Hi, Anonymous.
You are trying to install WHAT? WinXP? Or a second HD?
If you are trying to install WinXP, just physically plug in your HD, making
sure the cables and jumpers are correct. Then set your computer's BIOS to
boot from CD. Insert your WinXP CD-ROM and boot from that. WinXP Setup
will first ask if you want to partition and/or format your HD. Tell it Yes,
but read the screens carefully. If you don't, it will automatically include
the whole HD in a single partition and install WinXP there in Drive C:.
Maybe that's what you want, but if you prefer to use multiple volumes
(primary partitions and/or logical drives in extended partitions), then
format only the system partition (and, if different, the boot volume) during
Setup. After WinXP is installed and running, use Disk Management to create
and format any other volumes.
If WinXP is already installed and you want to add an additional HD as a
secondary, then plug it in and use Disk Management to partition and format
it. DM will tell you which is Drive 0, Drive 1, etc.
The formatting process creates the boot sector so, of course, there is no
boot sector on the partition before it has been formatted. And, while we
often say that we "format a drive", we don't actually format an entire HD.
We format each volume separately, so we can't format until after we've
partitioned, even if we want the whole HD in a single partition.
You MIGHT need the HD manufacturer's boot disk, but probably not. Is this a
typical IDE/ATAPI drive? Does it need a special drive (SCSI? SATA? RAID?)
Is it a "Big Drive" (over ~138 GB) for which you may need a driver or BIOS
update? If you need more help, please tell us the make and model of the
drive and your computer.
RC
