2TB HDD shows only about 1.25TB

[xuwenful]

So this is my first time building a computer. Everything went smoothly except for the fact that after installing the OS, I found out that the system only recognized about 1.25TB of the total 2TB capacity. I installed Win 7 64bit by the way. I searched online and came to understand that I might be able to fix this by re-installing the OS with some driver provided by Asrock. But since I had quite a few applications installed already, I would like to know if there are ways that I can do now to keep the current OS and fix this problem at the same time. Any input is appreciated.

[profJim]

We can best help you only when you you include the brand name and model number of each hardware item in your hardware list, especially your hard drive!!

Press the windows Start icon in the task bar menu.
Type disk management in the bottom of the pop up menu and click on "Create and format hard disk partitions".
You should see a window similar to the attached picture.

Do NOT change anything right now.

Press the <Alt> and <Prnt Screen> keys.
Open an image editing program and paste the saved clipboard image into the program and save the file as a JPG or PNG file.
Attach the saved image file in your next post when you select Go Advanced as a forum posting option.
The Attach icon is to the right of the yellow Smiley icon.

[xuwenful]

We can best help you only when you you include the brand name and model number of each hardware item in your hardware list, especially your hard drive!!

Press the windows Start icon in the task bar menu.
Type disk management in the bottom of the pop up menu and click on "Create and format hard disk partitions".
You should see a window similar to the attached picture.

Do NOT change anything right now.

Press the <Alt> and <Prnt Screen> keys.
Open an image editing program and paste the saved clipboard image into the program and save the file as a JPG or PNG file.
Attach the saved image file in your next post when you select Go Advanced as a forum posting option.
The Attach icon is to the right of the yellow Smiley icon.

Sorry for the lack of information. Here is a screenshot of the disk management page. My HDD is a WD greee Caviar 2TB or something like that. I will provide a detailed system components if this is not enough yet. Thanks for helping me out here.

[Dragazarth]

See how it says "Unallocated", you either need to extend your disk partition into this, or allocate the part as another partition. You do this by right clicking on the section and following the prompts your want.

Extending the drive will make the section bigger
Allocating a new partition will create a "new" drive

Sorry for the lack of information. Here is a screenshot of the disk management page. My HDD is a WD greee Caviar 2TB or something like that. I will provide a detailed system components if this is not enough yet. Thanks for helping me out here.

[profJim]

With a "simple" layout, you can only have 4 primary partitions.
The first (100MB) partition is a hidden partition reserved by windows for recovery.
The second (34GB) C: partition is your boot drive for windows.
The third (1000GB) D: partition is the Gaming World partition.
The fourth (250GB) E: partition is the Common Apps partition.
The 578.84 GB area is unallocated disk space that can't be accessed, because you already have 4 primary partitions.

If you look at my hard drive partition setup (ignore my ssd) you'll see:
The first partition is an unused primary (48GB) partition which could act as a boot partition.
The second group in the dark green box is an extended (primary) partition that contains all of my "logical" partitions (D: E: F: G: and H:).
There is an unallocated 16GB area at the end of the hard drive for future use.

I don't know what folders are in your C: D: and E: drives.
34GB is way to small for windows unless a lot of the folders usually found on the C: drive were put in the Common Apps (E:) drive.
The D: E: and any other partitions should all be located in a single extended partition and then you will have access to all of your available hard drive space.

How did your hard drive get it's current structure?
I've never installed win7 on a hard drive only system, so another forum member will need to tell you the proper steps to reinstall windows and your apps.
Both of my win7 installs were on an ssd with no other hard drives attached.

There are ways to resize, merge and do other alterations to existing partitions but it's way too complicated to describe in a step by step list.
If you try to reorganize your partitions this way, you can loose some or all of your files and folders if your system crashes or accidentally shuts down in the middle of the hard drive reorganization.

There are some excellent web tutorials that can walk you through the proper partitioning process.

[profJim]

I don't use windows disk management to format my partitions.
From post #4, I don't think that you can create an additional primary or extended partition.
You should be able to increase the size of the current E: partition to use all of the unallocated space, hopefully without loosing any data.

If you can convert the current E: partition to a logical partition without loosing data, you could then enlarge the E: drive to use all of the remaining space or you can create one or more additional logical partitions in the currently unallocated 578GB area of your hard drive.

[xuwenful]

I don't use windows disk management to format my partitions.
From post #4, I don't think that you can create an additional primary or extended partition.
You should be able to increase the size of the current E: partition to use all of the unallocated space, hopefully without loosing any data.

If you can convert the current E: partition to a logical partition without loosing data, you could then enlarge the E: drive to use all of the remaining space or you can create one or more additional logical partitions in the currently unallocated 578GB area of your hard drive.

I see your point. So this is a partitioning issue and not a motherboard or hard drive one. I was actually thinking of having six partitions in total for my computer. As you mentioned before, with a "simple" layout I can only get up to four. So I probably will go searching for a "complicated" layout which allows more than four partitions if there is one. Would you recommend some legitimate sites that I can go to for partitioning related issue?

[amadino13]

I know back in the day you could use Partition Magic which was a live CD to change the size of your partitions but honestly if you ask me, just back up whatever files you have on C: drive and reinstall your system. I see all of your other partitions are relatively empty. You would only have to delete the C: partition and create a bigger size for it. I always put something like 150GB for my Windows partition because I have a bunch of useless junk that always takes up space.

[xuwenful]

I know back in the day you could use Partition Magic which was a live CD to change the size of your partitions but honestly if you ask me, just back up whatever files you have on C: drive and reinstall your system. I see all of your other partitions are relatively empty. You would only have to delete the C: partition and create a bigger size for it. I always put something like 150GB for my Windows partition because I have a bunch of useless junk that always takes up space.

That's true. It is just my preference to put things in their own categories so I don't lose track of them later on when more and more data flows in. For that, I will need 6 partitions or maybe 5 will do the work.

[profJim]

A google search using: how to partition a drive windows 7 will provide you with information.
My "simple" setup would be:

1. Start with no partitions on the hard drive.
2. Install win7 into a partition that is 200 -250GB.
   This will use 2 primary partitions; recovery and boot.
   Complete all windows updates.
3. Using windows Disk Management, create an extended partition for your remaining partitions.
4. Create the additional partitions inside of the extended partition to fill up all or most of the extended partition.
   This will give your hard drive a setup similar to mine where you have used 3 out of 4 primary partitions.
5. Install your games and other programs.

You should place a backup or archive partition at the end of the extended partition.
Windows backup should be configured to use this partition and will use about 25% of the available space by default.
Not including the windows recovery partition, don't create more than 6 partitions. This will let you connect additional drives to your system in the future and you won't run out of drive letters ( C through Z) when the other drives have multiple partitions.
The My Documents folder is in my data partition instead of in my boot drive.

You should have a separate removable hard drive for a copy of your valuable files and copies of your backup folders.
I use a 2TB hard drive for this purpose to save backup copies from both of my systems.
The 2TB drive is installed in a self powered external e-sata enclosure that is only connected when I want to add copies of my backed up data.

I use EaseUS backup and partitioning programs.
Macrium Reflect is another excellent backup program.
For optimal performance, each partition must be 4K-aligned, this is done automatically with win7's Disk Management.
If your WD hard drive is a newer advanced format (AF) drive, you can download WD's partition alignment software for free after you have registered your hard drive with them. Other hard drive manufacturers offer similar proprietary programs for their drives.