Connecting a new Windows 7 hard drive. External hard drive does not initialize: troubleshooting methods

Initialization hard drive- this is its activation, preparation for work, including formatting the disk and recording control information. After initialization, the disk is ready for use.
Open the Windows search bar.

Type diskmgmt.msc. Press Enter.

In the Disk Control Panel that opens, we see a message stating that in order to gain access to the disk, it must be initialized.

First, set the section style in the same window. There are two options, from which you choose the one that is most suitable for you.

GPT or MBR?

Master Boot Record (MBR) – translated into Russian as “Master Boot Record”. This is the first sector (the initial five hundred and twelve bytes of the memory area) of the information carrier - a hard drive or solid-state drive. Contains a bootloader (part of the code) for the installed operating system and information about logical disk partitions. For the first time, such technology began to be used in the eighties of the last century in the initial versions of DOS. Ensures the operation of drives with a capacity of up to 2.2 terabytes, and only four main partitions on the disk.

GUID Partition Table (GPT) is a new rule for the location of partition tables on an information storage medium, located in sector number two. It has almost no restrictions, disks can be larger, and a huge, almost unlimited number of partitions are created. It is a piece of UEFI firmware from Intel, designed to replace the BIOS.
In our case, we settle on MBR. Check the box for this style.
Click Ok.

In the window that appears, right-click on the new disk (“not allocated”) (green arrow) and select “Create a simple volume.”

A wizard opens to create a new volume.
Click "Next".

Select a letter to name the drive. For us it is "R". Naturally, the letter must be assigned to one that is not currently used in the names of other volumes. Duplication is not allowed. Let's move on.

We select the file system, we have NTFS (they offer standard NTFS, FAT32, FAT). Specify the cluster size; in this case, it was left as default. A minimum of 512 bytes is often recommended, which allows the system to use disk space more economically.

Select the volume label - the name of the disk displayed in the Computer folder;
Check the box to format the disk faster.
To continue, click the “Next” button.

Sometimes a hard drive on a computer that is already in use begins to require initialization. The "Unknown, Not Initialized" condition can occur on both external and internal drives in all versions of Windows.

The drive status "Unknown, Not Initialized, Unllocated" appears when an unused hard drive is first connected to the computer.

The new disk is initialized, partitioned and formatted using Windows tools.

Typically, the "Not Initialized" status of the disk in use can be caused by:

• virus attack;
• damage to sectors;
• loss of a disk partition;
• damage file system PC;
• damage to the master boot record, etc.

When this happens, the hard drive shows unallocated space in Disk Management and the information residing on the drive becomes inaccessible.

It is also possible that a disk does not display disk space.

Initializing a disk, like formatting it, erases the data on the hard disk.

For the problem of an unknown, uninitialized disk, if the cause of the situation is unknown, the most acceptable option is to initialize the disk and use software to recover deleted files from it.

The disk is unknown, not initialized, not allocated. Initialization process

To begin initializing your hard drive, you need to open Windows Disk Management.

Step 1. Press “Win+R”.

Step 2. Type “diskmgmt.msc” and click “OK”.

Find the uninitialized disk in Disk Management. If its capacity is indicated, this means that the operating system recognized the disk, but for some reason the disk has a lost partition or a damaged MBR.

Important! Initializing the disk may result in the loss of all stored data on it. If the data on the disk is important, this solution is not optimal.

Step 3. If there are no saved files on the disk important files, right-click on it and select the “Initialize disk” function.

Step 4. Select MBR if the disk size is less than 2 TB, and GPT if more. Click "OK".

Step 5. Right-click on the disk and select “Create simple volume...”.

Right-click on the disk and select “Create simple volume...”

Step 7 Leave the data as is and click Next.

Step 8 Select the drive letter in the OS and click “Next”.

Step 9 Choose NTFS system, tick “ Quick formatting" and click "Next".

Step 10 Click "Done".

The drive will appear in My Computer Explorer.

Recover MBR

MBR is the master boot record located at the beginning of the hard drive. The MBR can become corrupted due to malware, random power failure, etc.

