2nd SATA drive detected in BIOS but NOT in Windows Disk Management

[damaster]

I have an Intel D915GEV motherboard with the latest bios. My primary hard drive is a Seagate 200GB SATA (ST3200822AS) and I have Windows XP MCE 2005 SP2 running off of it. I just added a second SATA hard drive, a 500GB Seagate (ST3500631NS). This second hard drive gets detected in the bios and even gets detected by SpinRite 6.0 when I boot up. However, it's not showing up anywhere in Windows. It's unformatted, unactivated, so I don't expect it to show up in Windows Explorer, but it's not even in Device Manager or Disk Management. I tried changing to a different SATA port, even used three different SATA cables, but to no avail. I've also done all Windows Updates and tried to update my IDE/SATA drivers from Device Manager.

Any ideas please?

 

[g-paw]

Try running the install/diagnostic/repair software from Seagate

 

[damaster]

do you mean run that on Windows? What will that solve if Windows doesn't even detect the drive? HDTune doesn't see the drive either...

 

[g-paw]

The software is designed specifically to identify and address hdd problems. All hdd mfg have this software, which is why you need to get it from the hdd mfg website. Most have one you can run off Windows and a 2nd version to run off a floppy. If you have a floppy, I'd use that. If the software doesn't find the hdd, then either there is a lose cable or the drive is toast.

 

[joses]

I am also facing the same problem, Detecting in BIOS but not detecting in Windows or disk management .The OS is Windows Xp with SP 3.My secondary SATA HD is Maxtor 250 GB. Any reason why not detecting it.

Jose

 

[Paperdoc]

The problem may be you're not looking in just the right spot . Click Start, RIGHT-click My Computer in the window, then click on Manage from the menu. In the new Computer Management window expand "Storage" if necessary and click on Disk Management. I expect OP (damaster) and joses both have got this far. Now, examine the TWO right-hand panes. The upper one shows you only the devices Windows already knows how to use. The lower one, which SCROLLS, also shows you other devices Windows does not yet understand. Your new disk should be here with no letter name and no info. RIGHT-click on it and, from the menu, choose to Partition the drive. You'll have a choice of how big it should be and most likely want to use all the drive in one volume. (You can use only part of the space. If you do, when you are finished come back here and find the remainder shown as "Unallocated Space". You can create a second Partition or more in it if you want.) For this first Partition, make it the Primary or Active Partition, and NOT bootable because this drive is for data only - you already have a boot drive. When all the choices are made, go ahead with the Partition operation.

When that is done, come back to this new Partition and RIGHT-click again and choose to Format it. Choose the NTFS File System option. A Quick Format will do the job in 5 to 15 minutes. A Full Format will do a Quick Format, then go though every sector of the drive and test it, marking off any faulty ones (very rare) so they won't be used. Full Format takes many hours!

When you are done, reboot and your newly prepared hard drive should show up in My Computer as an empty unit ready for use.

 

[PuppetSoul]

I have this issue as well. Drive is recognized correctly in bios, is listed correctly as a HDD in device manager, but is not found in disk management. Western Digital's data recovery tool cannot detect the drive either. Windows update says that the installed drivers for it are current. No raid controller for the mobo, although sata, chipset and other assorted mobo drivers are current.

OS: XP SP2
Mobo: Gigabyte P35 DS3L (F9)
HDD: WD10000LSRTL (WD Caviar Black 1TB Sata)

 

[jtauxe]

Any follow-up on this? I have the same issue. I have three SATA drives installed just fine -- two Seagates and a Maxtor. I added a fourth SATA drive (also Seagate), and it does post to the SAS utility during boot, so the BIOS sees it.

And yet, Win XP does not see it. It's not listed in the Disk Management tool, nor in Device Manager or the system info -- even Seagate's SeaTools does not see the drive.

I have switched cables with one of the other working drives, effectively switching their positions in the list, but to no avail.

One last desperate attempt was to try the install CD for Windows 7 RC, which is the main reason I installed this drive n the first place - for the alternate OS. It did not see it, either. Foo!

Ideas?

