Main SSD is fine, but hard drives are not detected anywhere.

[Gr1mwolf]

I've put together a new PC build, and for some reason my HDDs are not showing up in either the BIOS, File Explorer or Disk Management. The manufacturer's testing software was also unable to detect the drives. The main SSD my OS is on is fine.
And when I say "not detected," I mean it's like they don't exist as far as my system is concerned.
I've used a tester on my PSU, and everything is fine there. I tried swapping out cables anyway, and the issue remained.
I bought a brand new SSHD assuming my current ones were defective, but the new one has the same issue.
I RMA'd my motherboard assuming that was the issue, but the new one has the same issue.
I've updated my BIOS to the newest version.
I've tried swapping around all of the SATA cables and power connectors between various ports and drives, and the issue remains the same. SSD works, HDDs/SSHD do not.

If it matters, my build is;
PSU: EVGA 650w fully modular
Motherboard: Asus Sabertooth Z170 Mark 1
CPU: Intel i7 6700K
GPU: Asus NVidia GTX 1080 Founder's Edition
RAM: Corsair Vengeance DDR4 16gb x2
SSD: Samsung EVO 250gb
HDD: Seagate HDD 1tb x2, Western Digital Blue SSHD 4tb x1
Case: Corsair Carbide 540 Air - Silver
Cooling: Corsair h100i V2 AiO Liquid Cooler

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Hey there, Gr1mwolf.

So do the SSHD and the HDD even spin-up when you have them connected? It's normal for the diagnostic tools not to be able to recognize the drives since the BIOS doesn't see them as well. The issues is pretty weird and unless the drives are at fault (which you could test by connecting them to a different computer and running the diagnostic tests to see what's the situation), it really sounds like it could be a PSU issue.
If I were you, I'd take it to a computer service shop for professional diagnosis, or maybe getting your whole system there might be a good idea. That is, of course if the drives turn out to be completely fine.
Here's a link on how to test a drive with DLG (Data Lifeguard): How to test a drive for problems using Data Lifeguard Diagnostics for Windows

Hope that helps.
Boogieman_WD

 

[Multipack]

Is the SSD an M2 or SATA interface? If M2, it may be disabling certain SATA ports. If not, that's kind of odd..

 

[Gr1mwolf]

The SSD is SATA. I've ran a voltage tester on the PSU, so I don't think it's that. I don't think the drives are spinning up at all; I don't know how obvious it should be, but if there's any sound or vibration, I'm not sensing it.

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Well that's basically it. If you can't feel them vibrate or hear then spin, then they are definitely not spinning. There are basically main reasons which could cause that, faulty power cable, faulty PSU, faulty drives. So I'd strongly recommend that you try the drives with a different computer (even though you've already tried them with the previous motherboard). If they still don't spin-up perhaps they have probably failed, which would be a truly unfortunate incident. And if they are working fine, the issue lies somewhere else and it would be better to get your new system checked up by professionals.

 

[Gr1mwolf]

Hm... I don't think it's the drives themselves either, since the brand new drive I bought after the issue arose is doing the same thing, but I have an external enclosure coming in the mail so I can test them on my laptop just in case.

Is it possible that, even though the PSU voltage is testing fine, it could still be bad? Or that this issue is being caused by too little wattage at 650w?
I have a strong suspicion that the SSD is only working because it requires substantially less power than an HDD or SSHD.

 

[USAFRet]

This is a brand new PC, with brand new drives?
And they do NOT appear in Disk Management?

Do they appear in the BIOS?
All cables connected properly?

 

[Gr1mwolf]

Brand new PC, brand new drives.
Do not appear in BIOS or Disk Management.
All cables are properly connected. I must have disconnected and re-connected them a dozen times now in the process of testing everything.

 

[USAFRet]

Brand new PC, brand new drives.
Do not appear in BIOS or Disk Management.
All cables are properly connected.

If it does NOT appear in the BIOS, then we have a major issue.
Either something is not connected right, or your hard drives are ALL faulty (not likely)

1 x SSD
2 x SSHD/HDD?

Is this correct? Does ANY drive except for the SSD appear, anywhere?

In the AIR case, those 3.5" drives are in the bottom trays, right? And the connection from the other side of those connectors is connected to the motherboard and PSU?

 

[Gr1mwolf]

Yep; SSD in the back, SSHD and HDD in the bottom. Connectors from those bottom ports are hooked into the motherboard and the PSU.
The DVD R/W drive in front is also functional.

