3 Posts
0
2004
March 10th, 2022 13:00
Dell G5 5000 larger hard drive upgrade (4TB+ capacity)
Hi all,
I would like to add a 4TB or 5TB 3.5" SATA hard drive. The manual and tech support said that the desktop only supports up to 2TB? Would it not work or be recognized by the BIOS? I mean 4TB hard drives have been around since 2011; is Dell really that behind the times? I really need the storage space for photography and video editing. Would appreciate any help. Thanks in advance.
No Events found!
Spikesdad
1 Rookie
•
78 Posts
0
March 10th, 2022 13:00
@Andr0med,
That's not really what it says. It says: "This section lists the storage options on your G5 5000."
As in, the options that Dell offers for that machine. Not what it can handle after-the-fact. The size limit is actually imposed by Windows, and it really doesn't have one anymore. Adding in a 4 TB drive shouldn't be a problem.
JOcean
9 Legend
•
12.6K Posts
1
March 10th, 2022 14:00
@Spikesdad is correct. Dell only lists the compatible hardware that has been tested with a system. It does not mean you cannot go larger in the case of HDD/SSD. You will see a variety of systems that have a 512 GB SSD listed as the maximum (tested but it does not state that in the specs). When in fact Crucial, for example, will list a 2 TB SSD as compatible.
Andr0med
3 Posts
0
March 10th, 2022 14:00
Many thanks gents, ordering one tonight!
Spikesdad
1 Rookie
•
78 Posts
2
March 10th, 2022 14:00
Oh, and just to quickly add - once you add in a new drive, you have to initialize it in Windows for it to be seen by Windows. The system BIOS will see it, but Windows won't until you go into the Computer Management, then pick Disk Management section and initialize the new drive and assign it a drive letter.
speedstep
9 Legend
•
47K Posts
1
March 10th, 2022 16:00
@Andr0med
UEFI based models are fine with larger drives. I would however install the drive and format as EXFAT. windows will have issues with multiple GPT drives and booting in a way thats not user friendly.
ST6000NM0024 B07WK4MC7X
Andr0med
3 Posts
0
March 10th, 2022 19:00
Thanks, will do.
Also nice sale on Red Plus NAS HDs: 4TB, 6TB, etc.
4TB WD Red Plus NAS 5400 RPM CMR 3.5" Internal Hard Drive (slickdeals.net)
Spikesdad
1 Rookie
•
78 Posts
0
March 13th, 2022 11:00
@speedstep, I have 4 drives on my UEFI machine - the C: drive is a 500 GB SSD, two 2 TB HDDs, and one 1 TB external USB drive. All of them are GPT with NTFS formatting. No problems at boot up.
Does going with 4 TB capacity mess with that?
I know you have to initialize as GPT to even use more than 2 TB, but never heard of the file partitioning format causing a problem.
speedstep
9 Legend
•
47K Posts
0
March 13th, 2022 18:00
@Spikesdad
There will be drive signature collision errors and BCD errors and drive letter assignment errors. There is support for the issues but its not FREE from Dell or Microsoft.
The number of drives is not the problem until you have more than 26. It will tell you drives exist beyond letter Z and will be ignored. The issue is how windows bounces the letters back and forth between drives with multiple partitions. External drives no longer count because windows to go is removed.
When the cloning process is complete and you have successfully set up the drives the way you intend to set it up, you may face a few unexpected Windows start-up issues. This is because, along with the installed location of Windows, even the active partition is changed. This would require you to run a BCD scan and rebuild the boot manager. When you come across that issue, you can follow the steps below:
Rebuild BCD from Command Prompt using the bootable media.
If the bootable media is not created, you can refer this link to Create Windows 10 installation media, please refer this section on Using the tool to create installation media (USB flash drive, DVD, or ISO file) to install Windows 10 on a different PC for the steps to create installation media.
Insert the bootable media for Windows 10, and restart your PC.
Press on any key to proceed.
Select a language and click on Next.
Click on Repair your computer option.
Click the operating system that you want to repair and then click Next.
On the Choose an option screen, select Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Command Prompt.
Type BOOTREC /FIXMBR, and then press ENTER.
Type BOOTREC /FIXBOOT, and then press ENTER.
Type BOOTREC /SCANOS, and then press ENTER.
Type BOOTREC /REBUILDBCD, and then press ENTER.
Restart your PC.
If you face issues with the activation of Windows 10 after this hardware change, please refer this article on Reactivating Windows 10 after a hardware change and check if it is helpful to you. You can also refer this article on Activation in Windows 10 for more information.
For explanation on the Bootrec commands, you can refer the article on Use Bootrec.exe in the Windows RE to troubleshoot startup issues, the explanation applies to Windows 10 as well.