Do I have to format a new HDD?

jejemon1012 · Jan 9, 2016

I just bought a 2TB HDD and I was thinking that, should I just plug it in my pc and it will work that easy? Or do I have to format it?

USAFRet · Jan 9, 2016

In this order:

You might have to Initialize it
You might have to create a partition on it
You might have to format it
You might have to give it a drive letter
You might have to do nothing

Plug it in and see what happens.

DelroyMonjo · Jan 9, 2016

Format it.

jejemon1012 · Jan 10, 2016

Do I have to format the old one too? Or the new one only? (Sorry for being a noob)

DelroyMonjo · Jan 10, 2016

I assume you are just adding a new hard drive to a system with an existing hard drive already installed and running. Your old (current) HDD will be designated as C:
Plug in the power cable and SATA (data) cable to the new hard drive and boot up the computer to the BIOS, hold down the DELete key to do this while booting up.
Look in the BIOS page(s) for STORAGE DEVICES or some such indication. It should show you your old HDD as well as your new HDD as attached to SATA device # XX. It will also show your CD drive if you have one, usually called Drive D:
Save and reboot to Windows. It should give a message ADDING new device or New device found.
Look in the Windows Start at COMPUTER to see if your new drive shows up as E: (drive). Right click on the icon and format.
DO NOT format your current C: drive, it contains everything you have including the Windows OS.

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Do I have to format a new HDD?

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