Prepare a hard disk for use

When you start your computer for the first time after installing a new hard disk, Windows may ask you to restart after finding and installing drivers for it. It's frustrating but nothing can be done about it. Restart as requested and wait for Windows to load.

Once this happens, you won't be able to use the hard disk just yet. This is because, although the hardware has been installed, the disk itself hasn't been prepared. Left-click on the Start button and then right-click on My Computer. Select manage from the menu that appears.

Another window, the computer management screen, will appear. This is handy for checking on drivers and defragmenting the hard disk. For now, left-click on the Disk Management option in the left-hand column. This will show a pictorial representation of all the disks connected to the computer.

You can see one at the bottom that has a black line along the top. This is the new disk and the black shows that it is as yet unprepared.

The disk may also need to be intialised if the text 'Not Initialized' appears to the left of the bar. Right click on this and then left-click on Initialize. Leave 'Disk 1' selected and click on OK and it will then say that it is Online.

Right-click on the main part of this row and then left-click on New Partition. Click on Next, leave Primary partition selected and click on Next. We recommend using the maximum amount of space on the disk, so leave the Partition size as it is and click on Next again.

You can either assign a letter to this drive, or make it appear as a folder on the computer. It is usually best to assign a letter because it is harder to find out if it is getting full if it appears as a folder.

Left-click on the drop down menu to select a different letter. For this example, we decided to use F for Files. Click on Next.

The formatting is the preparation and we recommend leaving the default options selected and using NTFS. It's more secure than the older FAT32 alternative and it can handle larger files, which makes it essential if you want to edit video.

Left-click in the Volume label text box and give the drive a name. This can be changed later on if you want. Leave the two bottom options unselected and click on Next.

Windows displays a summary of the settings that will be used. Check to make sure there are no mistakes and then click on Finish. The drive will appear in the top half of the screen with a progress report on the formatting. Once it has finished the disk is ready to use.