SSD boot drive not visible in my computer

mightytexn

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Oct 1, 2011
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I just built a new computer using an OCZ SSD as a boot drive with a 1 TB WD caviar black for storage. It works very well, although I can't find the SSD in my computer. Windows 7 automatically labeled the HDD as c:, and I can't add any programs to the SSD. I have a biostar z68 motherboard, but the drives aren't set up in RAID so the SSD caching is not enabled. Any ideas about why Windows set things up like that when I installed?
 
Solution
After you mounted the ssd in the pc case and attached the power and SATA cables, did you start the computer and immediately go into the system BIOS and make sure it is set to ACHI mode instead of IDE mode? In addition, did you check BIOS settings and make sure the ssd was designated as the boot/C: drive? Normally Windows will automatically follow the system BIOS settings.


After you mounted the ssd in the pc case and attached the power and SATA cables, did you start the computer and immediately go into the system BIOS and make sure it is set to ACHI mode instead of IDE mode? In addition, did you check BIOS settings and make sure the ssd was designated as the boot/C: drive? Normally Windows will automatically follow the system BIOS settings.


 
Solution

rherst

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Sep 28, 2011
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Did you format the drive? At the Start menu, type "Create and Format Hard Disk Partitions"
 

mightytexn

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Oct 1, 2011
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The BIOS settings have the SSD listed as the boot drive. It is in IDE mode instead of ACHI though. I thought that as long as RAID wasn't enabled to allow SSD caching it would recognize it as any other drive. To enable ACHI and get the SSD recognized as C: will I have to reinstall windows or can I just follow the instructions here? http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/244840-32-convert-sata-ahci-vista
 

mightytexn

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Oct 1, 2011
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I formatted the drive during install, and BIOS says it is booting from the OCZ SSD, but when I went to Disk Management I just noticed that it says that the SSD is 100% free so obviously the OS isn't installed on it. I guess I'm gonna go back and reinstall windows with ACHI mode.