Apple Macintosh LC - Manual (Page 94)

2. Decide whether you want your hard disk to be a startup disk, and (if you
do) install system software on the hard disk.
The following sections will help you complete these steps.
Checking the status of your hard disk
If you purchased your Macintosh with an internal Apple hard disk, your hard
disk was completely prepared for use before it left the factory. Your disk
should need no further preparation.
But if you purchased an external hard disk, or you purchased your Macintosh
with an internal hard disk not made by Apple, your hard disk may need
preparation.
Before you begin that preparation, you'll need to check the status of the
hard disk to see what steps are necessary. Here's how:
1. Be sure your computer is off.
2. If you have an external hard disk, switch it on.
3. Switch on the computer.
4. Notice what appears on your screen.
If the Finder desktop appears and you see the hard disk icon in the upper-
right corner of the screen, your hard disk is fully prepared. You needn't do
any further preparation.
If instead you see a blinking question mark, your hard disk is not a startup
disk (a disk the computer can use to start up). You will need to install
system software on your hard disk to make it a startup disk.
Before you can install system software on the disk, you may also need to
initialize it (to make it usable by your computer). To find out if
initialization is necessary, continue with step 5.
5. If you see a blinking question mark on your screen, insert the System
Startup disk into a disk drive.
When the Finder desktop appears, look directly below the System Startup
floppy disk icon in the upper-right corner of the screen.
If you see the rectangular hard disk icon, you do not need to initialize your
hard disk. All you need to do is install system software on the disk.
If you do not see the hard disk icon below the System Startup icon, you will
need to initialize the hard disk, and then install system software on it.
Initializing a hard disk
You use the Apple HD SC Setup program, supplied on the System Startup disk,
to initialize and name a hard disk for the first time.
If your computer has an internal hard disk, the disk was probably initialized
at the factory and you will not need to initialize it again. (If the hard
disk's icon appears on the desktop when you start up, the hard disk has