Have you bought a new hard drive recently and thinking to boot the drive into windows? The most common problem which a user experience is that the drive is not visible in the ‘My computer’. This usually increases the confusion and the user end up going to the shop. The process does not require any advanced knowledge and can be done easily in minutes with a few simple steps.
What to Do?
The process is explained below:
With a right click of the mouse on “My Computer” or a right click on the “Star-Ball” of Vista, an option of ‘Manage’ will be visible. Left click the ‘Manage’ button. The button will lead you to an option of “storage” and later to “Disk Management”.
At the bottom, there will be a tab labeled “Computer Management”. This is where all the hard drives available will be visible. The status of the drive, whether it is active or not will also be mentioned. The hardware that you have recently installed will be marked as “Unallocated”. You might also see ‘offline’ written on the left side. In case you see “offline” written, it is recommended that you right-click on the box and choose ‘initialize’. After this, the status of the hardware should now show on-line.
The next step is to right-click on the drive with the status “unallocated” and click on the option of “New Simple Volume.”
A window will open. Select “Next”. On this window, you will be allowed to adjust the size according to your preference. Usually users opt for the maximum amount. However, if you are interested in smaller drives, then you can edit this value as you desire.
The step is for choosing a drive name and letter. You can select any drive letter and enter any label name that is not in use or not assigned. Click “Next”.
Accept all the default options that pop up on the screen. Check the option of “Perform a quick format.” and keep the box for compressionunchecked. This will prevent your computer from slowing down. The option of compression should always be your last priority. It is because you will not be able to undo the process without reformatting. The best option is to use NTFS. This ensures high security and excellent performance.
In this step, you will name the drive in the “volume label” area if you have not already done so. Click “Next” once you are done.
A summary will be seen on the window. Click Finish. Now go back to “Drive Management” and check the status of your new drive. You will see that it is now available and “healthy”.
Go to “My Computer”. Check if your unused drive is ready to be used.
It is a simple process and keeps you away from many hassles.
