Why can't I modify the partition table on an HDD (identified as a RAID device)?

[rokejulianlockhart]

I’ve extracted some SATA HDDs from a defunct NAS. When I view them in mmc diskmgmt.msc under Windows 11 Pro 24H2, I am able to format partitions and view information about the drive:

Options Available	Information

However, when viewed via kde-partitionmanager-25.04.3-1.fc42.x86_64, I am unable to see information about the HDD, much less modify it:

Additionally, I’ve not configured RAID, so even if it used to operate in a RAID array, it doesn’t now. Though, on that note, both drives appeared to contain quite different data, so I’ll be surprised if they really did operate in RAID (although many modes exist, all of which I’m unfamiliar with).

Environment

Get-PnpDevice -PresentOnly -InstanceId SCSI* | Format-List (devices) returns:

Caption                     : SK hynix PC401 HFS256GD9TNG-62A0A
Description                 : Disk drive
InstallDate                 :
Name                        : SK hynix PC401 HFS256GD9TNG-62A0A
Status                      : OK
Availability                :
ConfigManagerErrorCode      : CM_PROB_NONE
ConfigManagerUserConfig     : False
CreationClassName           : Win32_PnPEntity
DeviceID                    : SCSI\DISK&VEN_NVME&PROD_SK_HYNIX_PC401_H\7&49A9269&0&000000
ErrorCleared                :
ErrorDescription            :
LastErrorCode               :
PNPDeviceID                 : SCSI\DISK&VEN_NVME&PROD_SK_HYNIX_PC401_H\7&49A9269&0&000000
PowerManagementCapabilities :
PowerManagementSupported    :
StatusInfo                  :
SystemCreationClassName     : Win32_ComputerSystem
SystemName                  : SXT4NQ
ClassGuid                   : {4d36e967-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}
CompatibleID                : {SCSI\Disk, SCSI\RAW, Disk1667}
HardwareID                  : {SCSI\DiskNVMe___________SK_hynix_PC401_HFS256GD9TNG-62A0A80000E00, SCSI\DiskNVMe___________SK_hynix_PC401_HFS256GD9TNG-62A0A, SCSI\DiskNVMe____SK_hynix_PC401_H0E00, SCSI\DiskNVMe____SK_hynix_PC401_H…}
Manufacturer                : (Standard disk drives)
PNPClass                    : DiskDrive
Present                     : True
Service                     : disk
PSComputerName              :
Class                       : DiskDrive
FriendlyName                : SK hynix PC401 HFS256GD9TNG-62A0A
InstanceId                  : SCSI\DISK&VEN_NVME&PROD_SK_HYNIX_PC401_H\7&49A9269&0&000000
Problem                     : CM_PROB_NONE
ProblemDescription          :

Caption                     : ASMT 2135 SCSI Disk Device
Description                 : Disk drive
InstallDate                 :
Name                        : ASMT 2135 SCSI Disk Device
Status                      : OK
Availability                :
ConfigManagerErrorCode      : CM_PROB_NONE
ConfigManagerUserConfig     : False
CreationClassName           : Win32_PnPEntity
DeviceID                    : SCSI\DISK&VEN_ASMT&PROD_2135\B&82131EA&0&000000
ErrorCleared                :
ErrorDescription            :
LastErrorCode               :
PNPDeviceID                 : SCSI\DISK&VEN_ASMT&PROD_2135\B&82131EA&0&000000
PowerManagementCapabilities :
PowerManagementSupported    :
StatusInfo                  :
SystemCreationClassName     : Win32_ComputerSystem
SystemName                  : SXT4NQ
ClassGuid                   : {4d36e967-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}
CompatibleID                : {SCSI\Disk, SCSI\RAW}
HardwareID                  : {SCSI\DiskASMT____2135____________0___, SCSI\DiskASMT____2135____________, SCSI\DiskASMT____, SCSI\ASMT____2135____________0…}
Manufacturer                : (Standard disk drives)
PNPClass                    : DiskDrive
Present                     : True
Service                     : disk
PSComputerName              :
Class                       : DiskDrive
FriendlyName                : ASMT 2135 SCSI Disk Device
InstanceId                  : SCSI\DISK&VEN_ASMT&PROD_2135\B&82131EA&0&000000
Problem                     : CM_PROB_NONE
ProblemDescription          :

