I just installed the latest 2.60 version of HD Sentinel. The update notes indicate:
improved capacity-check: reporting if drives over 2 TB can't be properly utilised due to OS / controller restrictions
I cannot find any information in the documentation on how that is reported. My 4TB drive is corrupted when I copy more than 2.2TB to it. HD Sentinel reports:
The detected total capacity (1678 GB) of the drive is not correct, the capacity should be 3726 GB.
I have a new computer purchased in 2014 so I would think it would support GPT formatted secondary drives >2.2TB.
> 2TB Hard Drive issues
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Re: > 2TB Hard Drive issues
> I just installed the latest 2.60 version of HD Sentinel.
I suspect you mean 4.60, as the latest version is Hard Disk Sentinel 4.60
> The update notes indicate: improved capacity-check: reporting if drives over 2 TB can't be properly utilised due to OS / controller restrictions
Yes, that's true.
Hard Disk Sentinel performs different ways to verify if the hard disk can be utilised with full capacity by the current operating system.
This feature is available since some versions, but with newer devices and some special combinations (eg. disk controllers, drivers, external enclosures and so) it is updated to report any kind of incompatibility which may lead to data loss.
> I cannot find any information in the documentation on how that is reported.
When Hard Disk Sentinel detects a such incompatibility, then in the text description it shows the problem and also to increase attention of the user (so he should STOP using the current configuration as it may any time lead to data loss) shows a window with the warning:
> My 4TB drive is corrupted when I copy more than 2.2TB to it. HD Sentinel reports:
> The detected total capacity (1678 GB) of the drive is not correct, the capacity should be 3726 GB.
Excuse me to say, but it is completely normal and expected: as you can see, Hard Disk Sentinel identified the problem, reported it to you - so I'm not surprised that the data corruption really happened.
> I have a new computer purchased in 2014 so I would think it would support GPT formatted secondary drives >2.2TB.
There can be many-many factors which may affect and cause incompatibility.
The most common is when a new hard disk is formatted, partitioned and used with an older external enclosure, which does not properly translate the sector numbers and when it addresses a sector over 2.2 TB, the sector numbers overflow and counts again from zero. So when you copy data over 2.2 TB, then actually the first sectors (starting from sector 0) is overwritten, causing that the Master Boot Record, partition table, MFT and all such vital file system data is overwritten and completely lost (even data recovery may not help).
If this is not the case, then it is still possible that the disk controller (motherboard) or its drivers need to be replaced in order to work correctly with this high capacity hard disk.
This is why the problem is really serious and without Hard Disk Sentinel this is un-noticeable, so very important to understand this warning.
You may use Report menu -> Send test report to developer option, as then it is possible to check the actual situation and advise about possible improvements, for example which driver may be the best from the Driver Zone page ( www.hdsentinel.com/driverzone.php ).
I suspect you mean 4.60, as the latest version is Hard Disk Sentinel 4.60
> The update notes indicate: improved capacity-check: reporting if drives over 2 TB can't be properly utilised due to OS / controller restrictions
Yes, that's true.
Hard Disk Sentinel performs different ways to verify if the hard disk can be utilised with full capacity by the current operating system.
This feature is available since some versions, but with newer devices and some special combinations (eg. disk controllers, drivers, external enclosures and so) it is updated to report any kind of incompatibility which may lead to data loss.
> I cannot find any information in the documentation on how that is reported.
When Hard Disk Sentinel detects a such incompatibility, then in the text description it shows the problem and also to increase attention of the user (so he should STOP using the current configuration as it may any time lead to data loss) shows a window with the warning:
> My 4TB drive is corrupted when I copy more than 2.2TB to it. HD Sentinel reports:
> The detected total capacity (1678 GB) of the drive is not correct, the capacity should be 3726 GB.
Excuse me to say, but it is completely normal and expected: as you can see, Hard Disk Sentinel identified the problem, reported it to you - so I'm not surprised that the data corruption really happened.
> I have a new computer purchased in 2014 so I would think it would support GPT formatted secondary drives >2.2TB.
There can be many-many factors which may affect and cause incompatibility.
The most common is when a new hard disk is formatted, partitioned and used with an older external enclosure, which does not properly translate the sector numbers and when it addresses a sector over 2.2 TB, the sector numbers overflow and counts again from zero. So when you copy data over 2.2 TB, then actually the first sectors (starting from sector 0) is overwritten, causing that the Master Boot Record, partition table, MFT and all such vital file system data is overwritten and completely lost (even data recovery may not help).
If this is not the case, then it is still possible that the disk controller (motherboard) or its drivers need to be replaced in order to work correctly with this high capacity hard disk.
This is why the problem is really serious and without Hard Disk Sentinel this is un-noticeable, so very important to understand this warning.
You may use Report menu -> Send test report to developer option, as then it is possible to check the actual situation and advise about possible improvements, for example which driver may be the best from the Driver Zone page ( www.hdsentinel.com/driverzone.php ).