3TB Drive Only Shows 746GB Windows 10

 
“I recently purchased a WD 3TB green internal harddrive for backups. Upon booting into windows, the drive only shows 746gb’s.
I’ve already gone into device manager and updated the Nforce Serial ATA and the bios shows 3000. (I assume that is for the 3tb’s?)
I am not trying to install windows on the drive, but just use it as another drive for backup needs.
I have tried to go to disk management and format the drive but it will not allow me.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!”
 
Simply speaking, 3TB HDD not showing full capacity often come out of the blue in Windows 10/8/7. Have you also faced the similar situation? If so, what’s going wrong with your hard disk? What causes this issue? Can it be fixed? Get the answers now.
 

How to Fix 3TB drive only shows 746GB

Convert 3TB Disk to GPT

 
As you know, hard disks can be initialized to MBR (Master Boot Record) or GPT(GUID Partition Table). For MBR disk, it only supports 2TB. If your 3TB hard drive doesn’t show full capacity, it may be because of MBR disk. Read this post- MBR Disk VS. GPT Disk to learn more information about these two disk types.
 
In order to use all disk space of your 3TB disk, please change it to GPT disk. Windows snap-in Disk Management is helpful to do this job. Nevertheless, it needs you to delete all volumes, otherwise, “Convert to GPT Disk” is not working.
 
For a conversion without any data loss, we suggesting using one third-party program. It is worth mentioning that MiniTool Partition Wizard should be a good choice. By its reliable feature, this free partition manager can quick and safely convert your disk from MBR to GPT. Just free download it online and have a try.
 
Step 1: Please select the 3TB hard drive, and then click “Convert MBR Disk to GPT Disk”.
 

 
Step 2: Perform this change by hit “Apply”.
 

Upgrade Intel® Rapid Storage Technology driver

 
According to one study, Intel® Rapid Storage Technology (RST) version 10.0.0.1046 is the main culprit of 3TB HDD not showing full capacity issue in Windows 10/8/7. In order to let your PC support 3TB, remember to upgrade RST to v10.1 or newer one. So, download the newest Intel RST drivers online and install it on your PC. Then in Windows Disk Management, all disk space of the 3TB is showing fully. How to Fix the 746GB Available of a 3TB Hard Drive Issue is useful for you to learn much information.
 

 

Use SATA to Connect Your Disk

 
Some of you choose USB cable to connect your hard drive to a computer and then 3TB hard drive not showing full capacity appears. Why? It is that some USB enclosures have a 2TB limit, not considering the partition type. Thus, please connect your disk to the PC via SATA.
 
Until now, all the solutions to Windows 10 3TB disk shows 746GB issue are here. Just try them one by one. Here is one post – How Can You Fix 3TB Drive Only Shows 746GB in Windows 10 tells you more details about this issue to you. Just read it.