HD103SJ - Does it come formatted

[lanceberry]

Hi all,
I bought 2x 1tb hard drives i want to know weather it comes formatted

I want to do a clean install of windows 7 i am only upgrading my hard drives

I know how to install it but don't know what to do first

1) Format the drives

2) Install windows 7

or once you've installed windows 7 then format the 2 drives im confused help

 

[John_VanKirk]

Hello,

If you purchased both HDDs new (either NIB or OEM) they are not high level formatted. There is no partition table, disk signature, partition, or file system on the drives.

If you are going to use them to install Win-7 cleanly, don't format them initially.

Connect only 1 HDD to your system, and install Windows Cleanly from the DVD installation disk.
You can allocate a specific amount of space for the windows installation, leaving the rest unallocated, or let windows select the entire drive as a single partition. Windows will take care or adding the needed partitions and formatting the drive with NTFS.

Don't connect the second HDD to you system until windows is completely installed, or some of the boot files could be placed on the 2nd drive.

When Windows is installed, then you can connect your 2nd HDD, and partition and format it in Disk Management.

 

[lanceberry]

Oh right now i get it..

Windows formats the drive and partitions the drive before installing windows

when i've installed windows then place the 2 HDD in the slot and then format it

why is partitioning it necessary ?

 

[John_VanKirk]

Oh right now i get it..

Windows formats the drive and partitions the drive before installing windows

when i've installed windows then place the 2 HDD in the slot and then format it

why is partitioning it necessary ?

Hi Lance,

Partitions are necessary as separate containers on drives. In easy terms they make completely separate sections on a drive that don't overlap, and are ID'd as a DriveLetter. Basic drives like you will have can have up to 4 primary partitions (or 3 partitioins + and 1extended partition). More complex drive systems can have volumes that span over multiple drives & get very complicated.

In your situation, if you choose the default with Win-7 installation, Windows places 1 partition covering the whole drive, and formats it. If you select a specific size for Win-7 installation, the remainder will remain Unallocated space, to be set up later, or partitioned into a separate DriveLetter.
When Win-7 sets up the drive, the Win-7, or boot drive, is always the C: drive (DriveLetter).

So in summary, they are mandatory, completely separate (single or multiple) areas on a drive for organization.