How to initialize and format a new hard drive

[olbywong717c]

That is an "ignorant" video. =p

[urtismcdona13c]

This video went viral on The Gambia

[iworkforbudlight]

Just doing this now on a 1TB , thank you this helped!

[MrRichierich1990]

after i put in my new drive, a black screen appears and says, install boot system....? this is a new drive and im not worried about saving files or anything like that. what do i do?

[FreeCompConsultant]

@MrRichierich1990 Are there no other drives in that computer and you are starting from scratch with a new hard drive? If so, you need to install Windows or another operating system

[MrRichierich1990]

@FreeCompConsultant no other drives, and im starting from scratch. i made a vid showing whats its doing.

[sergiwu]

how can i do this on a 3tb hard disc i can only do 2tb and the other part i cant doit is unallocated partition on black thanks for some help any one.

[supercow187]

thank you so much my new drive is up and running

[AnOne78]

Thanks dude! You rock!!

[LBPruleGUYZ]

THANK YOU! YOU SAVED MY LIFE OF RAGEING NEXT TO HARD DISK AND THINKING IN BIOS 24/7 THANKS BRO!

[NARDFTW]

thank you

[MPCNEWCOMER]

Thankyou so much, I am waiting to format and hoping for the best!!!

[ooJesusIsMuslimoo]

hi,

i get this unknown error when im trying to uplaod a video also when i press the " TRY NOW " button youtube says " youtube cant upload your video something something killing the page " i dont know what that mean???

please help me

[mohitkrish]

You Sound Like Kipkay!!!

[SePPoSoNNi152]

@mohitkrish i noticed that too...

[KJEboys]

I have an HP m8530f. I just installed a new HD bc the old constantly freezes and BSOD. I have the factory recovery discs... do I need to format or when I install the recovery discs it will run itself?

[FreeCompConsultant]

@KJEboys Typically you don't need to do the formatting; Recovery disks usually run on auto...

[romeo6117]

i got a new drive and i formatted it, i tried installing windows on to it, but the installer said the new drive wasnt in a NTFS format, even though i made sure it was, can anyone help, cuz i dont know what to do, also when i go in to my computer and i right-click new drive, it says open auto play, so im guessing my pc sees it as a external drive

[FreeCompConsultant]

@romeo6117 Why format it? Windows install will take care of it and allow you to make changes.

[ThaChromeMicrophone]

@FreeCompConsultant it says device not ready when i try this? plz help

[tuttlex9]

My problem is different i actually got a new hard drive for my dell dimension and it has no memory of anything on it it has no windows xp, vista, or 7 on it if anyone knows the solution to this please reply.

[FreeCompConsultant]

@tuttlex9 A new hard drive never has anything on it... unless... and I don't think they do this ... Dell would send one to you.

Where did you buy the drive, from Dell?

Where is the old drive? Does it still work?

[tuttlex9]

@FreeCompConsultant um no i got the hard drive off of this website as a replacement part and i dont have the old one. it didnt work anymore

[FreeCompConsultant]

@tuttlex9 Then you need to load Windows from scratch and restore data from any backups you (hopefully) have. The windows installation process will take care of any hard drive prep necessary.

[edwardelric7893]

i got a new drive as i follow the steps but it tells me that my drive is healthy(Primary Partition) but i can not acsse it or even format it or do any thing to it but convert to dynamic disks this is not my main drive its my 2nd and so i dont konw what to do

[FreeCompConsultant]

@edwardelric7893 Perhaps you need to assign it a drive letter?

[sizzled28]

Well??? Do you have any suggestions? I sure would appreciate it. Thanx!

[FreeCompConsultant]

@sizzled28 Keep in mind, I have almost NO information other than it's USB and I presume you have it plugged in.

Standard questions:

1) has it ever worked?

2) does it work on another PC?

3) Any lights, sounds or indication of life?

4) It does NOT show in device manager?

5) Is there any indication of activity in the system tray when you plug it in?

6) Have you tried more than one USB port on your machine

7) Do other USB devices work?

This would be much easier to do at my support forum

[sizzled28]

It is a 20GB USB External Portable Hard Drive Hi Speed 2.0 , made by samsung. Trying to install on desktop pc with XP SP3

[sizzled28]

How do you get the new external drive to show up on the PC? On my PC, it is as if it doesn't exist.

[FreeCompConsultant]

@sizzled28 Perhaps it doesn't exist. How do you know the PC is recognizing it? Is it USB? SATA?

[MrLennyMontana]

Extremely Concise - Just the pointer i needed, .. I Had a brand new OEM 1TB drive , plugged in, powered up, appearing in the BIOS and in Device Manager, yet alas, Not as an allocated drive in 'My Computer' - So , in these post DOS days of 'Do it in ya GUI' - I was stumped! .. Thanks to FreeComp Guy here, not for too long, once i saw the 'Disk Management' section i was away.

