Mounting A New Drive (Windows)

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Affected Roles: Administrator, Owner

Related Digital Watchdog VMS Apps: DW Spectrum® IPVMS

Last Edit: November 25, 2024

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Drive Setup

After adding a hard drive to a DW Blackjack® computer, the new storage drive will need to be initialized and a new partition must be created before it can be utilized for storage by the DW Spectrum® Server.

This article will outline how to initialize and partition a new hard drive using a Windows operating system (OS).

**NOTE: For mounting a drive using a Ubuntu/Linux OS, please see Mounting A New Drive (Ubuntu/Linux).

Supported/Affected Devices:

DW Blackjack® Series (Windows)

Initializing and Partition Creation

After physically mounting the drive to the Windows computer, the new hard drive will need to be initialized and partitioned by the OS to create a partition for the DW Spectrum® Server to use as media storage. To do so, follow the directions below.

Part 1: Stopping the DW Media Service

Before setting up the new hard drive, stop the DW Spectrum Media program from running. This will prevent the DW Spectrum® Server from trying to write to an unavailable drive.

To stop the DW Media Service:

If you have not already done so, power on the DW Blackjack® (Windows) unit and boot to the computer’s desktop.

Located in the Service Tray of Windows, right-click on the Media Server icon and select Stop Server (started).

The DW Media Service will stop and the Server will refrain from writing to its storage drives.

Part 2: Initializing the Drive

After stopping the DW Media Service, the new hard drive will need to be initialized.

To initialize the new hard drive:

Open the Windows Start Menu and search for the Computer Management tool.

Next, select Disk Management.

Windows will typically auto-populate with the Initialize Disk menu for a new HDD. If so, select the disk, then select GPT as the partition style. Click the OK button to initialize the new hard drive.

Part 3: Creating A New Partition

After initializing the drive, a storage partition must be created on the new hard drive.

To create a new partition:

In the Disk Management menu, the new hard drive will display as “Unallocated”.

To create a new partition, right-click on the Unallocated disk, then select New Simple Volume.

The New Simple Volume wizard will display.

Click the Next button to begin.

The Specify Volume Size window will display.

Confirm that the Simple volume size in MB value is set to the same size as what appears for the Maximum disk space in MB value.

Click the Next button to continue.

The Assign Drive Letter or Path window will display.

Assign the next available drive letter to the volume.

Click Next to continue.

The Format Partition window will display.

Name the Volume label “DW Media”.

Enable the Perform a quick format setting, then click the OK button to continue.

A summary of the proposed settings for the new volume will be displayed.

Click the Finish button to complete the process.

Windows will then detect the new drive and display the new volume in the Disk Management menu.

Part 4: Start the DW Media Service

After the new hard drive has been initialized and partitioned, the DW Media Service must be restarted on the Server before the DW Spectrum® Server program can write to the new drive.

To start the DW Media Service:

Located in the Service Tray of Windows, right-click on the Media Server icon and select Start Server (stopped).

The DW Media Service will start and the Server will begin writing to the new storage drive.

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