[Solved]Need help finding information about hard drive

[robotic38]

Note: this problem has been solved: My mother board is older, so it had to be told to look for SATA hard drives in the BIOS.

Greetings to all! In a previous thread I asked about why my computer was asking for a boot disk, but now I know that this is because my mother board isn't auto-detecting my hard drive. So, I'm going to manually put in the necessary information. I'm wondering if anyone could help me since I'm having trouble finding it. My hard drive is a Maxtor 7L250S0 and the information I need is: # of cylinders, # of heads, # of sectors, and write precompression. Help would be appreciated!

 

[rolli59]

If it is not detected in BIOS no hope but if it is use this guide http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/265764-32-guide-installed-disk-system

 

[silvery]

This data sheet has some of the info you are looking for: http://www.seagate.com/staticfiles/maxtor/en_us/documentation/data_sheets/maxline_iii_data_sheet.pdf

 

[robotic38]

This data sheet has some of the info you are looking for: http://www.seagate.com/staticfiles/maxtor/en_us/documentation/data_sheets/maxline_iii_data_sheet.pdf

Looked at that 100 times before, doesn't help.

 

[robotic38]

If it is not detected in BIOS no hope but if it is use this guide http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/265764-32-guide-installed-disk-system

Guide wasn't any more useful than the data sheet. 🙁

 

[rolli59]

So is it recognized in BIOS? If not the guide will not work!

 

[Paperdoc]

You cannot enter the manual information you refer to. Manual entries are for much older HDD's that were accessed that way. But your unit is a SATA 1.5 Gb/s 250 GB unit that uses the 48-bit LBA access system that all modern drives use.

If the first screen on your BIOS fails to detect that drive automatically, look for a BIOS screen near the end that does automatic HDD detection. Use the tools there to try an auto-detect - they are a bit more thorough. Are you sure the BIOS does not detect it? I have not seen your previous thread, so I don't know how you came to that conclusion.

Also check that the SATA port you are trying to use is Enabled in BIOS. AND check which SATA port you have plugged into. Many mobos have 4 SATA ports run by the main chip system, and then extra 2 or 4 ports run by a different chip. Those extra ports often must have a driver loaded into Windows to be used, but of course this does not prevent the BIOS from seeing them. However, again - check that the port is Enabled.

If that does not work, try using different cables for it, in case you have a bad data cable or power supply connector. You could also try to install it in another machine to test whether it works there - maybe the HDD is faulty.

 

[inanition02]

Can you provide a link to your previous thread?

 

[robotic38]

You cannot enter the manual information you refer to. Manual entries are for much older HDD's that were accessed that way. But your unit is a SATA 1.5 Gb/s 250 GB unit that uses the 48-bit LBA access system that all modern drives use.

If the first screen on your BIOS fails to detect that drive automatically, look for a BIOS screen near the end that does automatic HDD detection. Use the tools there to try an auto-detect - they are a bit more thorough. Are you sure the BIOS does not detect it? I have not seen your previous thread, so I don't know how you came to that conclusion.

Also check that the SATA port you are trying to use is Enabled in BIOS. AND check which SATA port you have plugged into. Many mobos have 4 SATA ports run by the main chip system, and then extra 2 or 4 ports run by a different chip. Those extra ports often must have a driver loaded into Windows to be used, but of course this does not prevent the BIOS from seeing them. However, again - check that the port is Enabled.

If that does not work, try using different cables for it, in case you have a bad data cable or power supply connector. You could also try to install it in another machine to test whether it works there - maybe the HDD is faulty.

As it turns out, my motherboard is a bit older, so it had to be told to detect SATA hard drives. 😛

 

[Paperdoc]

So its working now? Hooray!