Caption                     : ST1000LM 014-1EJ164 SCSI Disk Device
Description                 : Disk drive
InstallDate                 :
Name                        : ST1000LM 014-1EJ164 SCSI Disk Device
Status                      : OK
Availability                :
ConfigManagerErrorCode      : CM_PROB_NONE
ConfigManagerUserConfig     : False
CreationClassName           : Win32_PnPEntity
DeviceID                    : SCSI\DISK&VEN_ST1000LM&PROD_014-1EJ164\B&3897A7DD&0&000000
ErrorCleared                :
ErrorDescription            :
LastErrorCode               :
PNPDeviceID                 : SCSI\DISK&VEN_ST1000LM&PROD_014-1EJ164\B&3897A7DD&0&000000
PowerManagementCapabilities :
PowerManagementSupported    :
StatusInfo                  :
SystemCreationClassName     : Win32_ComputerSystem
SystemName                  : SXT4NQ
ClassGuid                   : {4d36e967-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}
CompatibleID                : {SCSI\Disk, SCSI\RAW}
HardwareID                  : {SCSI\DiskST1000LM014-1EJ164______0___, SCSI\DiskST1000LM014-1EJ164______, SCSI\DiskST1000LM, SCSI\ST1000LM014-1EJ164______0…}
Manufacturer                : (Standard disk drives)
PNPClass                    : DiskDrive
Present                     : True
Service                     : disk
PSComputerName              :
Class                       : DiskDrive
FriendlyName                : ST1000LM 014-1EJ164 SCSI Disk Device
InstanceId                  : SCSI\DISK&VEN_ST1000LM&PROD_014-1EJ164\B&3897A7DD&0&000000
Problem                     : CM_PROB_NONE
ProblemDescription          :

Caption                     : Samsung SSD 980 PRO 250GB
Description                 : Disk drive
InstallDate                 :
Name                        : Samsung SSD 980 PRO 250GB
Status                      : OK
Availability                :
ConfigManagerErrorCode      : CM_PROB_NONE
ConfigManagerUserConfig     : False
CreationClassName           : Win32_PnPEntity
DeviceID                    : SCSI\DISK&VEN_NVME&PROD_SAMSUNG_SSD_980\5&1AB52423&0&000000
ErrorCleared                :
ErrorDescription            :
LastErrorCode               :
PNPDeviceID                 : SCSI\DISK&VEN_NVME&PROD_SAMSUNG_SSD_980\5&1AB52423&0&000000
PowerManagementCapabilities :
PowerManagementSupported    :
StatusInfo                  :
SystemCreationClassName     : Win32_ComputerSystem
SystemName                  : SXT4NQ
ClassGuid                   : {4d36e967-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}
CompatibleID                : {SCSI\Disk, SCSI\RAW, Disk1667}
HardwareID                  : {SCSI\DiskNVMe___________________Samsung_SSD_980_PRO_250GB2B2QGXA7, SCSI\DiskNVMe___________________Samsung_SSD_980_PRO_250GB, SCSI\DiskNVMe____Samsung_SSD_980_GXA7, SCSI\DiskNVMe____Samsung_SSD_980_…}
Manufacturer                : (Standard disk drives)
PNPClass                    : DiskDrive
Present                     : True
Service                     : disk
PSComputerName              :
Class                       : DiskDrive
FriendlyName                : Samsung SSD 980 PRO 250GB
InstanceId                  : SCSI\DISK&VEN_NVME&PROD_SAMSUNG_SSD_980\5&1AB52423&0&000000
Problem                     : CM_PROB_NONE
ProblemDescription          :

