3 Ways to Easily Fix 3TB Hard Drive Only Shows 2TB

User Case: 3 TB Hard Drive Not Showing Full Capacity

"I recently had to redownload Windows 10 because it wasn't booting, my 3TB hard drive was only showing up as 2TB. I ignored it for a while but now I am running low on storage how do I get my extra TB? Any help would be appreciated.”

If you encountered similar trouble, you can continue reading the article to understand what caused the "3TB hard drive only shows 2TB" problem. Then follow the 3 useful methods provided in this article to fix it. Each technique contains a detailed graphic tutorial.

Why does My 3TB Hard Drive Only Shows 2TB?

The “3TB hard drive only shows 2TB” problem occurs mainly because the 3TB drive is initialized to an incorrect partition table - MBR since MBR partition tables cannot resolve more than 2TB of space, to use the full capacity of a drive that exceeds 2TB you need to initialize it to a GPT.

You can check what type of partition your hard drive is in Disk Management. First, right-click on the 3TB hard drive and go to Properties. Then navigate to "Volumes" and see what partition style you are getting. If it shows Mater Boot Record (MBR), your 3TB hard drive is an MBR disk. And if it's an MBR, repartition it with GPT.

How to Fix 3TB Hard Drive Only Shows 2TB

Next, this article will introduce 3 ways to fix the “3TB hard drive only shows 2TB” problem. You can use Windows built-in tool Disk Management, Command Prompt, or reliable third-party software to help you achieve the goal. 

If you want to achieve disk conversion, namely converting MBR disks to GPT, then you can choose method 1 or method 2. If you want to upgrade your system to a large disk but encounter the 3 TB hard drive only shows a 2 TB problem, try the first method. 

Method 1. Easily Fix 3TB Hard Drive Only Shows 2TB without Data Loss

If you want to clone your system to a larger disk, like your 3TB hard drive, but you encounter the problem that a 3TB hard drive only shows 2TB, you can use a professional disk cloning software AOMEI Backupper Professional to help you. And it has the advantages below.

Clone disks from different types: It allows you to clone disks from different types, such as MBR to GPT. Therefore, you can clone disks from MBR to GPT easily, and vice versa.

 Intelligent clone: Even if your source disk has bad sectors, it can skip them automatically to ensure the disk cloning process is successful. So, you can clone hard drive with bad sectors if you need them.

 Edit Partitions: This feature allows you to convert the destination MBR disk to GPT and vice versa. You can also use it to change the partition size automatically or manually.

 Different system: It supports all PC OS of Windows, such as Windows 11/10/8/7/XP/Vista, etc.

Before you start the cloning process, you need to complete some preparation work.

• Backup files: You need to backup your important files in advance because all the data on the target disk will be wiped during the cloning process.
• Connect disk properly: Connect your 3TB hard drive to your computer properly and make sure it can be recognized.
• Download software: Download the safe and professional disk cloning software - AOMEI Backupper Professional and install it. If you are a Windows Server user, you can pick AOMEI Backupper Server.

Then you can follow the graphic tutorial below to fix the 3TB hard drive only shows 2TB without data loss.

Step 1. Open the AOMEI Backupper Professional, and click Clone > Disk Clone.

Step 2. Choose a GPT disk as the source disk. Then, click Next.

Step 3. Choose the 3TB hard drive as the destination disk. Then, click Next.

Step 4. Click Edit Partitions and tick the Convert the destination disk from MBR to GPT checkbox, then click OK > Start Clone to fix 3TB hard drive only shows 2TB without data loss.

Notes:

• SSD Alignment: If your target disk is an SSD, this feature can help your SSD perform better.
• Sector by sector clone: When you need to clone the disk to a larger disk, this feature will clone all sectors whether they are used or not.

Method 2. Fix 3TB Hard Drive Only Shows 2TB by Disk Management

You can fix the "3TB hard drive only shows 2TB" problem with Windows' built-in tool Disk Management. Disk Management provides a disk conversion feature. However, this feature can only convert an empty disk, otherwise, you will see the Convert to GPT Disk option is grayed out.

If you have files or partitions on your 3TB hard drive, please make a file backup or partition backup in advance, otherwise, you will lose all your data. You can follow the steps below.

Step 1. Click on Start, right-click Computer (or This PC) and select Manage. Click Disk Management on the left side.

Step 2. Right-click the 3TB hard drive that shows the wrong capacity and choose Delete Volume.

Step 3. You will see a prompt saying that deleting this volume will erase all data on it. If you have made a backup, you can click Yes to continue.

Step 4. Now you get two unallocated spaces on the 3TB hard drive, then right-click the disk and choose Convert to GPT Disk option.

Step 5. When you get only one unallocated space on the drive, you can right-click the unallocated space and choose New Simple Volume option to create a new volume that occupies all 3TB of disk space.

Method 3. Fix 3TB Hard Drive Only Shows 2TB by Command Prompt

The last method is to use Command Prompt to convert MBR to GPT disk, but it requires you to delete all partitions on the 3TB hard drive first. Therefore, if you have important files on the 3TB disk, please make a backup in advance. Then you can follow the steps below to learn how to format a hard drive larger than 2TB and convert it to a GPT disk.

Step 1. Press Win+S, input diskpart, and click Run as administrator.

Step 2. Type the commands below one by one and remember to press Enter after you input each one.

• list disk
• select disk n (n means the drive letter, replace it with your 3TB drive letter)
• list partition
• select partition n ( n is the number of the volume you need to delete)
• delete partition

Repeat the former two to delete all the rest partitions if you have more.

Step 3. Then type the command below to convert the MBR disk to GPT.

• convert gpt

Step 4. Now the 3TB hard drive becomes all unallocated. To make use of all the disk space, you can continue creating a primary partition on the 3TB hard drive.

• create partition primary
• assign letter=N (N can be replaced by any letter that is not occupied currently)
• format fs=ntfs quick
• exit

Go back to Disk Management and you should be able to use a full 3TB hard drive there.

Summary

To fix the “3TB hard drive only shows 2TB” problem, you can choose the second or the last method above, if you want to achieve disk conversion, namely converting MBR disks to GPT. Please note that the two methods will erase the 3TB hard drive first, so remember to back up your important files in advance to avoid data loss.

If you want to upgrade your system to a large disk but encounter the 3 TB hard drive only shows a 2 TB problem, you can use the reliable disk cloning software AOMEI Backupper Professional. It can help you successfully clone the GPT disk to MBR and convert your 3TB hard drive to GPT. After cloning, you can boot your computer directly from the cloned disk.

Besides, if you only want to clone OS or partition, its System Clone and Partition Clone features can meet your different needs as well. You can download this software to discover more useful features.