Win7 and large drives

[sparks]

Is there a way to use larger than 2TB drives as the boot drive?

I've read all manner of shit online that says yes, but none of it works.

Converted new 4TB SSD to gpt, switched boot mode from BIOS to UEFI. Windows installation DVD hangs.

Fuck.

[Rob Lister]

Does your motherboard support UEFI? Not all do (did). My currently windows 7 desktop that I use as a network server does not.

https://www.thewindowsclub.com/check-if-uefi-or-bios

That's probably a dumb question but that's the best I can come up with.

Sometimes putting your computer in the freezer for 24 hours prior to setup helps also.

[sparks]

I don't know for sure, but since it is an option on the advanced boot menu under 'system' I'm assuming it is. Thanks for the linky, I'll check it out and let you know.

As for freezing the computer, it's been freezing enough all by itself as soon as the installation DVD hits the 'Starting Windows' splash screen!

Thanks Rob.

[sparks]

Doc_X in 3...2...1...

"You did NOT see graphite! Now go get a Mac."

[sparks]

Of course! But most of what consumed my old 1TB drive was music files, a significant portion of which are HD files. Big fuckers, but they sure sound good. Particularly those that were recorded and mastered in HD. There are some notable remasters. Sgt. Peppers being one of them. CD release sounds anemic compared to the HD release. All of the Steely Dan/Donald Fagan stuff too. Way cleaner.

But I digress: Old drive was as noted, 1TB and it was damned near full. When it died, I stupidly ordered a 4TB SSD not thinking that there would be a problem with doing a clean install of Win7 Ultimate x64. But alas, there is. Maximum drive size under legacy BIOS is 2TB. One must jump through flaming hoops and have a UEFI capable motherboard.

OK, so far so good I said. Until I jumped through all those hoops (there's one about converting the drive from MBR to GPT) and then the fucking Win7 installation program hangs at startup. Missing a step here, but I'll be damned If I can find it on the interwebz.

Fuck.

[Witness]

Hmmm… Tentative suggestions:

• Partition the drive and give Windows 7 ~ 100 – 200 GB. (On my desktop W10 + some stupid programs who absolutely want to be in the "Programs" folder take up 54 GB.)
• Ditch W7, your problem proves it's time.
• Install W10, then:
  • either uninstall it and let W7 take its place, hoping it has cleaned up the UEFI mess;
  • or install W7 side by side (you'll soon notice which OS you really prefer).

Anyway, good luck!

[sparks]

The file I need is bootx64.efi. This is the piece of shit missing from Win7 install DVDs. And if you copy that to just the right spot in an installation ISO on a USB drive, all should be fine.

Try searching for that fucking file. The shit that turns up in a search is truly mind boggling.

Thanks anyway. I believe I've had enough for one day.

[asthmatic camel]

Can't you just save yourself a load of headaches and upgrade to Win10?

[Rob Lister]

Can't you just save yourself a load of headaches and upgrade to Win10?

I kind of get why someone wouldn't want to upgrade. My home server is Win7 and I don't want to upgrade it because it's set up exactly the way I want, it was extremely stable, and upgrading will almost certainly break something. I personally think upgrading would be more of a headache than not.

I remember years ago looking into getting a >2tb drive for that server but for the life I me I can't remember why. Is there a valid reason?

[sparks]

Can't you just save yourself a load of headaches and upgrade to Win10?

Yep. But I loathe Win10.

[sparks]

Double post.

[sparks]

ooo

Can't you just save yourself a load of headaches and upgrade to Win10?

I kind of get why someone wouldn't want to upgrade. My home server is Win7 and I don't want to upgrade it because it's set up exactly the way I want, it was extremely stable, and upgrading will almost certainly break something. I personally think upgrading would be more of a headache than not.

I remember years ago looking into getting a >2tb drive for that server but for the life I me I can't remember why. Is there a valid reason?

Depends on your definition of 'valid'. 2TB SSD IS 300 bucks. 4TB is just under 600. (WD Red).

If you're going to do something, do it right.

[Rob Lister]

Can't you just partition it as two drives?

[sparks]

Nope. BIOS won't deal with a boot disk larger than 2TB. Partitions cannot add up to more than that, all additional space remains unallocated.

[Pyrrho]

The file I need is bootx64.efi. This is the piece of shit missing from Win7 install DVDs. And if you copy that to just the right spot in an installation ISO on a USB drive, all should be fine.

Try searching for that fucking file. The shit that turns up in a search is truly mind boggling.

Thanks anyway. I believe I've had enough for one day.

I have that on my system in several places. Which one you want.

[sparks]

I'm surprised to see 4 files with the same name but different sizes. No idea if any of them will solve the issue.
Send all four if it's not too much trouble. I'll try them all if necessary.

[Witness]

So that thingy is just a file – I thought it was a tool to make a boot sector.

I have one too on my laptop (83 kB), but that's just because I installed Ubuntu into W10.

Where did you get the hint that it was missing? There is no such file in the W7 ISO I downloaded ~ 5 years ago, and Microsoft's instructions seem to imply that the only problems could come from outdated drivers for the storage controllers.

Does your machine have outdated drivers, sparks?

