Am I doing something wrong in setting up my hard drive

[BRYCELLIOUS]

I recently bought and put all the parts together for a new PC. After getting everything hooked up and turned on I got a Key for installing windows 10. After getting a USB with a tool and going through the first few steps to hook it up, it reads the drive but it says it has 0mb on it. It is a brand new drive. I don't know if I have it hooked up wrong, if I need to do something in the BIOS to set it up, or if the drive is defective?

 

[ArtPog]

It's not exactly clear what you mean when you state you were "going through the first few steps to hook it up...". I guess the "it" is the OS, yes?

So can we assume you purchased a new HDD and you plan to install the OS (presumably Windows 10?) on that disk? Perhaps you can tell us the size (disk-space) of that HDD?

So we can assume the HDD is a "virgin" disk, devoid of data, right?

And you plan to use the Microsoft Media Creation Tool (USB flash drive) to install the OS onto that HDD, right?

So have you connected the flash drive and booted to it so that the Win 10 Setup program opens and you can install the OS? And is there some problem with this?

Is this the first time you've built a PC and installed an OS on a new system?

 

[BRYCELLIOUS]

Yes this is the first time I have built a PC I believe the problem is that I need a SATA controller driver on my hard drive to be able to work with the OS. It is a 2 trilabyte hard drive. I am having trouble finding a link to a SATA controller driver

 

[ArtPog]

First of all I doubt you have a need for a "SATA controller driver" for your 2 "trilabyte" (TERABYTE or TB) HDD.

Second of all, please respond to my specific questions if you desire my help.

 

[BRYCELLIOUS]

Yes this is my first time building a PC so I very well may be doing something simple wrong. It is a 2 trilabyte hard drive that I believe is having troubles. I am stuck on the steps to downloading the windows 10 operating system. The step where you pick a drive to download it to. Yes I do want to install the OS on that drive, it is a virgin drive. Lastly yeah I have a windows 10 download tool on a USB and I am having trouble going through the steps to download it. Thank you for your consideration and I would really like some help!

 

[ArtPog]

You have got to provide detailed information on the precise steps you are taking to install the Win 10 OS onto your 2 TB (TERABYTE) HDD.
Explain the exact problem(s) you're running into when you try to install the OS.

Please understand...we are not magicians...we cannot see what you're doing. You must explain what you're doing step-by-step - as if you're talking to a child.

 

[BRYCELLIOUS]

I downloaded the tool from the Microsoft website to install windows 10 to my PC that doesn't have OS on it at all. Next I plug it in and it loads up the terms to which I hit accept. Next I hit install, then type in the key I got from buying windows 10 online. I accept more terms then it asks if I am upgrading or custom installing windows 10. I hit custom and it says "drive 0 I allocated space" then across from it, it says 0mb. The problem is that the HDD should not say 0mb, it should say 2 trilabyte's.

 

[ArtPog]

1. I assume you're using the Microsoft Creation Tool with the Win 10 Setup files to fresh-install the OS onto your brand-new "virgin" (unpartitioned, unformatted) HDD. Please confirm that for me.

2. During the beginning of the Win 10 Setup process, following your selection of a "Custom" (fresh) install of the OS, Windows Setup will ask "Where do you want to install Windows?"

3. Your brand-new "virgin" (unpartitioned, unformatted) HDD should be listed indicating its total size (disk-space) as "Unallocated Space" (or "Free space").

4. Ordinarily you would click Next to continue the Setup process so that the OS would be installed on the HDD (unless you desired to multi-partition the HDD, in which case you would select the "New" option to two or more partitions.)

5. So Setup should indicate your 2 TB (that's Terabytes, NOT "trilabytes") has about 1,862 GB of unallocated disk-space.

 

[BRYCELLIOUS]

Your #1 statement is true. All other stated/assumed statements are true. Your final statement where you say next to the total unallocated Space, it should say the total gb's in two tb's is where the problem is, it says 0mb of unallocated space instead?

 

[ArtPog]

You're obviously working with a different PC to communicate here on Tom's Hardware forum, yes?
Or it's the same PC with a different boot drive.

So why don't you connect the 2 TB HDD either internally or externally (as a USB device) to the PC as a SECONDARY drive, access Disk Management and see if the system reports that the drive contains 2 TB (approx. 1862 GB of disk-space). Have you done that?

Have you also tested the drive with the manufacturer's diagnostic program?

 

[BRYCELLIOUS]

I have not done the manufacturer diagnostic program and the pc says it has 0gb

 

[BRYCELLIOUS]

Can you also show me how to run a diagnostic without an OS installed?

 

[USAFRet]

I have not done the manufacturer diagnostic program and the pc says it has 0gb

What, specifically, is telling you 0GB?
Can you provide a screencap...even if just a picture of the screen.

 

[ArtPog]

Have you attempted to initialize, partition, and format that new 2 TB HDD?

 

[BRYCELLIOUS]

I have attempted to format it but I cannot find anything specifically on how to do it and friends that have done this before say they have not done it. It will not let me provide a screen cap, but under SATA information it provides the name of the HDD and in parentheses next to it, it says (0gb)

 

[USAFRet]

but under SATA information

Where, exactly?

 

[BRYCELLIOUS]

I go into easy mode BIOS, directly in the center of the screen there is a box that is labeled SATA information. In that box it says: P4:Name of drive printed on the drive(0gb)

 

[RolandJS]

Have you attempted to initialize, partition, and format that new 2 TB HDD?

ArtPog, do you think he might need something as powerful as Acronis Disk Director or any similar hard-drive/partition manager?

 

[BRYCELLIOUS]

Ran a diagnostic and I have a bad HDD

 

[ArtPog]

Ran a diagnostic and I have a bad HDD

It's a good lesson that you learned. One of the first things we try to impress upon PC users (both new as well as experienced) is that one of the first (if not THE FIRST) troubleshooting steps to take when PC problems arise that impact upon a HDD or SSD is to test the health of the disk with a diagnostic program - preferably one provided by the manufacturer of the drive.

Anyway glad you finally discovered the source of the problem.