The SSD is not showing up in the File Explorer.You have to initialize it so that you can create partitions on the disk to use it.

So, when it comes to SSD initialization, there are many questions that users may ask: Do I have to initialize my SSD? Why do I initialize SSD?Īctually, initializing SSD is not a common operation for disk management, but you might need to do that in the following situations: It is OK if you are doing so for a new SSD, but you need to think twice before you initialize an SSD that stores data. When you initialize SSDs, all the data on the disks will be erased. But you should also aware that the GPT partition style is not recognized by all previous versions of Windows. It is worth mentioning that you had better initialize SSD to gpt if the disk capacity is larger than 2 TB. You can choose to initialize the SSD to either MBR or GPT partition style according to your actual needs. Note that you can only initialize a hard drive that is not formatted yet.

By doing this, the SSD will be prepared for use of an operating system, and you are able to format it and store files on it. Tip: For further information about SSD and HDD, you can have a look at our previous post: SSD VS HDD: What's Difference? Which One Should You Use in PC?įor a brand-new SSD, you are always required to perform an initialization.