Summary: The biggest drive available today (4/2/2016) is 16TB flash-based drive - the Samsung PM1633a. Windows 7/8/10 can access a drive that is ~a billion times larger than that.
More Detail: The drive capacity (that can be accessed) is limited by the OS. Assuming that you're not running WinXP-32bits, then the current max drive size that Windows 7/8/10 can access is defined by the definition for a "GPT" formatted disk. "GPT" defines how the data is stored and accessed.
So..... :-) The current drive limit for Windows 7/8/10 is 9.4 ZB. That is 9.4 ZettaBytes, or 9.4 Billion TeraBytes, or 9.4Billion TB. :-)
Iirc, the biggest drive available today (4/2/2016) is 16TB flash drive - the Samsung PM1633a. So, we were somehow able to shrink a billion of those drives into a 2.5, 3.5, or 5.25 drive, then that would exceed the current ability of Windows to directly access all of the disk.
Interesting tech note. The drive storage has gone from ~10**3 Bytes (1KB = 1,000 Bytes) to over 10**12 Bytes (1 TB = 1,000,000,000,000 Bytes) in ~~30 years.
But, don't expect those 1 ZetaByte drives anytime soon. There are physical limits. The smallest single layer flash chips have only ~20 atoms per data bit! :-O Hence, the reason why the flash industry is going to multiple layers (3D). With computer chips, there are many issues in going to 3D. Heat and power are obvious ones.
Opt for 2TB hard-drive storage Easily store, transfer and access large and complex 3D, multimedia and video project files with speed and reliability. And if even that’s not enough, you have the ability to expand to 4TB.
graystang86
46 Posts
0
April 2nd, 2016 19:00
Summary:
The biggest drive available today (4/2/2016) is 16TB flash-based drive - the Samsung PM1633a. Windows 7/8/10 can access a drive that is ~a billion times larger than that.
More Detail:
The drive capacity (that can be accessed) is limited by the OS.
Assuming that you're not running WinXP-32bits, then the current max drive size that Windows 7/8/10 can access is defined by the definition for a "GPT" formatted disk. "GPT" defines how the data is stored and accessed.
So..... :-)
The current drive limit for Windows 7/8/10 is 9.4 ZB.
That is 9.4 ZettaBytes, or 9.4 Billion TeraBytes, or 9.4Billion TB. :-)
Iirc, the biggest drive available today (4/2/2016) is 16TB flash drive - the Samsung PM1633a. So, we were somehow able to shrink a billion of those drives into a 2.5, 3.5, or 5.25 drive, then that would exceed the current ability of Windows to directly access all of the disk.
Interesting tech note. The drive storage has gone from ~10**3 Bytes (1KB = 1,000 Bytes) to over 10**12 Bytes (1 TB = 1,000,000,000,000 Bytes) in ~~30 years.
But, don't expect those 1 ZetaByte drives anytime soon. There are physical limits.
The smallest single layer flash chips have only ~20 atoms per data bit! :-O Hence, the reason why the flash industry is going to multiple layers (3D). With computer chips, there are many issues in going to 3D. Heat and power are obvious ones.
A Microsoft article:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2581408
jimelliott
15 Posts
0
April 2nd, 2016 21:00
As per Dell's site, they sAy the highest capacity I can go on the XPS8700 is 4 TB:
www.dell.com/.../pd
Opt for 2TB hard-drive storage Easily store, transfer and access large and complex 3D, multimedia and video project files with speed and reliability. And if even that’s not enough, you have the ability to expand to 4TB.