Initializing a disk is a crucial step when setting up a new hard drive or SSD in a Windows environment. This process prepares the disk for use by creating a partition and a file system. Without initialization, the operating system cannot store data on the disk. This guide will walk you through the steps to initialize a disk using both the Disk Management tool and Command Prompt (CMD) in Windows.

Examples:

Using Disk Management Tool:

1. Open Disk Management:

   • Press Win + X and select "Disk Management" from the menu.
   • Alternatively, you can press Win + R, type diskmgmt.msc, and press Enter.

2. Initialize the Disk:

   • In the Disk Management window, you will see a list of all connected drives. Uninitialized disks will be marked as "Unknown" and "Not Initialized."
   • Right-click on the disk you want to initialize and select "Initialize Disk."
   • In the Initialize Disk dialog box, choose either the MBR (Master Boot Record) or GPT (GUID Partition Table) partition style. GPT is recommended for disks larger than 2TB or for modern systems.

3. Create a New Volume:

   • After initializing the disk, right-click on the unallocated space and select "New Simple Volume."
   • Follow the New Simple Volume Wizard to specify the volume size, assign a drive letter, and format the partition with a file system (usually NTFS).

Using Command Prompt (CMD):

1. Open Command Prompt as Administrator:

   • Press Win + X and select "Command Prompt (Admin)" or "Windows PowerShell (Admin)."

2. Use Diskpart Utility:

   • Type diskpart and press Enter to launch the Diskpart utility.

3. List and Select the Disk:

   • Type list disk and press Enter to display all connected disks.
   • Identify the disk you want to initialize by its number.
   • Type select disk <disk number> and press Enter (replace <disk number> with the actual disk number).

4. Initialize the Disk:

   • Type convert gpt and press Enter to initialize the disk with GPT. For MBR, type convert mbr instead.

5. Create a Partition:

   • Type create partition primary and press Enter to create a primary partition.
   • Type format fs=ntfs quick and press Enter to format the partition with the NTFS file system.
   • Type assign letter=<drive letter> and press Enter to assign a drive letter (replace <drive letter> with the desired letter, e.g., D).

6. Exit Diskpart:

   • Type exit and press Enter to exit Diskpart.