Invaluable directions.

Cheers from a content guy in the UK ! :)

[xXxLiabilityLukeexXx]

Thankyou SO much!!

[MikeBra99]

Thanks. This was exactly what I needed to know. You saved me from my frustration of changing my jumper pins over and over.

[excaliburjak]

thank you! you are direct and to the point. i wanted to upgrade from a 200GB HD to a 2TB HD. none of the other videos i looked at were as thorough. thank you, again. (will subscribe!)

[ghostmarine1000]

I recently bought a 2tb seagate 5600 rpm internal hdd , but it only registers as 931 gigs what the hell is the problem ? and how do i fix it. Iam using windows 7 and it refuses to allow me to exceed 931 gigs , although it says 2tb on the hard drive

[xWhiteWolf7]

Hi, I need some help please, my laptop broke, I kept the hard drive and now i have a new laptop. My old laptop was a Compaq and my new one is an Acer. Can i switch still switch HDD so i can put my old files onto an external HDD then switch back? Or can i use some sort of cable to transform my old HHD into some sort of pendrive so i can recover my files?

Thanks for any help

[FreeCompConsultant]

@xWhiteWolf7 Cheap USB cable adapter will do the trick and is handy to have around.

See this video:  Hard Drive Data Recovery With Vantec USB SATA IDE Hard Drive Adapter

youtube (dot) com/watch?v=tUVz_R8kKnY

Click the link in the description of that video and it will take you right to the adapter.

here's the link also:

PCRoger (dot) com/go/vantec-usb-hdd-adapter/

[xWhiteWolf7]

@FreeCompConsultant, wow thank you so much ^^

[tayrocps3]

trying to step up partition for new OS but doesn't show up its a brand new harddrive SATA for Dell 1721 inspiron laptop. The Hard works on other laptop Toshiba. ????

[bigcheese601]

thank you so mutch i got stuck no other web site said about the partion part i thought i broke my drive haha but thnks again man

[gurvirj95]

Thanks a LOT man! I subbed, thumbs up.

[medspit]

hi..i got a problem with my 1 terabyte external hard disk.. i followed the steps and when i clicked on initialized disk. and then clicked next, it said device not ready.. what should i do? can you help plz?? i have windows vista..and my hard disk is an external hitachi 1 terabyte

[FreeCompConsultant]

@medspit Power everthing down and try again. Try a different USB port. Try a different PC.

Is this drive new or was it working and now you have a problem?

I have a free support forum at my website. FreeComputerConsultant (.) com/forum

[chuck96961]

Thank you! You were so much help! Much apprechiated:)

[BIGC3002]

What does initializing a hard drive do and will it erase all of the data stored on it?

[FreeCompConsultant]

@BIGC3002 Many new drives need to be initialized before they can be formatted and used.

Yes, it will wipe out any data.

[BIGC3002]

@FreeCompConsultant It happened really quickly so i didn't think it deleted the data but i guess it did. Crap

Thanks for the quick reply

[FranksGeckoVideos]

Thanks Great Help.

[AngelMizukiLuv]

@normabeanz Hi! I already initialized my computer using this video called

System Recovery - Restore PC Software to Factory Condition - HP Know Your PC show

Just copy the title and paste it in the youtube search, you will find it! :)

I hope this way will help you, too! ^_^

[AngelMizukiLuv]

The Initialize and Convert Disk Wizard didn't appear when I clicked Disk Management!

What do I do?

Please Help!!

[wahbuddy]

Thank you this was just the info a rookie like me was looking for!

[drwhoknowitall]

thank you this worked very well. i need to this because im starting computer vids and i need XP VISTA and 7 and mabye Mac so again thanks for this vid...

did you learn this from eXPerience?

[finn2224]

Thanks dude, you helped me alot :D

[edguitartorres]

On my Mac Pro- installed a 2nd hard drive and it was successful-

I however have a setting that I want to change, if u may know- the new HD seems to be mirroring my main drive and I do NOT want that!

(when i delete something from the main drive, it deletes the copy from the 2nd new drive) How do I make it allow me to delete stuff from my main drive without having the copy of it deleted from the 2nd drive?

By the way it's an internal hard drive Western Digital Caviar black 1 TB

Thanks!- Ed

[crockofplot]

Superb my friend. Although I have windows 7 you assisted me work it out and now have it working perfectly. Thank you

[DjKonvicted123]

Yaw Kl, Yesterday i got a "PNY 8gb" USB it was working perfectly yesterday i just saved all of my stuff onto it and now today i pluged it in and it wont open! it says Insert a disk into drive (E:)!