Caption                     : addlink M.2 PCIE G4x4 NVMe
Description                 : Disk drive
InstallDate                 :
Name                        : addlink M.2 PCIE G4x4 NVMe
Status                      : OK
Availability                :
ConfigManagerErrorCode      : CM_PROB_NONE
ConfigManagerUserConfig     : False
CreationClassName           : Win32_PnPEntity
DeviceID                    : SCSI\DISK&VEN_NVME&PROD_ADDLINK_M.2_PCIE\9&15377ADD&0&000000
ErrorCleared                :
ErrorDescription            :
LastErrorCode               :
PNPDeviceID                 : SCSI\DISK&VEN_NVME&PROD_ADDLINK_M.2_PCIE\9&15377ADD&0&000000
PowerManagementCapabilities :
PowerManagementSupported    :
StatusInfo                  :
SystemCreationClassName     : Win32_ComputerSystem
SystemName                  : SXT4NQ
ClassGuid                   : {4d36e967-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}
CompatibleID                : {SCSI\Disk, SCSI\RAW, Disk1667}
HardwareID                  : {SCSI\DiskNVMe__________________addlink_M.2_PCIE_G4x4_NVMeEIFM31.6, SCSI\DiskNVMe__________________addlink_M.2_PCIE_G4x4_NVMe, SCSI\DiskNVMe____addlink_M.2_PCIE31.6, SCSI\DiskNVMe____addlink_M.2_PCIE…}
Manufacturer                : (Standard disk drives)
PNPClass                    : DiskDrive
Present                     : True
Service                     : disk
PSComputerName              :
Class                       : DiskDrive
FriendlyName                : addlink M.2 PCIE G4x4 NVMe
InstanceId                  : SCSI\DISK&VEN_NVME&PROD_ADDLINK_M.2_PCIE\9&15377ADD&0&000000
Problem                     : CM_PROB_NONE
ProblemDescription          :

Caption                     : SATA3 64 GB SSD SCSI Disk Device
Description                 : Disk drive
InstallDate                 :
Name                        : SATA3 64 GB SSD SCSI Disk Device
Status                      : OK
Availability                :
ConfigManagerErrorCode      : CM_PROB_NONE
ConfigManagerUserConfig     : False
CreationClassName           : Win32_PnPEntity
DeviceID                    : SCSI\DISK&VEN_SATA3_64&PROD_GB_SSD\B&310BDCFF&0&000000
ErrorCleared                :
ErrorDescription            :
LastErrorCode               :
PNPDeviceID                 : SCSI\DISK&VEN_SATA3_64&PROD_GB_SSD\B&310BDCFF&0&000000
PowerManagementCapabilities :
PowerManagementSupported    :
StatusInfo                  :
SystemCreationClassName     : Win32_ComputerSystem
SystemName                  : SXT4NQ
ClassGuid                   : {4d36e967-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}
CompatibleID                : {SCSI\Disk, SCSI\RAW}
HardwareID                  : {SCSI\DiskSATA3_64GB_SSD__________0___, SCSI\DiskSATA3_64GB_SSD__________, SCSI\DiskSATA3_64, SCSI\SATA3_64GB_SSD__________0…}
Manufacturer                : (Standard disk drives)
PNPClass                    : DiskDrive
Present                     : True
Service                     : disk
PSComputerName              :
Class                       : DiskDrive
FriendlyName                : SATA3 64 GB SSD SCSI Disk Device
InstanceId                  : SCSI\DISK&VEN_SATA3_64&PROD_GB_SSD\B&310BDCFF&0&000000
Problem                     : CM_PROB_NONE
ProblemDescription          :

Caption                     : addlink M.2 PCIE G4x4 NVMe
Description                 : Disk drive
InstallDate                 :
Name                        : addlink M.2 PCIE G4x4 NVMe
Status                      : OK
Availability                :
ConfigManagerErrorCode      : CM_PROB_NONE
ConfigManagerUserConfig     : False
CreationClassName           : Win32_PnPEntity
DeviceID                    : SCSI\DISK&VEN_NVME&PROD_ADDLINK_M.2_PCIE\9&8856C99&0&000000
ErrorCleared                :
ErrorDescription            :
LastErrorCode               :
PNPDeviceID                 : SCSI\DISK&VEN_NVME&PROD_ADDLINK_M.2_PCIE\9&8856C99&0&000000
PowerManagementCapabilities :
PowerManagementSupported    :
StatusInfo                  :
SystemCreationClassName     : Win32_ComputerSystem
SystemName                  : SXT4NQ
ClassGuid                   : {4d36e967-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}
CompatibleID                : {SCSI\Disk, SCSI\RAW, Disk1667}
HardwareID                  : {SCSI\DiskNVMe__________________addlink_M.2_PCIE_G4x4_NVMeEIFM31.6, SCSI\DiskNVMe__________________addlink_M.2_PCIE_G4x4_NVMe, SCSI\DiskNVMe____addlink_M.2_PCIE31.6, SCSI\DiskNVMe____addlink_M.2_PCIE…}
Manufacturer                : (Standard disk drives)
PNPClass                    : DiskDrive
Present                     : True
Service                     : disk
PSComputerName              :
Class                       : DiskDrive
FriendlyName                : addlink M.2 PCIE G4x4 NVMe
InstanceId                  : SCSI\DISK&VEN_NVME&PROD_ADDLINK_M.2_PCIE\9&8856C99&0&000000
Problem                     : CM_PROB_NONE
ProblemDescription          :

