11/29/2014

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INITIALIZEDISKSWITHGPARTEDLIVE
ByMargusSaluste,www.winhelp.us.Lastmodified:20140907.

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TherearetimeswhenyoutrytoaddanexternalorinternalharddiskdriveorflashdriveandDiskManagementconsolefailstoinitializethenewdiskwith
error"Thesystemcannotfindthefilespecified".ThiscanhappeninWindowsXP,Vista,7,8and8.1.Thiserrordoesnotmeanthatyour(new)diskis
unusableorbroken.
Luckily,Linuxisonceagainveryusefulinsuchcases.GPartedLiveisabootableCDthatallowscreatingandformattingpartitions.Asusual,nothingwill
bewrittentosystemdiskunlessyouexplicitlyrequirethat.

DOWNLOADINGGPARTEDLIVE
OpenGParteddownloadpageandclickthelinkrightafter"Lookingforthelatestversion?".

Savethefiletoafolderyoucanlocateeasily(forexample,DownloadsfolderinWindowsVista,7,8and8.1MyDocumentsfolderinWindowsXP).

BURNINGTHEDOWNLOADEDIMAGETOACD
UseCDBurnerXPtocreatethebootableCDinWindowsXPandVista.InWindows7and8,usetheWindowsDiscImageBurnerinstead.

INSTRUCTIONSFORCDBURNERXPINWINDOWSXPANDWINDOWSVISTA
Rightclickthedownloadedfile,selectOpenWith,CDBurnerXP.
InsertablankCDRorCDRW.
Next,makesurebothFinalizediscandVerifydataafterburningoptionsareselected.ThenclickBurndisc.

Afterthedisccreationandverificationiscomplete,clickClose.Ifyouencounteranyproblems,seetheCreatediscfromISOimagearticleformore
detailedinstructions.
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INSTRUCTIONSFORWINDOWSDISCIMAGEBURNERINWINDOWS7AND8
RightclickthedownloadedfileandselectBurndiscimage(orOpenWithandWindowsDiscImageBurner).
InsertablankCDRorCDRW.
ClicktoactivatetheVerifydiscafterburningoption.ThenclickBurn.

Afterthedisccreationandverificationiscomplete,clickClose.

BOOTINGFROMGPARTEDLIVEBOOTABLECD
First,makesureyourPCissettobootfromCDreadtheComputerbootorderarticleforinstructions.
Then,connectyourexternaldrivethatWindowswasunabletoinitialize.Forinternaldisks,youdonotneedanyadditionalsteps.
AfteryourcomputerstartsfromGPartedLiveCD,youarepresentedwiththefollowingmenu.
Inmostcases,usingthefirstoptionGPartedLive(Defaultsettings)worksfine.Thisreallyaffectgraphicscarddriversonly.
Press ENTER keytostartGPartedLive.

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Ifyourunintotroublewithblankorscrambledscreeninthelatersteps,pressReset/RestartbuttonofyourcomputerorholddownPowerbuttonfor
morethan5seconds.Then,inthesamemenu,press ARROWDOWN keytoselectOthermodesofGPartedLiveandpress ENTER keyto
confirmyourselection.

ThenselectGPartedLive(Safegraphicsettings,vga=normal)with ARROWDOWN keyandpress ENTER .

PleasestandbywhileLinuxdoesitsmagicdetectingallhardware.Youmayseeseverallinesendingwith"(Warning)",thisisnormal.
Next,akeymapselectiondialogappears.ThisdefinesthelayoutofkeyboardUSEnglishisthedefaultone.Asyoudonotreallyneedkeyboardduring
runningGParted,press ENTER toaccepttheDon'ttouchkeymapoption.

Next,press ENTER keyagaintoacceptthedefaultlanguage(USEnglish)forGParted.Asyoucansee,thedefaultselectionisinsquarebrackets"[]".

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Andthenpress ENTER againtorunGPartedinagraphicalenvironmentcalledXWindow.

XwillstartandopenGPartedautomatically.Pleasenotethatsometimesitmighttakeseveralminutesfordisksandpartitionstoappearintheprogram.

PARTITIONINGANDFORMATTINGDISKSWITHGPARTED
Theveryfirststepistoselectthecorrectdiskfromthemenuontheright.
Linuxusesitsownnamingfordifferentdisksandpartitions/dev/sdaisthefirstharddisk,/dev/sdbiseitherthesecondharddiskoraremovabledrive,
etc.
Ifadiskhasmorethanonepartitiononit,thenthefirstpartitiononthefirstdiskisnamed/dev/sda1,thesecondpartitiononthesamediskis/dev/sda2,
etc.
Here,/dev/sdaismostprobablytheharddiskwhereWindowsisinstalledon.Donotselectthisone!

Asyou'retryingtoformatabrandnewdisk,youcandistinguishiteasilybythegrayareawith"unallocated"writtenonit.Also,usethedisksizehintsto
findthediskWindowswasunabletoinitializeMiBmeans"megabytes"andGiBmeans"gigabytes".
Incaseyouareunabletofindyourexternaldisk,unplugit,waitforafewsecondsandplugitbackin.ThenopenGPartedmenuandclick

RefreshDevicesorusekeyboardshortcut CTRL+R .

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Afterselectingthecorrectdisk,rightclickthegray"unallocated"areaonthetopandselectNew.

IntheCreatenewPartitiondialog,selectasuitabletypefromFilesystemcombobox.

fat32isthebestoptionforcarryingaroundmusicandsmallervideofilesandmixeduseonolderWindowsversions(suchasWindows95/98/Me),
homeandcarmultimediasystems,etc.
FAT32partitionsdonotneedinitialization,soitisagreatworkaround!Pleasenotethatyoucannotcopyorcreatefileslargerthan4gigabytestoa
FAT32disk!ButyoucanlaterconvertthedisktoNTFSformatwithoutanyproblemsorlosingdata!

ntfsisthebestoptionifyouneedtocreateandcopylarge(over4gigabytes)files,butitisnotusableinolderWindowsversionsormultimedia
systems.NTFSpartitionsmightneedinitialization.
DonotconsiderusingotherfilesystemtypesthanFAT32orNTFS!WindowsisunabletohandleLinux/Unixfilesystems,suchasext2,hfs,
reiser4,etc.

Allotheroptionsarefinebydefault,soclickAdd.

Next,youneedtocommitthechanges.ClickApplybuttononGPartedtoolbar.Incaseyoujustdiscoveredyouwereeditingthewrongdisk,there'sthe

Undobutton,too!

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GPartedwillwarnyouthateditingpartitionscancauselossofdata.Yes,creatingandformattinganewpartitionwillerasealldataonthenewdiskbut
asitwasunformattedanyway,itisnoproblem.
ClickApplyagain.

Thepartitioningandformattingcantakeseveralminutes,dependingonthesizeofyournewdisk.Standbyuntilitiscompleted.

Afterthediskisreadyforuse,clickClose.

DoubleclicktheExiticononthetopleft(youdonotneedtocloseGParted)ofDesktop.

SelectRebootintheExitdialogandthenclickOK.

Linuxwillshutdownitsgraphicalenvironmentandstopallprocesses.AfteryouropticaldriveejectstheGPartedLiveCD,removeitfromitstrayand
press ENTER keytorestartyourcomputer.

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YournewdiskshouldnowbeusableinWindows!
ForNTFSdisks,youmightneedtoopenDiskManagementagaintoinitializethenewlyformatteddisk.Thistimeitshouldworkflawlessly.

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