- John

 

[rand_79]

try the drive in another computer.

also try disconnecting all the drives (note which was plugged in where)

and just try the new drive.. and try installing windows on it

from there... not sure where to go.. list your full system specs.

 

[aberchonbie]

you gotta go into windows and format the hard drive to use it!

im using vista right now.. so intructions are: control panel > administrative tools > computer management > Storage (tab) > Disk Management (sub-tab)

from there, you should see the new hard drive.. you have to partition it (if you want) and format it to use it! you can also specify the drive label..

in xp, it should be pretty similar..

 

[Guest]

I am user, not an expert, but i decided to install my own second drive (Hitachi 500 gb) in my Dell Dimension 9200 running Vista Home Premium by myself.

I guess this is easy stuff for you experts, but us normal people need to have all the instructions. The dell manual made it appear that all I needed to do was plug and play (after I turned the drive on in BIOS - f2 at startup, go to drives, turn the No. 2 on. After all, I did see the driver load during startup, but could not find the drive in my computer.
Drive was detected by BIOS but not by windows, That led me to this helpful forum.

aberchonbies instructions led me to the solution.

Once you get as far as he takes you, you need to click on your new drive and activate it. Then you click on more actions in the side Actions panel and run a wizard that lets you assign a drive letter and format the drive (which takes a long time).

 

[ArmyRNVet]

I just had a devil of a time trying to install a Western Digital 500 GB SATA Hard drive for similar reasons--the drive was recognized in BIOS but not by Windows. I finally found the solution at this link: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itproinstall/thread/1f3df40d-987b-417f-bd02-475f3291e50f. It involves using Windows XP to format the drive! Once that's done, Windows 7 will detect the drive.

 

[STHellRaiser]

if u have a problem with a drive requiring formatting, format it in xp deos any still have this problem? if u do try win7 and vista disc and see if it show the hdd at the install process part

 

[kevin85219]

I have a Hitachi Deskstar 500GB (just purchased this morning), installed and see it in bios but do NOT see it in disk management. So I can NOT format or partition. Any clue? Is this an indication of a bad hard drive

 

[kevin85219]

if u have a problem with a drive requiring formatting, format it in xp deos any still have this problem? if u do try win7 and vista disc and see if it show the hdd at the install process part

How do you format through XP other than disk management which does not recognize my new hard drive?

 

[ScottDaMan]

Hey guys. I've got a possible solution to this.

I had this same issue. The SATA drive in BIOS appeared fine, heck, I even booted into Windows 7 setup CD and PARTITIONED and FORMATTED the drive then exited the Windows 7 setup. Guess what, it still wouldn't appear in Windows 7!

This is a bug. I wrote up a blog post about this here:
http://www.scottbuehler.com/computer-tips/windows-7-sata-hard-drive-not-showing/233

The short of it, you'll need to go into device manager and uninstall the SATA drive and then reinstall it using "Scan For Hardware Changes"

For the step by step, just visit the URL where I provided the click by click.

 

[paulears]

Just wanted to say thanks to paperdoc - his solution was spot on the mark and really helped me - many thanks

 

[Guest]

I have tried everyones sugestion but still no luck. I am trying to get computer to recognize drive I have a hitachi 2tb 7200rpm hard drive. i can see it in bios. however i tried everything aberchonbie and paperdoc sugested and i get the error that it can not connect to virtual disk service. please any suggestions would be greatly appreciated before i lose my mind.

 

[FFFFFUUU]

I have the exact same problem as you guys. I have two IDE Hard Drives connected to a J-Micron Raid Controller which was running them perfectly fine off of my Windows XP build two days ago. They stopped showing up when I reinstalled XP on my Sata boot drive.
After upgrading my main Sata drive to Windows 7, these two no longer show up in Device Manager, or anything at all besides the BIOS, where they show up perfectly fine.
I've gone in there and set the raid controller to IDE mode (though I've tried all the modes) to no avail. Also in the process of losing my mind. Please help.

 

[bayareajim]

I had problems adding a second SATA drive in my Dell Dimension 9200. I couldn't get the computer to recognize it. I tried everything, or so I thought, then I went into the the Bios. (reboot and click f2 many times during boot up) On my motherboard there are 6 sata inputs. Only 3 of these sata inputs were "turned on" in the bios. I took a flashlight and looked closely, and written in small letters next to the connector i was using, it said "sata4" I turned it on in the bios. I rebooted... then right clicked on "my computer" and clicked on manage - went to storage devices and located my unformatted drive. I assigned it a drive number and then formatted it.

