Prepare data disks on Windows Cloud Servers
Last updated on: 2015-10-01
Authored by: Jered Heeschen
The data disks attached to some Cloud Servers flavors, specifically I/O flavors, are unformatted when created. Before you can use them to hold data on Windows, they have to be prepared by formatting them and assigning each a drive letter.
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Open the Server Management interface.
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On Windows Server 2008, right-click the computer’s icon and select Manage.
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On Windows Server 2012, click the Server Manager button on the taskbar.
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Navigate to the list of the system’s attached storage volumes.
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On Windows Server 2008, select Storage in the left panel, then select Disk Management.
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On Windows Server 2012, select File and Storage Services in the left panel, then select Disks.
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For each unassigned disk in the list, delete any existing partitions.
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On Windows Server 2008, the disk will be displayed in the lower pane with any existing partitions. Right-click an existing partition (if any) and select Delete to remove it.
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On Windows Server 2012, right-click the drive and select Bring Online. When the disk is online, right-click the disk and select Reset Disk to ensure all disk space is available for your use.
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For each unassigned disk in the list, run the New Volume Wizard to format it as NTFS and assign it a drive letter.
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On Windows Server 2008, right-click the disk’s unallocated space in the lower pane and select New Simple Volume.
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On Windows Server 2012, right-click the disk and select New Volume.
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Open the Computer window to view your server’s active disks and confirm the new volume or volumes are available.
When all drives are formatted and assigned a drive letter you can install any required software to the appropriate drives.
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