[sparks]

It's possible, but two tidbits of info online indicate the file is necessary to load an ISO, and isn't included in the DVD or ISO from MS.

Bastards.

They rig their shit to install only under BIOS, which limits drive space. Whereas UEFI does not. I believe W10 doesn't have this issue, but as mentioned earlier, I don't care for 10 because of all the bloatware and sharing of my goat porn collection...

[Witness]

What bloatware? These are the apps on my laptop:



Seems tolerable.

[Rob Lister]

I agree. It really ain't all that bad. It does have some lock-in quirks that irk me but they're not overwhelming. It's certainly more stable than Win7, fucked-to-hell updates withstanding.

[Witness]

lock-in quirks

Specifically?

fucked-to-hell updates

Had no problems for quite some time now. But then it can be pretty machine dependent.

[Rob Lister]

Specifically, one-drive always reminding me it exists, even after I delete it. Inability to delete I.E. and it constantly deciding I need it; opening on startup for example. Power management, wifi settings, network settings, etc, constantly reverting from settings I explicitly make, games (links really) constantly showing back up in my start menu even after I explicitly delete them. Other shit. Yada. A lot of little shit that's easy to fix, for a while, until it unfixes itself. It's more irksome than a pain.

[Witness]

Weird. Never had any of your problems. WiFi was dead/flaky after an update, but works splendidly since I reverted to the W8 driver.

Have you tried uninstalling stuff with Powershell instead of the Windows applet? Or used a dedicated tool which also scrubs the registry and remaining files?

[sparks]

Is there a way to make everything go away except calculator and settings and never, ever come back?

[Rob Lister]

Weird. Never had any of your problems. WiFi was dead/flaky after an update, but works splendidly since I reverted to the W8 driver.

Have you tried uninstalling stuff with Powershell instead of the Windows applet? Or used a dedicated tool which also scrubs the registry and remaining files?

I've tried various stuff across various laptops. But mostly I've resigned to just put up with it.

Is there a way to make everything go away except calculator and settings and never, ever come back?

Probably, with some exceptions (like IE) The question really becomes, is it worth bothering, other than as a matter of principle. An example of 'principle' would be making the mistake of installing adobe cloud, trying to uninstall it, and then spending a full day getting all its hooks and tentacles it put every-fucking-where. It had to be done as a matter of principle, but it weren't pretty.

[Witness]

↑ Getting older we are getting wiser. More wise than old, I hope.

With my first laptop came a "free" Norton security CD, which I naively installed. Tried to get rid of it after the requisite 30 days trial when it started nagging me. Oh boy!
But it was a matter of principle for me too.



Now the real question is: what will sparks do?!?

[sparks]

If I can't make the large drive work, I'll get a 2TB and reload Win7 and rebuild from there.

Haven't given up on loading Win7 on a UEFI system just yet.

[Rob Lister]

Persistence and tenacity are good qualities. You Go Girl.

[asthmatic camel]

Too late now that you've bought the drive, but I use a 500 GB SSD for Windoze, programs and work in progress and three old style 1 terabyte slaves for storage/backups. Works out a lot cheaper with little noticeable difference in speed.

[sparks]

Yes, but I'm a psychotic purist AC.

"I MUST HAVE TEH ABSOLUTE POWAH...because...it makes me feel all tingly and such!!!"

I'd planned on dividing up the 4TB drive much like you've described your setup: 500GB for C: System and the rest for D: GoatPornz

[Witness]

↑ That's what I would try. Install W7 in a small partition then let it work its magic as MS describes it in the link I posted to get full access.

BTW, 500 GB for the system seems a lot: on my desktop W10 lives happily in 128, using up 54 as of today. (Being contrarian I moved documents and software elsewhere so as to leave it alone as much as possible. And Microsoft's pre-installed folders piss me off as I organize things differently.)

Now pounce on that thing!

[sparks]

Well, two issues here. First is under BIOS, the installation will run normally but total (and this is all you can partition) is limited to 2Tb.

Second is after jumping through all the hoops to boot UEFI, the installation (dvd or iso) hangs when Windoze starts.

[sparks]

By way of putting a stake through the heart of this thread, let me report that I gave up on my efforts to use a large (4TB) drive with Win7.

Installed a 2TB drive under the usual BIOS bullshit so I could get the thing back up and running.

Oh, and fuck.

[Witness]

[sparks]

Not all bad. 2TB drive is also an SSD. From power on to ready in about 3 seconds. Fucking amazing.

[asthmatic camel]

Not all bad. 2TB drive is also an SSD. From power on to ready in about 3 seconds. Fucking amazing.

Yup, sure makes a big difference!

[Witness]

From power on to ready in about 3 seconds. Fucking amazing.

[sparks]

No, I can still enter the bios, but fuck oh dear, one has to be standing by to do so or you'll find yourself powering off then back on again.


And what does that sound like?



That, BTW is a Revox A-77 tape deck. Seen a lot of those in smaller market radio ranches. Not a bad machine, but not pro-grade either.

[gnome]

Is there a way to make everything go away except calculator and settings and never, ever come back?

Put a full system restore into your startup?

[gnome]

Is there a way to make everything go away except calculator and settings and never, ever come back?

Put a full system restore into your startup?

Wait, you need to be able to use the machine. Put it into shutdown scripts.