drive and moved the 4TB WD External to the Tower. ALL are working fine.
This is a common question on all Dell PC's. As mentioned, Dell only 'supports' what they have tested. 2TB has been the limit they 'use' for some time now. Basically if Windows can read it, it will work. I've seen reports on the XPS PC's of 10, 12 and even 20TB drives working.
Tesla1856
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May 30th, 2025 02:10
A newer computer (so UEFI-based) running Windows-11 (64 bit)
and the C-drive is in GPT-mode (not MBR)
and formatted as NTFS
There is NO 2-TB or 4-TB or 8-TB (etc) Limit on size (physical drive or partition).
And it just my opinion, but your bootable C-Drive of any Windows computer should be a SSD (even if just a SATA-based one).
Good luck
(edited)
rwgrimm
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July 17th, 2025 02:48
So just to ask, can a person install a WD red 12TB drive? I've tried putting one in. The device manager can see it, but the drive is not accesible.
ispalten
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July 17th, 2025 18:06
@rwgrimm
Post a screen capture of the DISK MANAGER and DISK MANAGEMENT (diskmgmt.msc in a command prompt) please. Suspect there is only a Partition on the drive, not formatted to a drive letter? Possible the drive doesn't a file manager Windows recognizes either? Was the drive used before for another PC or Purpose?
rwgrimm
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July 18th, 2025 15:54
What I've done. Installed new drive (WD Red 12TB) in my old Win 10 tower (XPS 8920). Shows in Device Manage but not File Explorer. Put my old WD 4TB drive in the 2250...immediately recognized and usable. But not the new drive (see attached). So could a 12TB drive be too large for the firmware or something else?
rwgrimm
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July 18th, 2025 15:57
Sorry, he
re's the image
Alexbez
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July 20th, 2025 10:59
I have a 8 Tb WD Black SN850x NVME SSD as the primary drive in my Tower Plus EBT2250 and am additional 4Tb HDD ST4000DM004 drive.
Both working.
ispalten
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July 20th, 2025 16:29
I do also have 2 WD drives by the way.
A BLUE 2TB, which would fall under Dell's support as they verify and have tested up to 2TB (why they call out 2TB), and an External WD 4TB, which has NO problem.
I really suspect the RED NAS type drive's Partition possibly if it is set to expect RAID, not AHCI? However, Dell does DEFAULT to RAID0, at least for the C: drive?
rwgrimm
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July 20th, 2025 20:37
Honestly, in all the years I've dub into towers...adding/replacing drives, memory, you name it...I've never had to use Disk Management so it never crossed my mind. But I found and opened it, partitioned and formatted the drive and it work fine. Thanks for putting up with my "less than informed" questions!