Jump to content

External Hard Drive Size

Justin90
By Justin90
in Storage Devices
 Share
Posted

Is there a size limit on what a motherboard can handle as for as the size of the external hdd that is connected to the computer? for example, can some mobos only read up to say 2tb while another can read a full 6tb external? i want to get like a 3 or 4tb external, but i want to be sure that the full 3-4tb can be used with my os/components. thanks in advance

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
4 minutes ago, Justin90 said:

Is there a size limit on what a motherboard can handle as for as the size of the external hdd that is connected to the computer? for example, can some mobos only read up to say 2tb while another can read a full 6tb external? i want to get like a 3 or 4tb external, but i want to be sure that the full 3-4tb can be used with my os/components. thanks in advance

As far as I know, there is no such limit.  The limit will be based on the File System used, and I doubt any consumer storage system is close to reaching that limit.

That is not dead which can eternal lie.  And with strange aeons even death may die. - The Call of Cthulhu

A university is not a "safe space". If you need a safe space, leave, go home, hug your teddy & suck your thumb until ready for university.  - Richard Dawkins

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

AkiraDaarkst is right the limit is way out of reach for the moment. your biggest problem would be the file system the drive uses and the operating system for example a mac formatted drive in mac os extended cant be read on a windows pc and an ntfs formatted drive can only be read on a mac not written to. so just work with the best format for you operating system and what you will use to for and you will be fine

 

My Gaming Rig      My Server

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
11 minutes ago, joshfrog said:

so just work with the best format for you operating system and what you will use to for and you will be fine

My recommendation for external drives' file system is ExFat, because OSX, Windows and I believe Linux too supports it easily.  ExFat doesn't close you off from plugging the drive into computers with a different OS than what you have.  Of course there are certain benefits that NTFS, HFS or the file systems used by Linux that ExFat doesn't offer but use those only if you are 100% certain the external drive will not be plugged into any other OS and the specific features of those file systems are necessary.

That is not dead which can eternal lie.  And with strange aeons even death may die. - The Call of Cthulhu

A university is not a "safe space". If you need a safe space, leave, go home, hug your teddy & suck your thumb until ready for university.  - Richard Dawkins

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

All motherboards will recognize external HDDs to nearly 16 EiB. Even if your motherboard doesn't have UEFI the drive will still be visible in Windows. In order to boot from a partition with more than 2 TB the motherboard requires UEFI.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing Storage Devices

×