# Quick hard disk question **URL:** \ **Category:** Chatting over the Back Fence\ **Created:** [September 21, 2012, 8:59pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/quick-hard-disk-question/23120 "2012-09-21T20:59:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![System1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/51bf81/32.png) [@System1](https://forums.suse.com/u/System1)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 8:59pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/quick-hard-disk-question/23120/1 "2012-09-21T20:59:32Z")
Anyone out there with knowledge about at what point do newer systems start having issues with drive size? Back in the day there were all sorts of issues with say 640MB drives and the BIOS not recognizing them so you had to use something like OnTrack and then the OS sometimes wouldn’t let you use it. Any idea on modern stuff? Starting to see 3-4TB drives but don’t want to run into bizarro world trying to make them work. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 11:20pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/quick-hard-disk-question/23120/2 "2012-09-21T23:20:48Z")
I would stick to 2TB or less to avoid NTFS and possible BIOS limitations. I would recommend just googling “2TB Limit” and you will find various discussions. It’s possible to get around the limit, but that is where the wackiness begins… On 9/21/2012 1:59 PM, GofBorg wrote: [color=blue] > Anyone out there with knowledge about at what point do newer > systems start having issues with drive size? Back in the day > there were all sorts of issues with say 640MB drives and the BIOS > not recognizing them so you had to use something like OnTrack and > then the OS sometimes wouldn’t let you use it. Any idea on modern > stuff? Starting to see 3-4TB drives but don’t want to run into > bizarro world trying to make them work. > [/color] – Craig Wilson - MCNE, MCSE, CCNA Novell Knowledge Partner Novell does not officially monitor these forums. Suggestions/Opinions/Statements made by me are solely my own. These thoughts may not be shared by either Novell or any rational human. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 2:58am UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/quick-hard-disk-question/23120/3 "2012-09-22T02:58:59Z")
On 9/21/2012 1:59 PM, GofBorg wrote:[color=blue] > Anyone out there with knowledge about at what point do newer > systems start having issues with drive size? Back in the day > there were all sorts of issues with say 640MB drives and the BIOS > not recognizing them so you had to use something like OnTrack and > then the OS sometimes wouldn’t let you use it. Any idea on modern > stuff? Starting to see 3-4TB drives but don’t want to run into > bizarro world trying to make them work. > [/color] 2 Tb is the max for MBR partitioned disks that are bootable. To go beyond that you need to use GPT partitioning and a suitable motherboard. [http://www.burnedin.com/article/gpt-vs-mbr-explained](http://www.burnedin.com/article/gpt-vs-mbr-explained) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 6:41pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/quick-hard-disk-question/23120/4 "2012-09-24T18:41:23Z")
Thanks all, that’s what I was looking for. I wonder if Win8 will alter the 2TB limit. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 8:22pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/quick-hard-disk-question/23120/5 "2012-09-24T20:22:23Z")
On 9/24/2012 11:41 AM, GofBorg wrote:[color=blue] > Thanks all, that’s what I was looking for. > I wonder if Win8 will alter the 2TB limit. > [/color] You can go beyond a 2 TB boot partition with Win7 x64 and Server 2008 etc as long as you have recent hardware (MB has an UEFI BIOS etc). ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 9:31pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/quick-hard-disk-question/23120/6 "2012-09-24T21:31:57Z")
Yah that’s what I’m reading. Not really a concern for me at the moment but I like to keep things like that in mind. Only seems to be an issue with laptops since they are normally 1 drive units. With servers normally there is a boot drive outside of the larger datastore so doesn’t become an issue there. I separate the drives on my workstation as well just to make upgrades easier.