If the MBR is damaged, the operating system cannot access the data on the disk, producing the information “disk unknown, not initialized.” In such a situation, it is necessary to rebuild the MBR.

To fix a damaged MBR, you can use the free EaseUS Partition Master software.

Step 1. Go to URL: https://www.easeus.com/partition-manager/ and click “Free Trial”.

Step 2. Launch the installation of the program by double clicking the mouse.

Step 3. Select a language and click OK.

Step 4. Click “Accept”.

Step 5. Click “Next” in the next window, marking the items as in the picture.

Step 6. Uncheck additional software and click “Next”.

Step 7 Check the “Custom installation” option, uncheck the “Install SHAREit” option, click “Next”.

Step 8 Check the box “I do not accept”, click on “Next”.

Step 9 To receive newsletters from developers, you can enter the address email, if you don't want to, just click "Next".

Step 10 Click “Finish”, leaving a check mark on the item automatic start utilities after installation.

Step 11 After starting the program, right-click the hard drive and left-click “Rebuild MBR”.

Step 12 Click "Execute 1 Operation" to perform the pending boot record repair operation.

Check and fix bad sectors and disk errors

Step 1. In Partition Master, right-click on the partition you want to check and select Check File System"("Check file system").

Step 2. Leave the “Try to fix errors...” option selected and click “Start”.

Leave the “Try to fix errors...” option selected and click “Start”

The software will begin checking the file system of the disk partition.

Step 3. When the operation is complete, click “Finish”.

Find out more detailed information from our new article.

Recovering a disk partition

Fixing the MBR does not always solve the hard drive initialization problem. If the disk still has unallocated space in Disk Management, you need to perform a partition recovery.

Important! Hard disks, both MBR and GPT, that have an initialization problem appear in the Partition Wizard as an MBR disk. A GPT disk that appears as MBR must be converted to GPT before the partition can be restored, otherwise it may fail.

Step 1. Click on " Partition Recovery"("Partition Recovery") at the top of the main window.

Step 2. Select the disk and click “Scan” to search for lost partitions.

The program will scan in two modes: “Quick Scan” and “Deep Scan” to find all lost partitions and data.

Note! " Quick Scan" finds the last deleted partition, and "Deep Scan" finds previously deleted partitions.

Step 3. Wait for the scan to complete.

Step 4. Select the lost partition marked as “Deleted” with previous labels, capacity, etc. and click “Proceed”.

Step 5. Click “Recover Now”.

Step 6. Click "Execute 1 Operation" and click "Apply" to resuscitate the partition.

Recovering information on a hard drive

If there are important files on the disk, you can try to extract them after the disk has been initialized using EaseUS software.

Step 1. Go to the URL: https://www.easeus.com/datarecoverywizard/free-data-recovery-software.htm and click “Free Download”.

Step 2. Launch the downloaded file by left clicking the mouse.

Step 3. Select a language and click “OK”.

Step 5. Click "Accept".

Step 7 In the next window, click “Install”.

Step 8 Click "Finish".

Step 7 Select the drive and click "Scan" to start scanning the deleted data.

Step 8 After scanning, you can view your lost files by selecting categories and folders on the left. Having highlighted necessary files in the central window, click “Restore” at the bottom right.

Step 9 Select a folder to save the recovered files and click OK.

After some time, the data will be restored.

A folder with recovered files will open.

If an uninitialized disk does not have a specified size

If Disk Management doesn't have any hard drive information, doesn't show capacity, or you can't perform operations in Disk Management and get an I/O error, there might be a problem with the drive itself or the external hard drive container.

If it is an external hard drive, replace its container.

If it is an internal drive, follow these steps.

Step 1. Turn off the computer, disconnect all wires from it, remembering the order in which they are disconnected. Remove the battery if it is a portable device.

Step 2. Remove the cover system unit PC by unscrewing the screws securing it.

Step 3. Disconnect the data and power cables from the problematic hard drive.

