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can't format secondary drive

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I have ATIHE 2012 (Update 2) on a computer running Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit and need to replace a secondary (data-only) drive with a larger one. The current drive is 1-TB and I purchased a Seagate 3-TB drive.

I can partition the drive with the Windows Disk Management plugin but it fails trying to format it. The failure is apparently caused by an Acronis driver: vsflt67.sys.

I then formatted it with Acronis True Image > Tools and utilities > Disk management > Add new disk

This appeared to work (after I figured out how to get it to format the drive). The drive now appears in the "Computer" display as a valid drive.

But, when I try to open it, I get a 20-minute delay and then an error:
"Location is not available"
"F:\ is not accessible"
"The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error."

If I go back to ATIHE 2012 Tools to "View current state of your disks", it shows the drive as 2.729 TB (Basic GPT) formatted NTFS.

What's going on? The drive shows up in Windows > Computer and in Acronis True Home Edition 2012 but I can't access it.

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Greetings,
While searching about your issue, I came across your posts on the Dell Community Forums.

I think its safe to say that your system/BIOS is capable of supporting this hardware.

Since this is the case, the vsflt67.sys driver is likely the problem.

I'd start by performing a repair install of acronis. Reboot and run the repair. Retest

If this fails, I would download the latest build of 2012 currently 7133 from your acronis user account. Uninstall the current version using Programs and Features, then use the acronis clean tool - following all steps completely to remove any remnant filter drivers/registry pointers that might remain. Reboot again and perform a fresh install of the latest build of ATI.

Test access to the disk again. The issue might be solved. If not, I'd use the diskpart command line utility to repartion and reformat the drive and test access to it again.

Ensuring that you are using the latest version of the vsflt67.sys driver is likely the key.

I purchased the upgrade to Acronis True Image Home Edition 2013 and the Plus Pack and went through all the previous machinations -- still NO JOY !

Unistalled Acronis True Image Home Edition 2013 and Plus Pack -- and IT WORKS NOW ... in the process of copying files to the drive. But I'm definitely leery about reinstalling ATI, I've wasted three days chasing problems created by Acronis.

Check whether you have Intel Rapid Storage Technology installed. If yes, verify you have the latest version (v11.x)

If you don't see it in the Programs & features, it is not installed.

Is it an HP computer?

It's a Dell Vostro 460. The drive is working splendidly since I removed Acronis.

I installed Macrium Reflect and took an image of the primary drive with no problem -- 274 GB in 30 minutes. I suspect it is partly because Macrium added no extra drivers on my hard drives.