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→Initializing a New Disk
== Initializing a New Disk ==
Once a new disk has been installed into a Windows Server 2008 system it must be initialized before any partitions can be created on it. This is performed using the Initialize Disk Wizard which can be accessed from the Disk Management snap-in. This can be accessed either from the Server Manager or Computer Management tools. To launch the Server Manager open the Start menu and click on the ''Server Manager'' option, or click on the Server Manager icon in the task bar. Alternatively launch Computer Management from ''Start -> All Programs -> Administration Tools -> Computer Management''.
With either the Server manager or Computer Management tools running select the ''Storage'' option from the left hand panel followed by ''Disk Management''. The Disk Manager will subsequently appear. Ensure that the top pane is displaying the ''Disk List'' so that the new drive is visible. This is configured by selecting the ''View->Top-Disk List'' option from the top menu bar. Any uninitialized disks will be listed in the disk view as ''Offline'' and with a red down arrow on the disk drive icon in both the list and graphical views. In addition, the disk space will be indicated as unallocated in the graphical view. The following image shows a new installed and uninitialized disk drive shown in the Disk Manager:
Before a new disk can be initialized it must first be brought online. To bring this diskonline right click on the disk icon in either disk or graphical list and select ''Online'' from the popup menu, Once this disk is brought online the graphical view will categorize the disk as ''Not Initialized''. To initialize the disk right click once again on the disk icon and select ''Initialize Disk''. The the resulting dialog ensure that the correct disk is selected for initialization and then choose whether to initialize the disk using the MBR or GPT partition styles. The ''Initialize Disk'' dialog is shown in the following figure ready to initialize disk 1 using the MBR partition style: [[Image:windows_server_2008_disk_initialization.jpg|The Windows Server 2008 disk initialization dialog]] Click on OK to initialize the disk. Once completed the disk will be listed with the chosen partition style with the space marked as ''Unallocated'' in the graphical view. The next step is to create partitions on the disks or use them as dynamic disks. These topics are covered in subsequent chapters.
