How to Recognize Hard Drive in Windows
Hard Drive in Windows
You are ready to use your computer with the new hard drive that you installed to turn it into the right entertainment center with all your HD movies, games, work, music, and much more. The only problem is that your system doesn’t recognize it and refuses to show the new hardware partner.
Do the fears enter? If this is your first time, yes, but we will help you with this quick guide to recognizing hard disk in Windows.
The reality is that installing new hard drives is a real lottery: some computers will recognize the new device quickly, while others will cause users to waste hours of their days and have many disappointments.
If you are thinking of changing your computer’s components soon, such as installing a new hard drive, be sure to see the suggestions to follow to save valuable time in your life.
Table of Contents
How to get Windows to Recognize the New HD
You bought a big hard drive, opened the computer case, connected the drive to the motherboard and the power supply with the appropriate cables. But when starting the computer, the hard disk does not appear anywhere. Before reading further, make sure all connections are correct.
Additional hard drives are not always shipped formatted and ready to use. They are completely blank, as the idea is for the end-user to use them, however.
For this reason, when you put the drive in the system, Windows waits for you to decide what to do with the drive instead of automatically formatting it and adding it to the list of drives.
If you’ve never further hard drive to your computer before, it can be quite problematic when it shows up as a missing drive. But it’s easy to make your hard drive visible.
Format the Hard Drive with Windows Disk Manager
In most cases, the new hard drive cannot show because Windows did not assign a letter; that did not create a path. To create this route, follow the steps below:
In Windows 10, you can use the critical arrangement Win + R (or start and type “Run” to open the Run window. Type “diskmgmt.msc” (without the quotes), confirming below.
In the new screen that looks like, select the Disk Management tab in the left list, as shown below:
The newly added drive will have a blank path (no letter and maybe even no name), so right-click on it and select “Change drive letter and paths.”
In the new window, select Change. After that, assign a letter not yet used and click “OK” in another window. This way, your new disk should already be accessible.
Suppose your hard drive is new and does not contain any information or files. It is a good idea to set it up with the NTFS format restoring any faults in the paging system that may come from the factory and many Sometimes it may be that Windows does not recognize.
The HD, simply because the correct format is not the current one, is typical when using a Linux partition.
Check if it is Connected Correctly
If your hard drive does not appear on the Disk Management screen, possible, nearly configuration (both cables, jumpers, or the BIOS) might remain set incorrectly.
Reopen your computer and check the connections and settings for each device correctly connected to your SATA power and data cable. If not, check in BIOS to see if it recognizes it.
Another Method for the System to Recognize the HD
Assuming the hard drive is installed correctly and not faulty, getting it recognized and working is straightforward. To do this, you first need to open the Disk Management tool.
Although the task that we are going to perform is effortless and easy to carry out, there is the possibility that you will do wrong tasks with this tool, something that can give you a hard time.
Check each step carefully. Ensure you are selecting the correct disk, or else you may lose a large amount of data.
Next, in Disk Management, scroll down through the list of disks in the bottom pane. These discs will be labeled “Disc 1”. Windows assigns a number to all hard drives, solid-state drives, USB drives, and card readers, so don’t be surprised if you have to scroll down a bit.
There is some data here. First of all, the disk is noticeable as “Unknown” and “Not initialized” on the left. Second, you look at the installed drive size, and the drive is marked “Unallocated,” which means that none of the spaces on the hard drive have stood formatted or assigned to a partition.
Right-click on the disk name and select “Initialize Disk” from the right-click context menu.
In the first step of the initialization procedure, you will remain requested to choose whether you want to use a Master Boot Record (MBR) or a GUID Partition Table (GPT) for the disk partition style.
In short, unless there is a fascinating reason to use MBR, using GPT is newer, more efficient. And offers more robust protection against boot record corruption.
Click on “OK,” and you will return to the main Disk Management window. There you will find that your disk nowadays remain written off as “Basic” and “On Screen” on the left. But the content remain still “Unassigned”. Right-click on the stripy box of the unassigned disk. Select “New Simple Volume.”
It will start the New Humble Volume Wizard to guide you through the disk setup route. In the first step, select the amount of space you want to include in the volume. By default, the number is the total amount of available disk space. Unless you are thinking of reserving space for the additional partitions, there is no reason to change this. Click on “Next.”
In the second step, you assign a drive letter. The default is probably fine.
Finally, format the volume. If you are using the volume for routine tasks (storing photos, video games, etc.). There is no real need to deviate from the default NTFS file system. Give the volume a name, click “Next” and wait for the formatting process to finish.
When the process is thorough. You will see your new disk assigned, formatted, and ready to begin use in the Disk Management list. Now you can use the disk-like any other on your system for media storage, games, and other purposes.
