You will learn more about Windows 7 maximum disk size and fix it step by step. Sroll down to get the details.
Content of this article:
Before solving the Windows 7 maximum disk size issue, you need to know som basic of it. Get clear ideas below.
Sometimes, when you use Windows 7 Backup and Restore to backup system images which are higher than 2.1 TB, the Microsoft cannot work. This is a scenario in which we are talking about the Windows 7 maximum disk size.
To be specifically, Microsoft only support drives that are set to use 512 byte block as destinations for backups. Also, the bit information of your system is a influenced factor.
In partition scheme, the number of bits in MBR is 32 while the GPT disk is 64. Thus, the maximum hard drive sector size is 2^32 or 2^ 64. As a final result, the maximum hard disk size of MBR disk is 2^32*512 byte = 2,199,023,255,552 byte = 2TB or 2^32*4k = 16TB. While for GPT disk, the maximum size is 2^64*512B (9.4EB) or 2^64*4k.
The maximum of a partition depends on the number and size of cluster. Whether FAT32 or NTFS, the maximum partition size are supposed to be very large. Unfortunately, to FAT32 partition, the format tool built-in windows 7/8/10 etc limit it to 32GB. That’s to say, you can’t format one FAT32 partition larger than 32 GB or you can’t format one NTFS partition larger than 32 GB to FAT32 Partition with disk management.
But you can create one FAT32 partition over 32GB by a professional third-party tool like AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard. In theory, NTFS partition will be much better. Because the NTFS partition’s size is 64, the FAT32 partition’s size is 32. As long as the cluster’s number is large enough, the size of NTFS will be very large.
However, sometimes, the current allocation unit size may prevent you from extending an existing NTFS partition. At this case, you can change cluster size of it. This software can also help.
Step 1. Download AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard, install and enjoy it. Then, click the disk and select Convert to GPT disk.
Then, In the pop-up window, you will receive a message like ”Are you sure to convert the selected disk from MBR to GPT disk? ”, click OK to confirm this operation.
Step 2. After that, the software will show you the final effect, so you can further determine whether you want to perform this operation. If you want to, please click Apply to continue.
Step 3. Here you just need to click Proceed and then this software will execute this operation automatically. You just need to wait and click Finish.
Step 1. Launch this partition manager, then you will see its main page. Click the FAT32 partition, then select Advanced and Convert to NTFS subsequently .
Then, you will be asked if you want to convert to NTFS, click OK to confirm.
Step 2. Here you will see the final effect of this operation, click Apply to continue.
Step 3. Click Proceed if you are sure to execute this operation.
Then, wait for a while, you will see the congratulation page, which tells you this operation is completed successfully. Click Finish to exit this software.
Note: If you want to convert NTFS to FAT32, you could follow the steps above, it's very similar. You just need to select NTFS partition and select FAT32 as the new file system.
Whether you are bothered by Windows 7 maximum disk size or Windows 7 maximum partition size, AOMEI Partition Assistant can do you a big favor. Except for the mentioned features, this software still has many useful features, such as, Merge Partition, Resize Partition, Create partition, Change Cluster Size, Wipe Disk, Migrate OS to SSD etc. Just download it to have a try right now!