Don't assume that a hard drive is "plug n play" often they arn't. I learned a lesson, I had no idea that each individual sata input needed to be turned on in the bios...now I know.

hope this helps

 

[oldguy44]

Like everyone here I have same problem. Started with WD 500 as my bootup DR.
I then tried to install a spare Seagate 250 Gig dr for a backup drive. SYS BIOS Saw
Drive but Windows7 would not. I then did the same with a Samsung 180 Gig dr.
with same results. OK 2 failed so all I left was a 80 Gig WD . I could not beleive it
worked OK. So I thought it may have been a fluke so I order another WD 500 and put it in today and it work right away. My next is to see if i can get two Seagate drives to work. TO BE CONTINUED:

 

[deca]

Hi guys and girls

I also have a 1 tera byte Hitachi hard drive that is seen on the initial boot up screen,but not in windows at all.

Please help me out.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE. H E L P!

 

[Guest]

The problem may be you're not looking in just the right spot . Click Start, RIGHT-click My Computer in the window, then click on Manage from the menu. In the new Computer Management window expand "Storage" if necessary and click on Disk Management. I expect OP (damaster) and joses both have got this far. Now, examine the TWO right-hand panes. The upper one shows you only the devices Windows already knows how to use. The lower one, which SCROLLS, also shows you other devices Windows does not yet understand. Your new disk should be here with no letter name and no info. RIGHT-click on it and, from the menu, choose to Partition the drive. You'll have a choice of how big it should be and most likely want to use all the drive in one volume. (You can use only part of the space. If you do, when you are finished come back here and find the remainder shown as "Unallocated Space". You can create a second Partition or more in it if you want.) For this first Partition, make it the Primary or Active Partition, and NOT bootable because this drive is for data only - you already have a boot drive. When all the choices are made, go ahead with the Partition operation.

When that is done, come back to this new Partition and RIGHT-click again and choose to Format it. Choose the NTFS File System option. A Quick Format will do the job in 5 to 15 minutes. A Full Format will do a Quick Format, then go though every sector of the drive and test it, marking off any faulty ones (very rare) so they won't be used. Full Format takes many hours!

When you are done, reboot and your newly prepared hard drive should show up in My Computer as an empty unit ready for use.

Excellent and well described you are the man, Thankyou.

 

[schristie]

The problem may be you're not looking in just the right spot . Click Start, RIGHT-click My Computer in the window, then click on Manage from the menu. In the new Computer Management window expand "Storage" if necessary and click on Disk Management. I expect OP (damaster) and joses both have got this far. Now, examine the TWO right-hand panes. The upper one shows you only the devices Windows already knows how to use. The lower one, which SCROLLS, also shows you other devices Windows does not yet understand. Your new disk should be here with no letter name and no info. RIGHT-click on it and, from the menu, choose to Partition the drive. You'll have a choice of how big it should be and most likely want to use all the drive in one volume. (You can use only part of the space. If you do, when you are finished come back here and find the remainder shown as "Unallocated Space". You can create a second Partition or more in it if you want.) For this first Partition, make it the Primary or Active Partition, and NOT bootable because this drive is for data only - you already have a boot drive. When all the choices are made, go ahead with the Partition operation.

When that is done, come back to this new Partition and RIGHT-click again and choose to Format it. Choose the NTFS File System option. A Quick Format will do the job in 5 to 15 minutes. A Full Format will do a Quick Format, then go though every sector of the drive and test it, marking off any faulty ones (very rare) so they won't be used. Full Format takes many hours!

When you are done, reboot and your newly prepared hard drive should show up in My Computer as an empty unit ready for use.

Paperdoc, Thank you very much for this post. I just built a new system and Win 7 was't recognzing my 1.5TB second HD even though it was showing in the BIOS. I have now managed to format it thanks to your instructions. Much apprecated. SC

 

[deca]

Still Nothing guys..............