How do I format my HDD?

[AndyC53]

Hi community,
I have recently completed my gaming build and have fitted it with a 120gb SSD. But I have just bought a Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB, but when I put it into my PC and started it up I cant find the HDD in the 'Devices and Drives' section. I then went to my local PC shop and he says that I have to format the drive, how do I do that?

 

[Guest]

You can format using a Windows setup DVD. Boot from DVD and set the setup to the new drive. You dont have to complete the installation, just format with NTFS and restart your PC. After this your new drive will show up in your system.

 

[AndyC53]

You can format using a Windows setup DVD. Boot from DVD and set the setup to the new drive. You dont have to complete the installation, just format with NTFS and restart your PC. After this your new drive will show up in your system.

So I can do this even if I have already installed windows 8 on my SSD? Also - How do I boot from the windows setup DVD? So I put the disk in my DVD drive and I booted up but nothing happened.

 

[rehed21]

In Windows 7 (I imagine Win 8 is similar) you go to Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Disk Management. You should see the new drive, right click on it and then click "format" and follow the prompts accepting the default values.

 

[AndyC53]

In Windows 7 (I imagine Win 8 is similar) you go to Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Disk Management. You should see the new drive, right click on it and then click "format" and follow the prompts accepting the default values.

I did exactly what you said but I cant see the new drive. there is only my SSD there.

 

[Guest]

You can format using a Windows setup DVD. Boot from DVD and set the setup to the new drive. You dont have to complete the installation, just format with NTFS and restart your PC. After this your new drive will show up in your system.

So I can do this even if I have already installed windows 8 on my SSD? Also - How do I boot from the windows setup DVD? So I put the disk in my DVD drive and I booted up but nothing happened.

You are formating the new drive, not the drive where you have installed the system, in your case the SSD drive. If you don't format your new drive your system won't see it. To boot from your Win setup disk, make sure that your DVD drive is the first drive to boot from. Change the boot order in your bios.

 

[rehed21]

If you can't see the new drive, try a different SATA port on your motherboard, and check your power and SATA connections to the drive. You can also try a different SATA cable just in case the one you are using is bad. If you still can't see it, check in BIOS to see if it is listed there. If you can't see it in BIOS after trying different ports and cable, the hard drive is likely dead.