Hitachi GPT Disk manager is extremely buggy

I ran a few tests with the Hitachi GPT Disk manager and it has a lot of bugs:

1) An installation on Windows XP Professional (32bit) (with the Hitachi hard disk attached) is impossible. It says "HITACHI ultra-capacity hard drive is already correctly recognized" although that's impossible and the HDD is not listed in Disk Management of WinXP.

2) Installation on WinXP Home worked, but harddisks set up by Hitachi GPT Disk manager which were connected (during the set up) to an AHCI Sata Port are not correctly mounted when plugged to an IDE-mode Sata port (same computer, just different port). The HDDs _are_ recognized in the Hitachi GPT Disk manager, but instead of mounting them the Hitachi GPT Disk manager demands to set them up anew.

3) When I do it the other way around (set up a HDD on an IDE-mode Sata port and then plug it into an AHCI-mode SATA port) then Windows Home crashes, both during boot and during hot plugging.

When I buy the GPT Loader from Paragon, will it have the same issues?

 

I ran now tests on a third computer:

The third computer (XP Pro with Hitachi GPT Disk Manager installed)
* won't recognize the drive at all (at IDE-mode SATA port)
* complains about an 800 GB and offers to repartition/reformat it (at AHCI-mode SATA port)
* Shows the full 3000GB but won't connect to the drive (at a Rocket RAID Controller)

This must be the buggiest piece of software I have ever encountered.

But my question still remains: Will the Paragon GPT Loader make the same kind of problems?

 

AHCI mode requires specific driver and this driver usually prevents work of GPT Loader driver.

The reason of such issue is AHCI driver limitation (it doesn't allow to transfer GPT Loader commands directly to the required device).
There is no way to solve the issue w\o changing AHCI to SATA native\legacy\IDE compatible mode, because AHCI drivers vendors are responsible for them.

 

But why does WinXP crash (BSOD during boot) as soon as I use AHCI, EVEN WITHOUT a 3TB drive.

I mean I simply install the gpt loader, connect my 30GB windows boot HDD to the AHCI SATA port and windows crashes, although no other HDD is connected.

Even in Safe Mode it crashes. It stops at 'gpt_loader' and then crashes.

This looks like a Paragon Bug to me.

 

Did you try to boot WinXP in AHCI mode before installing GPT_Loader?

 

Just to make it clear about which problem I am currently talking here, since gpt_loader has SEVERAL bugs.

GPT_loader works fine with 3TB drives as long as they are connected to an IDE mode SATA port.

GPT_loader doesn't work with 3TB drives connected to an AHCI Sata port. But I want to make it clear that that's not the issue here.

I am talking about another issue here which is the following:

On my mobo there are 6 Sata ports, of which 2 make problems, as soon as I install gpt_loader (whether there is a 3TB HDD connected or not):

If these 2 Sata ports are in IDE mode then booting works fine, but ANY HDD (whether 3TB or not) is not being recognized at these 2 ports in Windows XP. The HDD _IS_ recognized in BIOS but as soon as I am finished booting the HDD is missing.

When I switch these 2 ports into AHCI mode then I end up with a BSOD during boot if an HDD is connected to them (even if there is no other HDD on any other port).

That means GPT_loader makes HDDs invisible (IDE mode) or causes a BSOD (AHCI mode), even with non-3TB HDDs.

I have the motherboard GA-Z68A-D3H-B3(rev. 1.0) with the newest BIOS and drivers installed.

 

And what about drives visibility in Disk management w\o GPT Loader driver installed? Are they shown correctly?
What driver do you use for HDD controller in IDE mode? Vendor specific or Windows XP generic one? (you can check it in Device Manager, selecting HDD properties and Driver tab)

The same question: what about working w\o GPT Loader installed? Is BSOD reproduced?

Also I should ask about BSOD error number (you can find it in System LOG).

Please try to uninstall the driver and check behavior.
I guess there is solution for the first case when drive is not shown in IDE mode. And if my assumptions are true, I will inform you about further steps.

 

I will keep you informed. Right now I am not at home for the next weeks.

 

It says everywhere "Driver provider Microsoft"

I have now switched to IDE mode and ADDITIONALLY to IDE legacy mode (instead of "Native mode"). Now there are no more BSsOD.

Please inform me about further steps. I have contacted Gigabyte support (= my mobo manufacturer) and they have no idea what causes the problem except for one speculation: If I have installed windows XP in AHCI mode then IDE mode won't work. Thus their only suggestion was to reinstall Windows XP.

So I would be very pleased if you could give me some additional clue about this problem...

By the way I found yet another reason why your Hitachi GPT manager won't work with 3TB hard disks: Although I bought a brand new HDD (= unused, unformatted) I had to delete partitions with DISKPART.

GPT_loader refused to mount these drives and offered neither a hint ("Please use Diskpart") nor a solution (= delete the partitions). So maybe you could integrate this function into the next version.