And its a different name! i named it PNY 8gb and now its called london memo? please can you help me fix this problem! i saved lots of stuff onto it!! i;ve been trying to search on google on how to fix it! just cant!!! please help!

Konvicted

[uphill248]

Hi, I have an SATA hard drive (Maxtor) and a second SATA hard drive, but the connection to the motherboard is different from each other. Do I need a converter? Please Help. I would also like to buy a new hard drive (SATA) how would I know if the connection to the motherboard is the same?? Please Help

[FreeCompConsultant]

SATA is SATA, the connection should be the same.

If you need more help please come to the support forum on my website.

thanks.

[TanJianWei92]

still testing.. now formating.. any idea about keyboard problem issue? whenever i start my comp.. my keyboard 3 lights bling for a sec.. after that the keyboard not working i massive spam my scroll lock, but no lights :(

[pat13189]

Thanks

[donkeykingkong]

Thanks, explained perfectly

[globalko]

Thanks:)!

[Bexidoodles]

thank you thank you thank you ur the dogs bollocks xxxx

[jondamac12]

thanks bro i was looking for a vid lyk dis for soo damm long thanks u helped alot

[huinistella]

Thanks for sharing =)

It was very USEFUL

[bdirienzo16]

i cant initialize my external hard drive, everytime i get to disc management, it wont come up with install wizard and it wont let me right click on it. What can i do?

[amarvpatil]

thank you, that was very useful

[makronic]

Very useful, i've spent 3hrs looking for an answer to this. Been trawling computer guide websites and they all say the same thing.

[tuyenking]

a very helpful video, THANK YOU!

[Iyanlamar]

This video really saved me! I really appreciated this. Thanks again. Happy Holidays.

[CHARLITO227]

ty i just gt my 320gb hard rive with encloser because i want to back my data for the ps3 on to my new hardrive then put in so im trying now

[IRideThePaleHorse]

When I try to initialize, it tells me "Incorrect Function". What does this mean?

[catalin22vl]

done :) thx :D

[catalin22vl]

he give me a not initialized and a stop ... way?

[hairy440]

Thanks, I been trying for 3 days to do it on my own but now with your help I know how to do it. Thanks again.

[rickburnout666]

i cant hear what was said,he speaks too fast,

compmgmt. ??????

does anybody know what was said ???

[FreeCompConsultant]

Probably "Computer Management"

Right click "my computer", select "manage", then "disk management"

[rickburnout666]

when he gets to the run section, then says compmgmt whats the last part, as i cant understand the accent at speed and the writing is pixalated, so cant be read

[drumboyDK]

@rickburnout666 he says:

compmgmt.msc

[CLAYDOGG911]

thank you my hard drive works thanks 2 u

[Smok369]

Man you're a saint!!! I had an ext. hard drive that didn't wanted to work!!! Life saver fo sho!! THx

[Rocstrike]

Thank You very very very very much Man, you're a real life saver

[robertj93]

Thank you very much, i would have been to use my hard drive without u

[leftyprivos]

thank u so much, you are a life saver

[lonnelllilly]

Sir, you are the heat! I looked for 7 days to find a video to help me install a new Lacie 250 GB hard drive, and many people's video was junk because it didn't help me learn to assign it a drive. My HD never registered on my comp and I didn't know the Run/compmgmt... short cut to get help. This video made great sense and was complete in helping me.

[pirox1234]

Dude, i have this mp4, ive had it for about 2 years.

it works just as fine as the first time i recieved.

but, when i plug it on my computer it doesnt show up on My PC, what can i do, and the only options i have when i conect it are: Play files with WMP or do nothing.

it used to appear, it appeared yesterday!!, but not now...

PLZ help

[23martinc]

Excellent!

just one thing.

I have this old IDE 2.5 hard drive that I put in an enclosure thing. And have it connected to my laptop via USB

and everything shows exactly how you have it. (different disk sizes of course) but when I right click to initialize it says "incorrect function".

oh and also I am using Windows Vista.

can you help?

I hope

thanks

[FreeCompConsultant]

I have another video showing how to run diagnostics on a USB drive like that.

Preferably, download a diagnostic from the manufacturer of the drive.

[cwboykin]

Whoa dude, big help. You saved the day.

[tbert2]

Thanks it really hepled. Finally able to format my old ps3 hard drive.

[emmitt81]

plz help

i have a 4 gig usb flash drive i accidentally deleted the files that it came with now it says before i can use it i will need to format it but when i try to format it i get a error mes windows can not complete the format im using vista home pre do to some research i think it might be write protected not shore tho please help

[Makubex628]

When you plug the usb in, go to computer and right click on 'removable disk', go down the list and hit 'format' you should see something that says 'restore device defaults'...hit that and you should be good to go.

Hope this helps.

[diegomh]

thank you so much!!!!!!!!!!

