Seagate expansion desktop drive boot problem

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ITSMERSH

Seagate expansion desktop drive boot problem

#1 Post by ITSMERSH »

Hi.

I bought a new HD. A Seagate Expansion Desktop Drive with 3TB capacity.

Formatted to ext3 single partition, as it comes with ntfs file system.

Boot flag activated via GParted.

This drive has several flags I hadn't seen before on any other drive, like legacy boot, a*rec plus some more I can't recall at the moment.

When installing Grub4DOS it complains the boot flag not being activated.

Is there a new type of HD's that doesn't allow to boot from, even if the boot flag is active?

Else, what did I do wrong?

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Flash
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#2 Post by Flash »

Have you looked for an explanation at Seagate's website? Possibly they offer a utility for configuring the drive.

ITSMERSH

#3 Post by ITSMERSH »

There's lots of info and tools related to Windows and Mac OS.
Nothing about Linux. Did they ever hear of GNU/Linux? :wink:

I'm just wondering, since I got also a Seagate Expansion Portable 1TB which works fine and boots via grub4dos without any issues/complaints. Formatting, activating boot flag and installing grub4dos was as easy as it ever was.

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Mike Walsh
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#4 Post by Mike Walsh »

@ RSH:-

I got me one of those, too. Same model, same capacity.

However, mine is strictly for data ONLY. I use the primary, internal 500 GB WD Caviar 'Blue' for all my Puppies.

Do be aware that there have been a lot of recalls with these 3 TB models; they're essentially a 3½" Barracuda drive inside that fancy case, with an adapter 'bridge' plugged into the SATA port that provides the USB 3.0 interface. And since none of the available utilities will tell you the model of the internal drive (only the model number it's sold as), the only way to tell is to pop the case and actually read the internal label.

The ST3000DM001 is the one to watch out for, according to this ExtremeTech article:-

https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/222 ... lure-rates

If you do open it up to have a look, be warned; the 'snap' fasteners break. Real easy. I ended up gluing my case back together; won't be taking it apart again anytime soon.

This one's just coming up to a year old. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, although mine's an ST3000DM007-WY1-G... Time will tell, of course.....and the ExtremeTech article is some 3 years old now.


Mike. :wink:
Last edited by Mike Walsh on Wed 02 Jan 2019, 11:40, edited 1 time in total.

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rcrsn51
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#5 Post by rcrsn51 »

This 3TB drive is probably formatted with GPT instead of legacy MBR.

As such, booting an OS via Grub4Dos may be a problem.
Did they ever hear of GNU/Linux?
I'm sure they have. But they are assuming that you are keeping up with the rest of the Linux world.

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bigpup
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#6 Post by bigpup »

Grub4dos boot loader is not coded to work with a GPT partition table.

Grub2 can operate with GPT partition tables.

To be a little clearer on this.
Look at what partition table it is using.
In Gparted, device info should tell you.

GPT is the type of partition table used on drives bigger than 2TB, because msdos/mbr has a partition size limit of 2TB and the drive manufactures like to only make one partition.
Well ,there are suppose to be some added features of GPT over msdos/mbr.

You could use Gparted to make a new partition table using msdos as the type.
This will delete everything on the drive.
Re-partition as you would like.
If you use the msdos partition table.
You will have to have partitions smaller than 2TB. That is the msdos/mbr max partition size.
So, you will need to make more than one partition.

With 3TB, I would suggest breaking that up into several partitions.
The things they do not tell you, are usually the clue to solving the problem.
When I was a kid I wanted to be older.... This is not what I expected :shock:
YaPI(any iso installer)

ITSMERSH

#7 Post by ITSMERSH »

Thanks for all that information @all!

I did not know about the 2TB limitation of msdos partition table. Also I never heard of the GPT partition table, so I just did not check the partition table in use when formatting the drive.

I don't want to open the case as it will disrupt the HD's guarantee, so hopefully they solved this in between three years later and don't sell the faulty drive type anymore.

I'm in the hands of GOD now, since it is currently my one and only backup drive. :?

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rcrsn51
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#8 Post by rcrsn51 »

bigpup wrote:Well ,there are suppose to be some added features of GPT over msdos/mbr.
Like having over 100 primary partitions without resorting to an extended partition.

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