Step 4. Remove the CMOS battery located on the motherboard PC, for ten minutes, reset BIOS settings. Reinsert the battery.

Step 5. Connect the data and power cables to the drive.

Step 6. Reassemble the computer in the reverse order of shutdown and turn it on.

Step 7 Go to Windows Disk Management and see if the hard drive shows its size by right-clicking on the “This PC” icon and clicking on the “Manage” line. Then select the “Disk Management” subsection and look at the disk status. If there is no disk, move on to the next solution.

Check the hard drive and replace if it is faulty

Connect with an unspecified size to another computer and try to initialize it.

If the problem persists, you must send the disk to service center to check bad sectors. If there are physical errors on the disk, the hard disk needs to be replaced.

Video - Initializing the hard disk (HDD) in Windows

Many users of computer and mobile equipment quite often come across the term “initialization”. Few people have any idea what initialization is. Therefore, it is worth trying to fill this knowledge gap by providing specific examples.

Initialization - what is it in general understanding

Initialization, based on the interpretations offered by many respected Internet resources, means the determination of parameters or configuration, preparation for work, activation processes, etc. Sometimes this term is also referred to as initiation, but its interpretation is more consistent with the creation, launch or start of something -That.

Initialization, as a process of determining specified parameters or their values, can equally be applied to both software and hardware components of a computer system.

Why initialization is needed, what initialization is in each specific case, can be understood in the simplest situations. For example, a user decided to change his hard drive, bought a new one, installed it in his computer, but it doesn’t work. Why? Yes, only because the system cannot automatically determine its operating parameters, that is, roughly speaking, it does not understand how to work with it. This is where initialization of the disk is required so that the OS, so to speak, perceives its characteristics and can determine the method for accessing it. This will be discussed in detail.

Basic directions of initialization

Among the main or even priority areas that are implied by initialization, in most cases the following are distinguished:

• initialization of programs and applications of all types;
• initialization of hard drives;
• initialization of a special printing subsystem;
• initialization of modems on mobile devices.

Of course, these are only the main types, because if you dig deep into the jungle of computer processes, you can identify many more such areas. For example, this also includes determining the initial characteristics of processors or RAM V primary system BIOS input/output, or even preparing the operating system for startup. But due to the complexity technical description, which, by and large, is not needed by the average user, this issue will not be addressed.

Therefore, without going into the technical details of the processes, we will dwell on each specific case separately.

How does the program initialize?

When it comes to application initialization, the priority processes are considered to be setting the correct initial variables or setting their values ​​to zero. This includes all kinds of switches, counters, addresses, etc.

For example, for assembly programs presented in most cases executable files COM and EXE formats, the initialization process consists of four main stages:

• an indication of which segment registers should correspond to certain segments;
• saving the address of the DS register on the stack at the start of program execution;
• writing a zero address to the stack;

When processing the corresponding data arrays, the process has a cyclic nature, when values ​​in an array starting with a variable with a value of 0 or 1 are obtained only after going through the full cycle and as the application is executed. And there can be exactly as many loops as there are variables in the entire array.

Hard drive initialization issues

The situation with initializing hard drives is somewhat simpler. Some sources claim that the essence of the process comes down to formatting. This is wrong.

Disk initialization at the initial stage, if you use Windows systems, identifies a new partition by comparing attributes boot records(MBR or GPT).

Next, the process of creating a simple volume is applied, indicating the actual size, assigning a letter (so that the system “sees” the disk), and only then formatting begins with the selection of the appropriate file system (in most cases NTFS).

At this stage, initialization is completed. What is initialization in this case? This is a set of measures to set hard drive parameters, and not a single process, as some claim.

Print subsystem

For the print subsystem, the initialization process is to initially determine which device will be used, and after sending a signal to it to scan its capabilities, including setting the possible paper size, the number of colors used, supported print formats, maximum resolution, etc. .

These parameters are used to set the printing subsystem. Thus, the printer restored to its initial state will work correctly and without failures.

