Initialize new disk (physical device)

Physical Disks Initialization

To make disk accessible for application it needs to be initialized first by one of the following partition style:

  • Master Boot Record (MBR);
  • GUID Partition Table

To initialize physical disk proceed as follows:

  1. Select disk to initialize

    In Disk Explorer select not-initialized Disk (Physical Disk).

  2. Open the Initialize Disk dialog
    • From the Disk Explorer toolbar click Initialize button or use command Actions > Initialize... from main menu;
    • Right-click the selected item and click Initialize... command from the context menu.

    Confirm disk selection and other options in opened dialog.

    Figure 1: Initialize Disk dialog
    Partition style
    Select either MBR (Master Boot Record) or GPT (GUID Partition Table) partition style.
    Note: GPT partition style is not supported by older versions of Windows. It is recommended for disks larger then 2TB. For all other purposes we recommend to use MBR partition style
    Create typical bootstrap code
    Default generic bootstrap code will be written if this option is on.
    Clear primary partition table
    Primary partition table records will be cleared.
    Warning: It is highly recommended to not clear primary partition table in case of restoring deleted or damaged disk partitioning.
  3. Click OK to complete disk initialization

After disk initialization it should be visible and accessible in Disk Explorer for other actions, such as Create partition and more.