Hard Drive Not Detected

[enajork]

Here is the deal, I just finished building my new PC and I installed Windows 8.1 on a 128 GB Samsung 850 Pro. Everything was working great, except when I tried to install a Seagate Barracuda 1TB HDD, for some reason, I cannot find the drive in the BIOS or Windows. This problem is really frustrating and I have been searching online for hours trying to find a solution to my specific problem with zero luck. Hopefully I can get some real answers here by starting my own thread. Thank you all for your help in advance!

 

[Paul NZ]

Did you connect the data and power cables to it? If it didnt work in one sata port, try another

 

[enajork]

I have unplugged and replugged the drive many times and they work in my other computer. I have tested multiple different drives (all 1TB Seagate Barracudas) but none of them get detected. When I plug other SSDs into the computer they are recognized.

 

[Paul NZ]

Dont know then. Sounds like something is faulty

 

[GPUEnthusiast]

First thing you need to do is un-hide empty drives in My Computer. If this is a fresh Windows install, empty drives are hidden from My Computer by default (dumb, right?), and non-formatted drives don't show up in BIOS unless you are loading an OS onto them.

Go to My Computer and in the top left you will see 'Organize', click that and go to "Folder and search options"
From there, click the "View" tab, and scan for an option that says "Hide empty drives in the computer folder", the box is probably checked. Un-check it. Click apply and then okay.

Now, go to your start menu and in the search bar, type "diskmgmt.msc", from there you will see you Barracuda, but it is not formatted.

Right click the blue bar of your drive, and select "Format". Follow the steps and don't change anything, as the format type and structure are advanced options.

 

[enajork]

I turned hide all folders and drives off and then went to disk management and the drive still was not there. Also, I am pretty sure that the drive would still show up in the BIOS even if it is not formatted because my other SSD is not formatted and it is visible.

 

[Paul NZ]

Thats if it gets detected in the BIOS. It doesnt. So I doubt that'll appear in windows

 

[GPUEnthusiast]

Check your motherboard manual. Some motherboards have SATA port priority and may not recognize devices plugged into some ports versus others.

 

[enajork]

I already tried plugging it into all the ports (including the one that my SSD is currently running from) and none of them worked.

 

[GPUEnthusiast]

Posting from my phone, so I'm not sure if this will use my Tom's Hardware name correctly. This is GPUEnthusiast.

I guess the last thing I would check before RMAing it for a new one is to use a separate SATA power cable in case one of the connectors on your SATA power cable is defective. The cables are almost always staged (multiple connectors per cable) so if there is a short it is theoretically possible for all the connectors up to that short to work properly.

 

[enajork]

Thank you for all the help GPUEnthusiast, but I already tried that. I have been researching my issue for the past couple of hours and it would appear that this a common problem with Seagate drives. Still, I would like to figure out a way to fix this problem.

 

[Paul NZ]

Whats the model? A firmware update may fix it. If it can find it.

SG's have been known to have buggy firmware

 

[enajork]

Its model number is ST1000DM003 and it is possible to update the firmware but it requires for the update to be burned to a DVD and I do not have a DVD drive in the first place. If there is some way to do the firmware update with a USB then it could work.

 

[Paul NZ]

Try this, it's kind of the long way to get it to boot off a flash drive

 

[GPUEnthusiast]

Thank you for all the help GPUEnthusiast, but I already tried that. I have been researching my issue for the past couple of hours and it would appear that this a common problem with Seagate drives. Still, I would like to figure out a way to fix this problem.

Well if for some reason you actually get a refund as opposed to a new Barracuda, I'd scrape another 4 bucks together and get the Western Digital Blue 1TB. Sorry I couldn't be more help, sounds like a DOA drive at this point which isn't necessarily uncommon.