Preparing the Drive

Before you can store data on a new hard disk (which has already been physically formatted), you must do the following to prepare it for use:

1.Run the SETUP program to define your hard disk as part of the computer’s configuration. (See Chapter 2 for instructions.)

2.Partition and format the drive for your operating system. If you are using MS-DOS, instructions for performing these procedures are provided in your MS-DOS manuals. If you are using another operating system, follow the instructions that came with it.

If you do not prepare the drive correctly, you cannot store data on the disk. For example, if you partition the drive and format it for MS-DOS (or for another operating system) but you do not copy the operating system to the drive, you will not be able to load the operating system from the hard disk.

If you are sure the hard disk was installed properly and you prepared it for use as described above but you cannot access the drive, review the instructions in your operating system manuals. Make sure you performed each step in the installation process correctly for your configuration.

Accessing Data on the Drive

If you have been using your hard disk drive successfully for some time and notice a reduction in performance, the data on the disk may have become fragmented. You may want to back up all your data and then use a disk compaction utility to reorganize the files on your disk. Many general utility programs include a disk compaction utility.

6-16 Troubleshooting