How to Make a Hard Drive Bootable

Making a hard drive bootable is a simple operation that has the potential to become a stressful operation. But it's a necessary procedure to get an operating system running on your computer. Use this guide to create a bootable partition on your hard drive.

Things You'll Need

• Floppy Disk Screw Driver Tweezers (Optional)

Instructions

Jumper Settings

1. Power down your computer.
   Disconnect all cable attached to the case.
   Place the computer on a stable, flat work surface, like a desk or a table.

2. Remove the screws from the side panel of the case. The screws will be on the back of the computer. Remove them and slide the side panel off the case. If your case doesn't have side panel access, you need to remove all the screws supporting the case and then slide the case off the computer's frame.

3. 

   Check your hard disk. There should be a jumper covering two pins on the back of your hard drive. If there is no jumper, visit your local electronics store. Without it, your drive will function in slave mode and as a secondary device.
   Replace the computer's case and screw and reconnect its cables.

Boot Creation

1. Insert a formatted floppy disk into the floppy drive of a computer with Internet access.
   Visit the official website of Maxtor and download MaxBlast to your Desktop (see link in Resources).
   Run the program which will extract its files to your floppy. Remove the floppy when the status light goes out.

2. Insert the floppy into the computer containing the drive you wish to make bootable. Turn on the computer. Setup will ask from where you'd like to boot MaxBlast. Enter "F" for floppy.

3. Read the Terms and Conditions page, and if you accept them, continue.
   Click the heading labeled "Utilities."
   Choose either a "quick format" or a "total format." After the format is complete, setup will return you to the main menu.

4. Click the heading labeled "Setup Hard Drive." Select the box to make the drive bootable.
   Click "Next" to continue. Drag the movable meter on the next page to set your drive's partition capacity and type. If you are confused on what type of partition to use, go with a Fat32, the most common and reliable format.
   Click "Next" to start the drive set-up process.
   When the wizard completes, click "Finish."

Tips & Warnings

• Formatting your drive will erase all data on that drive.

Resources

• MaxBlast Download