Formatting an External Drive (4TB Seagate)

[Jerry]

Is this Solved m654321?

[Wirezfree]

Well spotted...
Yes, I forgot about the 2TB MBR limit     

[gold_finger]

I'm sure Wirezfree knows this, but just slipped his mind.

There's a 2TB limit for MBR drives -- won't recognize rest of space after 2TB.  So you need to use GPT.


More details here:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUID_Partition_Table

[Wirezfree]

Hi,

TTBOMK you can treat external like internal.
So a single partition is not an issue, the limitation of 4 Primary partitions, IIRC is per "physical" drive.

So go ahead...

[m654321]

For simplicity I always use MSDOS partition table type, It's worked for me.
I think the GPT is only useful if you want more than 4 partitions per disk..?? ((IIRC))

Edit,
Unless you use extended partition under MSDOS

@Wirezfree:
I'm using the external portable drive as a single large partition simply for backup data storage.

The PC has two internal physical drives, one for the operating systems (drive1) & the other for data storage (drive2).  Both drives have an MSDOS partition table. I am using an extended partition (i.e. it contains logical partitions within it) so I can install more than 4 operating systems on drive1 (if need be at a later date).

I mention this in light of your closing comment re. 'Edit'.  So from what I've just said, does this mean I can still use MSDOS on the external drive - I assume it will be formatted as a logical rather than a primary partition?

Thanks Dave for your patience - I just want to get it right...

Mike

[Wirezfree]

For simplicity I always use MSDOS partition table type, It's worked for me.
I think the GPT is only useful if you want more than 4 partitions per disk..?? ((IIRC))


Edit,
Unless you use extended partition under MSDOS

[m654321]

I have Seagate Expansion Portable Drive, 4TB capacity, with USB3.0 connectivity.
It became corrupted and so need to wipe it clean & reformat it.  I have already recovered all my files from it. 

After reformatting, I want to be able to access files from both LL (mainly) and Windows OS (occasionally), so therefore will use an ntfs file system.
However, I'm unsure if I should use an MSDOS or GPT partition table - which is the best one to use for a drive of this size (4TB).

I'd be grateful if you could advise.
Many thanks

Mike