Windows 8 Hard Drive Restore Error - Shows Wrong Capacity, Extra Files Added

[haversham]

I recently installed a HD (WD25EZRX). it's been operating normally for about 2 days.

i was using my comp when i saw an alert that said something about a hard drive error and that my PC needed to be reset to fix it. so i reset the PC and saw another message saying something about restoring to a previous point. i wasn't really thinking and i clicked OK.

upon reset, i noticed the HD in question was now showing up as 1.36TB (it's a 2.5TB HD). it also has a bunch of files from another HD, which is odd.

i've used Error Checking under Tools of the HD's Properties, but the results showed no errors.

i'd like to regain the "lost" capacity w/o having to reformat my entire HD. is this even possible?

System Specs:
Win 8 Pro with Media Center
Intel Core i7-3770K CPU
Samsung 30nm DDR3 1600 RAM 16GB
ASROCK Extreme4 Z77 Motherboard
ATI Radeon HD4650
Samsung 840 Pro 128GB SSD (OS)

 

[kemical]

Hi,

are you running with the latest Bios as this can sometimes effect the larger capacity drives?

ASRock > Z77 Extreme4

 

[haversham]

Hi,

are you running with the latest Bios as this can sometimes effect the larger capacity drives?

ASRock > Z77 Extreme4

i have BIOS v2.7. v2.8 doesn't have any major improvements.

i also have a 3TB that's been installed since i built the PC and it's running fine. this board comes with a 3TB Unlocker Utility, which i have installed.

 

[kemical]

Hi,

I know Western digital has some diagnostic tools you can download maybe they might help?

WD Support / Downloads / SATA & SAS / WD Green / GP

 

[haversham]

Hi,

I know Western digital has some diagnostic tools you can download maybe they might help?

WD Support / Downloads / SATA & SAS / WD Green / GP

i ran the quick test and the HD passed.

 

[Saltgrass]

Kemical is probably on the right track with the drive size situation. You have a UEFI bios, do you have a UEFI install?

Larger drives can be configured as GPT so they will work normally in Windows. They would not need any extra software, as long as they are not the boot drive. If you are using UEFI, they will work even as a boot drive.

But when you restored, something on your system was reset to see the drive possibly without the benefit of the special utility, since anything larger than 2.2 TB will need to be configured as GPT, or use some special utility.

I suppose you would want to know what to do now. What did you do originally to let the system see the entire drive?

 

[haversham]

Kemical is probably on the right track with the drive size situation. You have a UEFI bios, do you have a UEFI install?


I suppose you would want to know what to do now. What did you do originally to let the system see the entire drive?

yes, i have a UEFI BIOS.

i didn't have to do anything special. i just installed it went into Disk Management to create a new partition.

in fact, Disk Management still sees the drive as 2328.64 GB (2.5 TB after being formatted).

 

[Saltgrass]

i didn't have to do anything special. i just installed it went into Disk Management to create a new partition.

in fact, Disk Management still sees the drive as 2328.64 GB (2.5 TB after being formatted).

If it is 2.5 TB, you must have done something special, or you have it configured as a GPT drive.

Since you have an SSD for the OS you do not mention, I will assume you have installed your OS using the Legacy Bios, let us know if this is not correct.. But I still have to think the Restore did not replace some utility you use for the larger drives, or maybe it restored to a time when you had a different system configuration. I am not sure what might happen if you re-image an HDD to an SDD and then do a system restore. It might still think it is on the HDD. I am not suggesting you did this, but just speculating.

You may have found a new bug !! Hopefully, just kidding

 

[haversham]

If it is 2.5 TB, you must have done something special, or you have it configured as a GPT drive.

Since you have an SSD for the OS you do not mention, I will assume you have installed your OS using the Legacy Bios, let us know if this is not correct.. But I still have to think the Restore did not replace some utility you use for the larger drives, or maybe it restored to a time when you had a different system configuration. I am not sure what might happen if you re-image an HDD to an SDD and then do a system restore. It might still think it is on the HDD. I am not suggesting you did this, but just speculating.

You may have found a new bug !! Hopefully, just kidding

yes, i did format the HD as GPT. sorry about that, i forgot.

the BIOS was installed in UEFI mode. that shouldn't matter though since i'm not using any of my HDDs as boot drives - only the SSD.

it's obvious the Restore did something, i'm just not sure what it is.

don't think i can find a solution. i'm just going to copy the contents to another HD and then reformat it.

thanks for the suggestions