Initialization on mobile devices

As for mobile technology, the so-called initialization string is often used, in which the values ​​of modem parameters are written when setting up an Internet connection through a mobile operator.

As a rule, the entered value always has the same form - AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","Name of the operator or its Internet resource". But this applies only to those cases when it is intended to access the Internet on a computer through a modem of a connected mobile device.

Initialization errors and methods for eliminating them

Finally, it is worth noting that in all of the examples given, an initialization error may occur. What to do in such a situation? In the case of hard drives or removable storage devices, the easiest solution is to check the connections to the motherboard.

In programs, the most common crash code is 0x0175dcbb (as, for example, in the game Sims 3). Basically, the problem concerns device driver conflicts, their absence or incorrect installation, non-functional RAM sticks, etc. Sometimes the problem may be in the .NET Framework platform for which you need to install an update. Perhaps the failure is due to damage to the media, for example, from which the game is launched. In general, you never know what can happen. But the solution to this problem must be made on the basis of an assessment of the situation itself and the reasons that caused the failure.

Many user data are stored in large volumes on hard drives, so the error "The disk is not initialized" really serious. Perhaps the user is trying to rearrange the hard drive, which leads to a bug. The crash also appears when reinstalling Windows, or when in Acronis Disk Director are trying to perform some operations on the HHD or SSD. A system glitch is less common when Windows is not detected highlighted area disk.

Reasons

Winchester is quite unstable, although it may not seem so. The presence of many mechanical parts increases their risk of failure. Sometimes the cause of the conflict is the BIOS, or rather its settings. Failure of other computer components should also not be overlooked.

How to recover a disk

We have selected several solutions that will tell you what points should be checked first in case of an initialization error.

Cables and power

If the hard drive was removed from the computer, then perhaps not all cables are connected. Sometimes, even if they fit tightly, the contacts do not touch, which will naturally cause a bug. It is recommended to re-disconnect all elements to reconnection. You can lightly wipe the contacts with alcohol. To check, try installing the hard drive from another PC. This way you can identify the true problem.

BIOS

Internal BIOS parameters rarely go wrong, but you still need to check. If you lack knowledge in this area, simply restart. The easiest way disconnect the battery on the motherboard and remove the battery, if you have a laptop.

You can go into the BIOS and find the Exit item. There will be among several teams "Load Default Settings". By activating it, a backup will be made to the factory settings.

Breaking

The most characteristic sign of a breakdown is sound. Winchester began to publish something new, then, most likely, it is on the verge of failure. There's nothing you can do about it. It is better to immediately go to the store for an alternative hard drive. Failures in the PC itself also affect the hard drive. Try replacing some elements: cables, RAM, connectors. In general, you need to find a non-working element that affects the reading of data.

By the way, read this article too: Microsoft registration server regsvr32.exe is loading the processor: how to disable it

Utility

We resort to the help of a utility for reviving partitions. Alternatively, it could be Acronis Recovery Expert, HDDScan or something like them. Only an experienced user can perform such complex tasks. Inexperienced users should refrain from any manipulations. IN as a last resort Google it.

Trojans

Removing them is an important step towards solving “The disk is not initialized.” If you can carry out this operation, then be sure to scan everything for viruses. Although this is unlikely, hackers never stand still, and neither does their technology.

Uninitialized HDD partition

There are often times when the system is unable to determine the free area of ​​the hard drive and assign it a specific value. In such cases, they are used for diagnosis and correction. third party utilities. Here is a video instruction on how the program works TestDisk.

Other solutions

• reinstall your Windows, update drivers, or switch to the official top ten;
• normal formatting via ACRONIS will solve minor virtual bugs.

Conclusion

We showed the most simple steps, which should be checked. In any case, remember that hard drives also have a limited service life, which can result in bad sectors.

When using computer equipment and mobile gadgets, users are faced with the term initialization. In this article we will try to study in detail what this process is and its scope of application.

What is initialization

This concept means preparation for work and determination of application debugging parameters for error-free operation. The principle of its operation is directed from the outside relative to the object that is being initialized. First of all, this procedure responsible for setting up certain parameters and rules by which the software will operate.

