Sometimes Windows 10 fails to detect the SSD, and the SSD does not show up on the File Explorer.
Related: How to Fix the SSD Not Recognized Error in Windows 10įor a brand new SSD, initializing it is often the first step to configuring it with your PC. The file format determines how your data is organized on your SSD or hard drive. Initializing a storage device means formatting the drive according to a specific file format. Initializing an SSD is a crucial step, and not doing so can prevent the SSD from working properly with your PC. Read on to learn how to initialize an SSD in Windows 10.ĭo You Have to Initialize an SSD Before Using It? As a reminder, GPT is newer, allowing more partitions and bigger drive sizes for drives that are larger than 2TB of capacity. Not doing so can result in the operating system failing to detect the SSD.Īlthough it may seem techy and complicated, initializing an SSD is easier than you think. The hard drive uninitialized error would get resolved.
Before you begin using an SSD as secondary storage, you need to initialize it correctly. Disk Management > right click the disk which is uninitialized and select Initialize Disk.
Right-click the new drive (list of drives on lower section of the window). Leave the default settings and click OK to bring the disk online. But if you'd prefer not to erase your operating system. Usually, you need to initialize a disk when you add a new hard disk to your. If you have a Mac, the tools to format your system drive are built in. Initialize disk is a process to prepare the disk available for data storage. If you're using Windows, you'll need to create a recovery drive to do this. Solid-state drives (SSD) significantly boost your PC’s performance and are often used in combination with a traditional hard drive. A pop-up (Initialize Disk) should appear prompting you to initialize the disk. To completely erase and format the hard drive on which Windows or macOS is installed, you'll need to do so from outside of the operating system.