…whereas Get-Volume | Format-List (mounts) returns:

ObjectId             : {1}\\SXT4NQ\root/Microsoft/Windows/Storage/Providers_v2\WSP_Volume.ObjectId="{17174fe2-3172-11ef-abf2-806e6f6e6963}:VO:\\?\Volume{59f40142-863c-4bb9-87f4-c13947b8a921}\"
PassThroughClass     :
PassThroughIds       :
PassThroughNamespace :
PassThroughServer    :
UniqueId             : \\?\Volume{59f40142-863c-4bb9-87f4-c13947b8a921}\
AllocationUnitSize   : 4096
DedupMode            : NotAvailable
DriveLetter          : C
DriveType            : Fixed
FileSystem           : NTFS
FileSystemLabel      : { Name: Windows, Identifier: SY0
FileSystemType       : NTFS
HealthStatus         : Healthy
OperationalStatus    : OK
Path                 : \\?\Volume{59f40142-863c-4bb9-87f4-c13947b8a921}\
ReFSDedupMode        : NotAvailable
Size                 : 249168916480
SizeRemaining        : 85529280512
PSComputerName       :

ObjectId             : {1}\\SXT4NQ\root/Microsoft/Windows/Storage/Providers_v2\WSP_Volume.ObjectId="{17174fe2-3172-11ef-abf2-806e6f6e6963}:VO:\\?\Volume{cfac7977-57ec-465c-b749-c8b66c03a266}\"
PassThroughClass     :
PassThroughIds       :
PassThroughNamespace :
PassThroughServer    :
UniqueId             : \\?\Volume{cfac7977-57ec-465c-b749-c8b66c03a266}\
AllocationUnitSize   : 4096
DedupMode            : NotAvailable
DriveLetter          : E
DriveType            : Fixed
FileSystem           : NTFS
FileSystemLabel      :
FileSystemType       : NTFS
HealthStatus         : Healthy
OperationalStatus    : OK
Path                 : \\?\Volume{cfac7977-57ec-465c-b749-c8b66c03a266}\
ReFSDedupMode        : NotAvailable
Size                 : 3996490133504
SizeRemaining        : 3903133679616
PSComputerName       :

ObjectId             : {1}\\SXT4NQ\root/Microsoft/Windows/Storage/Providers_v2\WSP_Volume.ObjectId="{17174fe2-3172-11ef-abf2-806e6f6e6963}:VO:\\?\Volume{d9af0496-8efc-40a7-bcc7-5f64c23ee256}\"
PassThroughClass     :
PassThroughIds       :
PassThroughNamespace :
PassThroughServer    :
UniqueId             : \\?\Volume{d9af0496-8efc-40a7-bcc7-5f64c23ee256}\
AllocationUnitSize   : 131072
DedupMode            : NotAvailable
DriveLetter          : D
DriveType            : Fixed
FileSystem           : exFAT
FileSystemLabel      : All #.dir
FileSystemType       : exFAT
HealthStatus         : Healthy
OperationalStatus    : OK
Path                 : \\?\Volume{d9af0496-8efc-40a7-bcc7-5f64c23ee256}\
ReFSDedupMode        : NotAvailable
Size                 : 64018710528
SizeRemaining        : 64017661952
PSComputerName       :

ObjectId             : {1}\\SXT4NQ\root/Microsoft/Windows/Storage/Providers_v2\WSP_Volume.ObjectId="{17174fe2-3172-11ef-abf2-806e6f6e6963}:VO:\\?\Volume{dc82be70-547f-4de3-916a-1dddd961cd43}\"
PassThroughClass     :
PassThroughIds       :
PassThroughNamespace :
PassThroughServer    :
UniqueId             : \\?\Volume{dc82be70-547f-4de3-916a-1dddd961cd43}\
AllocationUnitSize   : 4096
DedupMode            : NotAvailable
DriveLetter          :
DriveType            : Fixed
FileSystem           : NTFS
FileSystemLabel      : { Name: Unknown, Identifier: SXS
FileSystemType       : NTFS
HealthStatus         : Healthy
OperationalStatus    : OK
Path                 : \\?\Volume{dc82be70-547f-4de3-916a-1dddd961cd43}\
ReFSDedupMode        : NotAvailable
Size                 : 870313984
SizeRemaining        : 86216704
PSComputerName       :

[redgreen925]

Use sudo fdisk -l in a Terminal and see if it listed there. If so you are going to have to do your partitioning from the command line.

