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  1. #1
    DF VIP Member Xad's Avatar
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    Help 3TB Harddrive showing as 746gb after abrupt error in HDDerase

    I've been trying to fix this mess i created for the last few hours and i'm out of ideas.

    I have Windows 7 64 bit and already have a 4TB drive in GPT Disk mode that has worked fine for years. I had another spare 3TB drive that i decided to enhanced secure erase as i wanted to get rid of it. I have used HDDerase (via UBCD) plenty of times over the years with no issues, but this time while trying to wipe the 3TB drive, which didn't really need to be wiped as it's barely used, i kept getting errors about how the drive cannot be unlocked even though i went through the standard procedures of setting IDE mode, hard shut down, etc.

    Finally after reading the FAQ i decided to go for the 3rd option as the two other methods failed, third option being where you disconnect the drive, turn on the PC and just before HddErase is started you connect the drive thereby bypassing the BIOS lock. This did work and it showed 510 minutes as the time required for erase, but after 6 hours or so, an error showed up and erase was abruptly cancelled, and ever since then i've been unable to see the full 3TB and stuck with 746gb even in GPT Disk mode.


    I think the issue is that when HDDErase usually completes it writes the LBA info at the end or something like that, but being that the procedure ended abruptly, it screwed things up. When i looked at LBA info, it shows around 1.5 billion while the hard drive label states it's around 5.8 billion.

    Anyone know how to repair this and how i've managed to screw this up so badly? I've connected the drive to another computer and it still shows as 746gb. I tried using MHDD and the HPA command i found via google but i get an error saying this only works in LBA mode or i get an error that the drive hasn't been detected and the drive isn't even shown in the list rather just port connection numbers.

    Any idea? Maybe even how i can successfully write the LBA info manually if that is the issue, as i failed to do that with MHDD...if that is the issue in the first place.
    Last edited by Xad; 1st January 2018 at 11:23 PM.

  2. #2
    DF VIP Member Xad's Avatar
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    Default Re: 3TB Harddrive showing as 746gb after abrupt error in HDDerase

    GOOD News, fixed it

    After hours of trying everything, came across HDD Capacity Restore which doesn't seem to work in Windows 7 but fortunately i had Windows XP in dual boot, so loaded up, ran the software with a single click, it detected the actual factory drive size, did it's thing and then hard shut down. Restarted and i have the 3TB drive back. PHEW. Everything working great now.

  3. #3
    DF VIP Member DJ OD's Avatar
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    Default Re: 3TB Harddrive showing as 746gb after abrupt error in HDDerase

    Any idea what caused it? I’ve always used DBAN to wipe drives.


    DJ OD

  4. #4
    DF VIP Member Xad's Avatar
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    Default Re: 3TB Harddrive showing as 746gb after abrupt error in HDDerase

    No idea, but i posted on another forum and a member posted their theory that it could be a "Host Protected Area" issue; here's the full post:

    Looks like it was an issue related to HPA. It's strange because i would expect it to be an issue related to drive locked with ATA password.

    When you do a Secure Erase you are required to issue an ATA password and lock the drive. Most of the times the software doing the secure erase will do that for you. When Secure Erase is completed correctly the drive itself removes the password and unlocks. If you stop the process and/or if the process doesn't properly complete you are left with a drive locked with ATA password.

    On your case it looks like that somehow your drive got it's capacity cut by HPA.

    In the event you couldn't get the capacity restored with the mentioned tool most likely you could do the same using for example Victoria for windows. Detect the drive in PIO mode and get the native LBA, then you can disable HPA.

    Thanks to Xad

    DJ OD (2nd January 2018)  


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