Initializing a Windows Data Disk

Scenarios

This section describes how to use Disk Management Tool or a script to initialize a Windows data disk. The following table shows the configurations used in the following example. The initialization operations may vary depending on the server OS. Perform initialization operations based on your server OS.

Initialization Method	Partition Style	Example Configuration
Initializing a Data Disk Manually	GPT MBR	Version: Windows Server 2019 Standard (64-bit) Disk name: Disk 1 Size: 100 GiB After the initialization: Partition name: New volume (D:) Partition style: GPT File system format: NTFS

Prerequisites

You have attached the disk to a server.
You are advised to back up the disk data before re-initializing a disk, because data may be lost after a disk is re-initialized.
You have logged in to the server.
- For how to log in to an ECS, see Logging In to an ECS.
- For how to log in to a BMS, see Logging In to a BMS.

Notes and Constraints

A disk created from a data source does not need to be initialized. Such a disk contains the source data in the beginning. Initializing the disk may clear the initial data on it.
Initializing a disk does not delete the snapshots created for the disk, so you can still use snapshots to roll back data to the source disk after the disk is initialized.

Initializing a Data Disk Manually

The following example shows you how to create a 100 GiB GPT partition with an NTFS file system on a server running Windows Server 2019.

On the desktop of the server, click the start icon in the lower left corner.
The Windows Server window is displayed.
Click Server Manager.
The Server Manager window is displayed.

Figure 1 Server Manager
In the upper right corner, choose Tools > Computer Management.

Figure 2 Computer Management
Choose Storage > Disk Management.

Disks are displayed in the right pane. If there is a disk that is not initialized, the system will prompt you with the Initialize Disk dialog box.
Figure 3 Disk list
In the Initialize Disk dialog box, the to-be-initialized disk is selected. Select a disk partition style and click OK. In this example, GPT (GUID Partition Table) is selected.

Figure 4 Computer Management

The maximum disk size supported by MBR is 2 TiB, and that supported by GPT is 18 EiB. Because an EVS data disk currently supports up to 32 TiB, use GPT if your disk size is greater than 2 TiB.

If the partition style is changed after the disk has been used, all data on the disk will be lost, so take care to select an appropriate partition style when initializing the disk. If you must change the partition style to GPT after a disk has been used, it is recommended that you back up the disk data before the change.
Right-click the unallocated disk space area and choose New Simple Volume from the shortcut menu.

Figure 5 New Simple Volume Wizard
Click Next to go to the Specify Volume Size page.

Figure 6 Specify Volume Size
Specify the volume size and click Next. The system selects the maximum volume size by default. You can specify the volume size as required. In this example, the default setting is used.

Figure 7 Assign Drive Letter or Path
Assign a drive letter or path to your partition and click Next. The system assigns drive letter D by default. In this example, the default setting is used.

Figure 8 Format Partition
Specify format settings and click Next. The system selects the NTFS file system by default. You can specify a file system type as required. In this example, the default setting is used.

Figure 9 Completing the New Simple Volume Wizard

The partition sizes supported by file systems vary. Choose an appropriate file system format based on your service requirements.
Click Finish.

Wait for the initialization to complete. When the volume status changes to Healthy, the initialization has succeeded.
Figure 10 Disk initialized
After the volume is created, click on the task bar and check whether a new volume appears in the File Explorer. In this example, New Volume (D:) is the new volume.

If New Volume (D:) appears, the disk is successfully initialized and no further action is required.
Figure 11 File Explorer