[rokejulianlockhart]

@redgreen925

Use sudo fdisk -l in a Terminal and see if it listed there.

@redgreen925, it’s kind of listed in there, in that I see its superordinate sdc1 entrant, but not it, md127:

Disk /dev/sdc: 3.64 TiB, 4000787030016 bytes, 7814037168 sectors
Disk model: 2135            
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 70D70E49-2378-43E1-9959-5870A665ABEC

Device       Start        End    Sectors  Size Type
/dev/sdc1     2048    4196351    4194304    2G Linux swap
/dev/sdc2  4196352 7809841151 7805644800  3.6T Microsoft basic data

…to demonstrate, it’s, somehow, three entries deep in lsblk:

sdc           8:32   0   3.6T  0 disk 
├─sdc1        8:33   0     2G  0 part 
│ └─md127     9:127  0     0B  0 md   
└─sdc2        8:34   0   3.6T  0 part

IDK what md means. That’s the first time I’ve seen a non-sd or nvme prefix.

---

@redgreen925

If so, you are going to have to do your partitioning from the command line.

Luckily, I’ve been able to modify it how I wish on Windows, so I’d rather like to keep it in this state so that I can get this deficiency in partitionmanager diagnosed, because this appears worth reporting formally. However, I need to first ascertain exactly what the cause is. Thanks, though.

[redgreen925]

@rokejulianlockhart

However, I need to first ascertain exactly what the cause is. Thanks, though.

No clue on the cause I always use gdisk not a GUI. As it handles the GPT partitions needed if you want to use the full capacity of a large disk like the full 4tb you have. Fdisk I think is still limited to 2tb partition sizes using the MBR partitioning schemes. The md127 you see is the standard RAID array naming of the disk partition left over at 0 bytes. The /dev/sdc2 shows the partition that uses the full drive in real base 2 bytes the 3.6T for drive, the lying 4TB base 10 you see on the label are the manufacturers using when labeling/rating the capacity to make you think the drive is larger.

[rokejulianlockhart]

@redgreen925

The /dev/sdc2 shows the partition that uses the full drive in real base 2 bytes the 3.6T for drive, the lying 4TB base 10 you see on the label are the manufacturers using when labeling/rating the capacity to make you think the drive is larger.

@resgteen925, are you thinking of TiB versus TB, or that they’ve rounded it upward, to the nearest integer?

@redgreen925

Fdisk I think is still limited to 2tb partition sizes using the MBR partitioning schemes.

As in, it’s limited to what MBR supports? If so, that’s awful – I use GPT for everything, and I don’t own any drives ≤ 2 TiB anymore. I wonder whether that’s tracked anywhere. I hope so.

@redgreen925

The md127 you see is the standard RAID array naming of the disk partition left over at 0 bytes.

So it has a RAID partition on it of 0b?

[redgreen925]

@rokejulianlockhart

are you thinking of TiB versus TB, or that they’ve rounded it upward, to the nearest integer?

I am thinking of real computer uses everything is in the binary the now called TiB not the marketing BS to fool people into thinking I bought larger capacity drive decimal TB the marketing liars use. When my computer starts to compute in decimal it will be appropriate to use.

MBR only supports up to the 32bit limit (2^32 512 byte sectors) it uses a 2TiB partition total size, the GPT is hundreds of times that size I forget or never knew the limit for it. Plus a GPT drive allows more primary partitions (128) vs the MBR with only four primary partitions allowed. No need to track anything the partition size available to use is dependant on the scheme used.

For the last question yes it has a remnant of the previous RAID still in the output of the lsblk. Being at 0 bytes it wastes no space on the drive and is harmless. If you have not copied much data onto it you can of course repartition starting with new blank partition table if Windows allows that option, Linux tools like gdisk certainly do allow this.