When working with new storage devices in Windows, PowerShell provides robust cmdlets to handle the entire disk setup process. Whether you're setting up a fresh SSD, HDD, or virtual disk, the process involves three key operations: initialization, partitioning, and formatting.

Before beginning, ensure you:

• Run PowerShell as Administrator
• Have the disk physically connected or mounted
• Back up any existing data (operations are destructive)

First, list all available disks to identify your target:

Get-Disk | Format-Table -AutoSize

This returns output like:

Number Friendly Name Serial Number   HealthStatus OperationalStatus Total Size Partition Style
------ ------------ ------------   ------------ ----------------- ---------- ---------------
0      Samsung SSD    S3J1NX0K123456 Healthy      Online            476.94 GB GPT
1      Unknown       WD-WX12A3456789 Unknown      Offline           931.51 GB RAW

Note the disk number of your target (e.g., Disk 1 in this case).

Initialize the disk with either MBR (for legacy systems) or GPT (modern systems):

Initialize-Disk -Number 1 -PartitionStyle GPT

For MBR instead:

Initialize-Disk -Number 1 -PartitionStyle MBR

Create a single partition using the entire disk space:

New-Partition -DiskNumber 1 -UseMaximumSize -AssignDriveLetter

For multiple partitions (e.g., 200GB and remaining space):

$part1 = New-Partition -DiskNumber 1 -Size 200GB -AssignDriveLetter
$part2 = New-Partition -DiskNumber 1 -UseMaximumSize -AssignDriveLetter

Format with NTFS (standard for Windows) and set a volume label:

Format-Volume -DriveLetter D -FileSystem NTFS -NewFileSystemLabel "DataDrive" -Confirm:$false

For ReFS (resilient file system):

Format-Volume -DriveLetter E -FileSystem ReFS -NewFileSystemLabel "Backups" -Confirm:$false

For scripting scenarios, consider these parameters:

• -AllocationUnitSize 4096 for 4K sector alignment
• -Force to suppress confirmation prompts
• -Full for thorough formatting (slower)

Here's a full automation example:

# Identify new raw disk
$newDisk = Get-Disk | Where-Object {$_.PartitionStyle -eq "RAW"} | Select-Object -First 1

if ($newDisk) {
    # Initialize as GPT
    Initialize-Disk -Number $newDisk.Number -PartitionStyle GPT
    
    # Create and format partition
    $partition = New-Partition -DiskNumber $newDisk.Number -UseMaximumSize -AssignDriveLetter
    Format-Volume -DriveLetter $partition.DriveLetter -FileSystem NTFS 
        -NewFileSystemLabel "NewVolume" -AllocationUnitSize 4096 -Confirm:$false
    
    Write-Output "Successfully prepared disk $($newDisk.Number) as $($partition.DriveLetter):"
}
else {
    Write-Output "No uninitialized disks found"
}

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Working with raw disks in Windows requires three key steps: initializing the disk, creating partitions, and formatting them with a filesystem. PowerShell provides cmdlets to automate this entire process without GUI tools like Disk Management.

Before proceeding, ensure:

• You're running PowerShell as Administrator
• The target disk is physically connected
• You have identified the correct disk number (use Get-Disk)

First, list all disks to identify the target:

# List all disks
Get-Disk | Select-Object Number, FriendlyName, Size, PartitionStyle, OperationalStatus

For a new disk, initialization is required before partitioning:

# Initialize disk (replace X with your disk number)
Initialize-Disk -Number X -PartitionStyle GPT

PartitionStyle can be either GPT (recommended for modern systems) or MBR (for legacy compatibility).

Create a primary partition using the entire disk space:

# Create partition using all available space
New-Partition -DiskNumber X -UseMaximumSize -AssignDriveLetter

For advanced scenarios, you can specify size with -Size parameter (e.g., -Size 50GB).

Format the newly created partition with NTFS filesystem:

# Format partition (Y is the assigned drive letter)
Format-Volume -DriveLetter Y -FileSystem NTFS -NewFileSystemLabel "DataDrive" -Confirm:$false

Alternative filesystems include ReFS or FAT32 (for compatibility).

Here's a full script automating the entire process:

$diskNumber = 1  # Change this to your target disk

# Initialize disk
Initialize-Disk -Number $diskNumber -PartitionStyle GPT

# Create partition
$partition = New-Partition -DiskNumber $diskNumber -UseMaximumSize -AssignDriveLetter

# Format volume
Format-Volume -DriveLetter $partition.DriveLetter -FileSystem NTFS -NewFileSystemLabel "Storage" -Confirm:$false

For complex setups like multiple partitions:

# Create system partition (100MB)
New-Partition -DiskNumber X -Size 100MB -DriveLetter S

# Create data partition with remaining space
New-Partition -DiskNumber X -UseMaximumSize -DriveLetter D

# Format both partitions
Format-Volume -DriveLetter S -FileSystem NTFS -NewFileSystemLabel "System"
Format-Volume -DriveLetter D -FileSystem NTFS -NewFileSystemLabel "Data"

• Access denied errors: Always run PowerShell as Administrator
• Disk not showing: Check physical connections and storage controllers
• PartitionStyle conflicts: Use Clear-Disk to wipe existing partitions if needed