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-Extended Capacity Manager Help for 3TB Drive-Acronis True Image 2011 or 2015

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I just bought a Seagate 3TB drive for my Windows 7 Desktop.

When I cloned my 1GB drive, I ended up with 746.52 of unallocated space and approx 2TB of useable space.  This is due to the  2TB limit on my system.

I want to be able to use this unallocated space as a new drive letter or if possible add to either my "C" or" D" partions on the drive.

The Seagate solution is to use "Acronis" Seagate DiscWizard and use the "Seagate Extended Capacity Manager" option.

If I do, then I can not use my Acronis 2011 or 2015 versions.

I would rather use my Acronis 2011 or 2015 versions.  Is it possible?

 

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Ken,

I have doing some research and believe you have a way forward.

Seagate have a downloadable program that will function as a "Extended Capacity Manager".  The link below is seagate's download page.

http://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/discwizard/

CAUTION: I have not used the seagate discwizard, so you will have to do some research on exactly how to activate the Extended Capacity Manager.

The ATI 2014 user manual explains how the Acronis Extended Capacity Manager works.  I believe the seagate discwizard will function in a similar manner.  You can download the  ATI 2014 user manual and read starting on page 198.  Once the extended partition is active, Windows and all Windows programs will see the extended partition as an additional drive.  Running ATI2011 under Windows should not be a problem.

What I don't know is what happens when you boot using rescue media.  Will ATI2011 run under Linux see the extended partition?

So, you would need to run some tests.

Hope this helps and let us know how everything works out.

FtrPilot

 

FTRPilot,

Thank you for your reply.

Per the attached video on the Seagate website, it shows me how to install the Extended Capacity Manager.

http://support.seagate.com/rightnow/flash/discWizard/CloneDisc_3TB_P2/C…

 

I found that I can either have the Seagate DiscWizard or the Acronis True Image Home 2011 on my computer.

The Seagate DiscWizard will not run with Acronis on my computer.

Also, in my research it appears that the Extended Capacity Manager was added in Acronis True Image Home 2014.

However, it was then removed from Acronis True Image Home 2015 and not included in the recent 2016 version.

I would like to use the Seagate Disc Wizard, but still be able to use either my Acronis True Home Image 2011 or 2014 versions.

If I have to, I would uninstall Seagate Disc Wizard.  However, I want to make sure my new partition stays and would be recognized by

either Acronis 11 or 2014 versions.

 

 

 

I believe that once the partition was "activated", the Seagate Discwizard could be removed.

Have you looked into formatting the disk as GPT?  That would probably take 17 consecutive miracles.

Best of luck.

Regards,

FtrPilot

I was thinking of converting my HD as a GPT as a last resort.  It just is time consuming and going to take a lot of disk space to back up my current "C"/"D" Drive.  (I am not sure of the disadvantages though)

  If I do that, it appears that these would probably be the steps:

1) Make an Acronis backup of whole drive (C/D/ and unallocated part)

2) Make a bootable Acronis  CD disk and run

3) Choose the GPT option to restore.

 

With regard to the Seagate DiscWizard, it is only a partial version of Acronis True Image (that is why why I want to keep my 2011/2015 version). When you run that software, it says to get full version for locked functions go to the Acronis website and get Acronis 2016. I therefore was hoping my 2011/2015 Acronis versions could still run with the SeagateDiscWizard on my system.

 

The first miracle is your computer has to be UEFI-based PC.

So, before you start marching down that rabbit hole, I would recommend doing a google search on "gpt boot disk windows 7".  Also, the link below has a matrix of what you can or can't do.

http://www.acronis.com/en-us/support/documentation/ATI2016/index.html#1…

If your PC is UEFI-based, it might be worth the effort.  Just follow your step 1 first.

FtrPilot

I took a look in my BIOS during the start up of the computer.

The current option states Boot Mode: "Legacy". 

However, there is an option in the Boot Mode to change it to  "UEFI".

It then would be bettter to convert the whole drive to "GPT" or is it  just more easy to convert the unallocated portion to a separate drive letter?

 

Gents,

To clairify.  You don't need a UEFI capable BIOS for GPT support unless you want to boot from the GPT formatted disk.  Legacy boot is fine for an MBR formatted boot drive.  

Formatting GPT will allow your OS to recognize disks >2.2TB (one large single partition)

Hello,

I've been having some problem with one of my HDD partitions recently.

I think the problem began after an autoimatic Win10 update a couple weeks ago because it was working fine after the initial Win10 upgrade.

 

The affected HDD is Seagate Baracudda 3TB, split into 3 separate partition (E: 1TB / F: 1TB / G: 0.73TB)

The G: is the extended partition created using Seagate Discwizard Extended Capacity Manager.

One day, I found that my G: disappeared from desktop (noticed it after an automatic reboot following some automatic Win10 update).

Seagate Discwizard told me to "Please Install Virtual Disk Driver Manually," so I did that by downloading a new driver at:

https://kb.acronis.com/content/38937

I uninstalled the old virtual disk driver and installed the new one, and the missing G: magically reappeared on my desktop.  Hooray!!

 

Problem solved, right?   Actually, no... It seems there is a sequel for this problem.

 

The next time I turned my system on (I usually keep my PC on for several days straight) the G: was gone again.

So I thought "Okay, I'm gonna reinstall the driver again, like the last time."

The problem is that the "Please Install Virtual Disk Driver Manually," no longer appears, and obviously re-installing the driver trick does not work anymore.

According to my Discwizard software, I don't have any problem with my virtual disk driver....  The problem is that it is now showing my G: as .73TB of unallocated space, ready to be used.  Looks like the software forgot it already assigned a partition for me several weeks ago...

 

Now, I know I have data in that G:

I can't use Discwizard Extended Capacity Manager because it thinks the G: doesn't exist and keep telling me to make a new extended partition over my G: which will surely destroy my data.

I just need to get it recognized by my Win10...  Any help would be greately appreciated.

Thank you.