[grizly1]

Awesome vid! Very easy to understand, and helped me a whole lot! Can't see how this can be anything less than 5*!

[Julyan0man]

Thanx Man You help me :)

[PG4ME]

I know next to nothing about installing and formating computer equipment, and just from watching your 5 min video I easily installed and initialized my new external hard drive without the first problem. Thank you so much!

[whadouh16]

i tried it to another pc.. it works..

[whadouh16]

can someone help me.. when i plug my usb .. i cant see where its is..

[Makubex628]

This might be to late but if you can't see the usb when you plug it in...just go to computer and it should be listed. You might want to set the usb to 'auto run' when you plug it in.

[whadouh16]

can someone help me if i insert a usb drive.. it doesnt appear wat will i do

[GoRemotePC]

Can you try it in another PC to see if it works? Can you try another USB device in your PC?

[zman4us]

Fantastic help, Ty ty, had just purchased a 1 tb drive on Ebay, received it today, it was unformatted, almost thought it was DOA. appreciated this info big time, Gene

[aeroxbabi]

Hi there,

In disk management, the wizard does not pop up to initilize my external hard drive. It recognizes it, and I tried right clicking and clicking 'initilize' myself, and it takes me to the checkbox for disk 1, but after that it does nothing. Any thoughts? I'd really appreciate it.

[RandomentalTV]

I need help... I'm trying to extract an .iso of 7.50 GB into my (1 TB) External HDD.. I have ALOT of space left (930 GB) but my computer doesn't let me extract a file size that big because it's a FAT32..

I want to convert my HDD to a NTFS but keep a partition of FAT32 so I don't lose my files.. Any possible way of doing that?

[FreeCompConsultant]

See today's post on my support forum "convert Fat32 to NTFS without losing data.

FreeComputerConsultant(dot)com­(/)forum

[SSaephan916]

I have a external HDD but it couldn't read my xbox 360 but it could read my pc but i want it to read to my xbox 360 need help plz.

[GuyMagicFingers]

dude. thanks so much. This was stumping me for ages!! 640gig Hitachi deskstar sata2 hard drive installed like a dream

[HinttiHillevi]

Or should I just find a MAC and format it like this dude ?v =CEhbmJbAjPw&feature=related does?

[HinttiHillevi]

Well I did format my new hard drive as its shown in this video and it worked BUT AFTER FORMATTING AND PARTITIONING HOW CAN I DISCONNECT THE HARD DRIVE AND PLUG INTO ANOTHER COMPUTER WITHOUT HAVING TO ERASE EVERYTHING ON THE DRIVE? In short: After formatting the hard drive like its said in this video, how can I use the hard drive like an EXTERNAL hard drive should be used?

[adamhully]

I'm doing everything you say in the video except i check "Do Not Format", after it is done i will go into command prompt and type "format E: /FS:FAT 32" Then type 'Y'

It just gets stuck on 0% for hours.

[FreeCompConsultant]

Is this a brand new drive?

Why are you using the command prompt?

Please come to my support forum at my website for further assistance.

[adamhully]

i used cmd because windows no longer formats hard drives to fat32. it was the only way.

But nevermind, i got it working now :)

[FreeCompConsultant]

Glad to hear it. I presume you had a reason for using Fat 32; I generally use NTFS anymore.

Thanks for posting back.

[adamhully]

Yeah my PC HDD is NTFS but the PS3 and xbox360 only support fat32. The main reason i got the external HDD was for backing up my PS3 stuff (And a few things from my pc). So until consoles support NTFS i'm stuck with it :(.

Thanks anyway.

[yllepelle1337]

My new computer doesn't show that it found a new harddrive to install, what am i going to do???

[FreeCompConsultant]

Please go to the support forum on my website. I have posted your question and responded.

thanks.

[uskirachna]

Hey, Thanks so much.. God bless

[dirby007]

Great video....actually shows how to finish the drive not just how to connect the pieces....thanks!!!

[Epicx1984]

Very helpful... I was looking for the "Manage" ended up pulling "Mycomputer" off the start menu to desktop then right clicking into "Manage" couldnt find it in Control panel, or at least i didnt know were... Big help... thanks man. just put in a WD500 and was not regcognizing without the initialization and formating.

[FreeCompConsultant]

Glad to be of help. Please stop by my website, blog and forum often.

[blackwidow611]

this was really helpful seriously a big thanks!

[WaliWorldX]

same here, I recently built a new rig, and was wondering why my extra 500gb Data drive wasn't being read in the My Computer window. the disk manager was seeing it, it was a legitimate drive in the BIOS, so i knew it was a simple fix, or something i was not doing, and as i came to find out, it was. Thanks a bundle!

[marzy88]

thanks for the vid only one i could find that made any sence