There is also a concept called hardware initialization. It is best to consider it using the example of loading personal computer: When the PC is connected to the mains, it does not perform any functions, the controllers and chips contain random numerical sequences, and the processor does not execute the given code. To boot your PC it is necessary for the processor to execute the Reset command. After it is implemented, the controllers will begin executing the specified code, and it will be written to a special volatile memory (ROM) storage. Data that is saved in ROM is transferred to the BIOS, where it is used to control external devices that are connected to the computer.

Hardware initialization is an important procedure that helps the system determine the types of connected devices and check their functionality.

Initialization directions

There are several directions:

• initialization programs and applications all types;
• hard magnetic drives;
• devices and subsystems printing;
• applications and modems on mobile devices.

Where is initialization used?

Below we will discuss in detail the situations in which this procedure is applied. In fact, there are many more similar options and special cases, for example, initializing a Flash player, a router when recording, a scanner when connecting, or a monitor driver. But we will consider only the main cases.

Programs

Initializing a program involves setting the initial values ​​of variables or resetting these parameters to zero before it is launched on the computer. The parameters for proper operation are often contained in special configuration file along with the installation kit.

Hard drive

Initializing a hard drive can include formatting it into a different file system format or creating a partition or volume. It is worth noting that this procedure is required for parameter settings new hard drive. This is necessary in situations where the equipment is not displayed in the explorer.

Print subsystem

Initialization for printing subsystems is necessary in cases where the user needs to print a document onto paper. This will require external device printing - printer. In order for the process to go smoothly, you need determine initial parameters. The system contacts the device and sends a signal to scan its capabilities. At the end of the procedure, the user is offered a printing option that the equipment can perform.

On the phone

Initialization on the phone, as a rule, is associated with determining the parameters of the SIM card, SMS messages and applications. This usually happens on first startup. mobile system or when installing programs. If the message “ Please wait, initialization in progress", this means that the software is being configured. It is also possible when connecting the phone to a modem or router to determine network settings.

Initializing download

This procedure is launched when downloading a file from the Internet, for example, through an Internet browser. In this case, packet data is exchanged between the user’s computer and the server where the downloaded files are located. Before downloading, the browser initializes and activates the link, allowing the object to be downloaded. Once on PC, it analyzed by the system, parameters and conditions for launch and installation are created.

Common initialization errors

Users often encounter various errors. An initialization error indicates that the synchronization or verification process failed. Next, the main problems with initialization experienced by owners of various devices will be discussed in detail.

Error 0x0175dcbb

Occurs when starting the SIMS 3 game, less often in other games. Related to installing third party mods and with incorrect graphics driver configuration. The solution is to uninstall the extensions and reinstall the driver.

Print Error: Errors initializing the current printer

Most common when installing drivers printer via Wi-Fi. When installing the driver, the “Device Initialization” window pops up at the end of the installation. The solution is to install the driver via USB.

Page initialization error

This problem occurs among operating system users Windows systems Server. It is associated with a malfunction secure storage services. The fix is ​​quite easy, you just need to restart the service and restart the PC, the problem will be fixed.

Failed to initialize 3D rendering

This warning is associated with incorrect work drivers 3D-Accelerator. Applications using this module, they simply cannot define it. The problem can be easily resolved by restarting the video card driver in Device Manager or reinstalling it.

Application initialization error 0xc0000005

This message, like the previous one, is related to the graphics accelerator. Application during startup accesses RAM and is refused because access to it is blocked. Access can be blocked as operating system, and a video adapter configuration error. The solution is to reinstall the driver or restore the system to a state when such a malfunction was not observed.

SIM card initialization error

This glitch occurs among smartphone owners. Some time after starting the smartphone, an error appears - Failure to initialize, or similar. It lies in the fact that the phone does not see the installed card. This may be a consequence of either a software or hardware failure. To solve the problem, you need to restart the device or insert the card into a different slot.