 

[USAFRet]

Please post a screencap of your Disk Management window.
Thanks.

 

[Gr1mwolf]

Unfortunately I can't. I just RMA'd the PSU, since it seemed like the most likely cause at this point despite the tester saying it was fine. The new one will be here Thursday, then I can see if that solved it or not.
The external enclosure will also get here Thursday, so I can see if the drives work on another computer.
The Disk Management screen only listed my SSD and my DVD drive. Those were the only two items on it at all.

 

[Gr1mwolf]

Unlikely though it was, I think all of the 2 HDDs and the SSHD are all corrupt. The external enclosure arrived, and although the SSD works fine in it, all the others come up as "Unknown, not initialized" in disk management and do not appear in File Explorer. If I try initializing them, they fail due to "fatal hardware error". If I look at the disk details in Diskpart using the Command Prompt, it claims to have a size of 0 bytes.

 

[Boogieman_WD]

This is completely normal for new internal drives. You should initialize them before you're able to partition and format them. Here's how to do that:
How to initialize or write a signature to a secondary hard drive or Solid State drive in Windows
How to partition and format a drive on Windows and macOS.

You should also test the drive as suggested in a previous post, just to see what's the situation with them. The fact that they are recognized points towards a different issue, for now.

 

[Gr1mwolf]

Here's an image of my Disk Manager. On the new PC, the extra drive was simply not there at all.

Those links seemed to suggest initializing the drive, which isn't working in either format.
MBR gives the hardware error, and GPT claims the drive isn't large enough (the SSHD used in the screenshot is 4tb)

Here is the result of the diagnostics. It claims the drive is fine, but with a capacity of 0mb, it obviously isn't.

 

[Boogieman_WD]

I'd strongly recommend that you remove the serial numbers from the screenshots as those are new drives and it's a security issue.

It doesn't seem like any of the drives (SSHD and HDD) are recognized by DLG. If you can't even initialize them, there's definitely something wrong there. As @USAFRet said, it's unlikely for both drives to be acting up like this, so give them a go with a different system, to see if you'd be experiencing the same problems. If the same thing happens again, then even though it might be a unlikely and a truly unfortunate coincidence, you might have to get them replaced.

 

[Gr1mwolf]

I've tried connecting the drives externally to my Mac Mini as well, but I can't find it anywhere in the system. It doesn't show up in either Finder or Disk Utility.

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Well, unfortunately, this now really seems like you might have gotten 2 faulty drives if this is the case. I'd suggest that you turn to the vendor you got them from, explain your situation and try to get them replaced.
It would be nice to confirm everything by trying another known to be working HDD with that system and if it works, that should be enough evidence that the HDD and the SSHD are not working properly.

 

[Gr1mwolf]

Yeah, the new 850w PSU solved nothing, so the only logical conclusion remaining I can think of is that all three drives are defective. I'll try replacing those next...

Update
I was able to return the 4tb SSHD, but I've had the 1tb HDDs too long.
I've ordered a high-end 2tb Western Digital Black HDD this time, odds are real low that'll come defective. Instead of a second HDD, I've also ordered another SSD. If this HDD also does not work, it'll be very interesting to see if the second SSD is also working.

That 4tb SSHD was a ripoff anyway. I got it because it was crazy cheap on Newegg (~$170), but the actual drive was definitely not new in hindsight. It came in a generic cardboard shipping box only, with nothing but the drive itself.

 

[Boogieman_WD]

I see. Well the drive might have been OEM if it came with this packaging. Anyway, if you've got DOA drives which you can't return to the vendor you might be able to do that by contacting the manufacturer and and ask about RMA. As long as they are under warranty and not OEM, you have a chance of getting a replacement.

Please let me know how it goes once you get the new drives.

 

[Gr1mwolf]

New HDD arrived, and same issue. Problem is not with the drives themselves...
It's just not there at all inside BIOS or Disk Management. Haven't gotten the second SSD to test yet.

-Update-
Okay, no, wait. That was really weird.
So when I simply inserted the HDD internally, it had the same old issue. But then I remembered to try using it externally on another computer, and it worked fine there. I formatted it and assigned a drive letter on the external hook up. Then when I re-inserted it into my main PC, it was working fine. Problem resolved... I guess.

 

[Boogieman_WD]

So it sounds like it could be something with the motherboard. It's good that everything's working fine right now, but if I were you I'd definitely contact the mobo manufacturer's customer support, to see what could it be. Explain your situation and please let me know how it goes.

Cheers!