A Complete Guide To Installing The System On A New Hard Disk Partition, Easy To Get Started And Less Detours

After getting a brand new hard drive, regardless of whether it is a mechanical hard drive or a solid-state drive, the first reaction of many people is to be a little confused.

Connect the computer with a wire to check. In the interface, no obvious traces were found in "My Computer". After turning on the disk management function, I noticed that there was a large space that was black and marked as "unallocated".

I want to partition a new hard drive and then install a system. However, faced with these professional operations, I really don’t know which step to start with.

Don't worry, actually installing the system on the new hard drive partition is not as complicated as you think.

Nowadays, this complete process needs to be broken down, broken up, and explained clearly. It starts with the most basic preparation work, then goes to the partition to carry out specific operations, and then until the final system installation, each step must be clearly understood.

Follow the steps and you'll be putting your new hard drive to use in no time.

Before taking action, first understand the partition table type

Before starting the formal operation, there is something that must be clarified first. This thing is the partition table format, not anything else.

There are currently two mainstream ones: GPT and MBR .

GPT is a must-have configuration for current new computers and UEFI boot modes. The upper limit of the hard disk capacity it can support is 18EB, and it has the ability to create countless primary partitions.

If your hard drive capacity exceeds 2TB, or you are using a computer configured in recent years, then you can’t go wrong with GPT.

MBR technology is relatively old, and its maximum support for hard drive capacity is only 2TB. Moreover, in terms of the number of primary partitions created, only 4 can be created at most.

If you are not installing a system for an old computer from ten years ago, or if there are no special compatibility requirements, then it is usually not recommended to use MBR again.

Also check for hardware compatibility.

Check whether the motherboard supports UEFI booting, whether the new hard drive has a SATA interface or an M.2 interface, and whether there is a corresponding slot on the motherboard.

These should be confirmed before purchasing a hard drive.

If there is important data in the hard disk, be sure to back it up to another disk first, because the partition operation will erase all the contents on the hard disk.

Method 1: Use Windows’ built-in disk management partition

The Windows system comes with a very easy-to-use partitioning tool. There is no need to install additional software at all. That's it.

Right-click the mouse on the desktop called "This PC", select the "Manage" option, find the "Disk Management" item in the menu that appears on the left and click on it.

At this time, you can see the status of all hard drives on your computer.

A new hard drive will often appear as "Disk 1", or it may be "Disk 2" with "Unallocated" marked on it.

Right-click on the new hard disk area and select "Initialize disk" .

A pop-up window will appear. This window will allow you to select the partition table format. Based on the knowledge previously described, select GPT or MBR, and then click OK.

After the initialization is completed, the hard disk in the unallocated state is still black. Then right-click and select "New Simple Volume".

The next step is to set the partition size.

If you plan to divide it into multiple regions, then in the "Simple volume size" field, enter the amount of space desired for the first partition in MB.

For example, if you want to divide 100GB, enter 102400.

Then assign a drive letter, such as C drive or D drive.

file system select NTFS , which is the most commonly used format for Windows.

Just leave the allocation unit size as default, and the volume label can be written as you wish, such as "System" or "Software".

Finally, check the option called "Perform a quick format", click the "Finish" button, and wait a few seconds for the partition to be created.

For the remaining unallocated space, repeat the above operations to continue creating other partitions.

Method 2: It is more convenient to use EaseUS Partition Master

If you feel that the use of disk management tools lacks fluency, or if you have more flexible and delicate partition adjustment needs, you may wish to try the EaseUS Partition Master software.

This product is specially designed to meet the needs of users. It is particularly friendly to novices and its interface is very intuitive. It supports up to 16TB hard drives and can also perform advanced operations such as merging, splitting, and moving partitions.

After downloading and installing the software, open it, find the unallocated space on the new hard drive, select the unallocated space, and then click "Create" on the function bar on the right.

In the pop-up window, you can set the partition size yourself, you can set the drive letter yourself, you can set the file system yourself, and you can set the partition type yourself.

In the case of a GPT disk, you can choose to use it as a primary partition or a logical partition. Generally, just select the primary partition.

After all parameters are set, click "OK".

Note that the operation at this time has not been actually executed, but only added a pending task list.

After confirming that all settings are correct, click "Perform a task" in the lower right corner of the software, and then click "Apply" so that the software will complete the creation of the partition on its own.

System installation steps after partitioning is completed

After the partitioning is done, it’s time to install the system.

First you need to prepare a System installation USB disk .

You can go to Microsoft's official website to download the Windows installation media creation tool, and follow the prompts given to write the system image to the USB flash drive.

Insert the USB flash drive into the computer and restart the machine.

When turning on the computer, you need to keep pressing Del, F2 or F12 (the keys are different for different brands) to enter the BIOS settings, then set the USB flash drive as the first boot item, and finally save and exit the operation.

The computer will boot from the USB flash drive and enter the Windows installation interface.

Follow the prompts to select the language and version. When you reach the step "Where do you want to install the system", you will be able to see the various partitions that were previously divided.

Select the partition where you plan to install the system, such as the C drive, and click Next.

When the computer starts the installation program, it will complete the next work on its own. During this period, the computer will restart several times. You just need to wait patiently.

In fact, it is not particularly difficult to partition a new hard drive and install the system. The key point is to understand how to choose the partition table type, and then follow the steps given by disk management or third-party software to carry out the operation step by step.

After the partition is completed, it is also a standard procedure to install the system using an installation USB disk.

Once the preparations are properly completed, do not click on unconfirmed options during the entire process. Generally speaking, there will be no problems.

I hope this tutorial can help you successfully initialize the new hard drive and install the system.