[SOLVED] SSD in laptop caddy (replaced DVD) doesn't show up at all in File Explorer. Do I need to do something to make it recognized?

[c050]

I have an ASUS K55VJ. I've installed an Kingston SSDNow A400 SA400S37 480GB SSD with an Asus K53 K54 K55 HDD Caddy. Both the Caddy and the SSD are sold specifically for ASUS K55VJ, so they should work with this laptop.

Do I need to do anything to make it recognized?

 

[Barty1884]

Does the drive appear in Disk Management?
Right click the start icon, select disk management.

If it does, you likely need to initialize the drive &/or assign a drive letter.

 

[ss202sl]

Look at disk management. You may need to create a volume and format it

 

[captaincharisma]

forget disk manager, check in BIOS to see if it shows up in there first

 

[Barty1884]

forget disk manager, check in BIOS to see if it shows up in there first

They're already inside Windows, so Disk Management would be the easiest place to check.
Obviously, if it's not showing up in DM then they'd need to backtrack (BIOS, physical connections etc), but unless the ODD's SATA port was disabled to begin with, the drive should be showing up in DM

 

[c050]

I started Disk Manager and get a popup "You must initialize a disk before Logical Disk Manager can access it". I can chose between MBR or GPT in the popup.
I also have an unknown "Disk 1" 447.13 GB (correct amount) "unallocated" "Not initialised" with a little red mark.

So that looks promising.

This is not to be the O/S disk (yet) so I'm thinking to choose GPT and then choose NTFS if that choice is given. It will be an extra disk I will put programs on.

 

[captaincharisma]

They're already inside Windows, so Disk Management would be the easiest place to check.
Obviously, if it's not showing up in DM then they'd need to backtrack (BIOS, physical connections etc), but unless the ODD's SATA port was disabled to begin with, the drive should be showing up in DM

the OP asked why the drive wasn't being detected. this would be the easiest way to see if it was a hardware or connectvity issue or not. if the drive is detected is BIOS then the next logical step would have been your suggestion

 

[c050]

Googling MBR or GPT ...
Picked GPT as PC has UEFI and is 'modern' (2012).

Now how many partitions? As Win 10 will not be here (yet) and I will only put programs here ... Any reason for more than one partition?
~

Made a single NTFS partition with Disk manager -> New Simple Volume Wizard
Default alignment. Took all defaults except Volume Name.
Made sure "Quick Format" was checked. Should do this with SSD so formatter doesn't try to format it as a platter with unnecessary writes.
Formatting took about 2-3 seconds.
~

So, success it seems (for anybody finding this thread in x years).

 

[popatim]

Only if you wish to separate things like Apps and data in case you want to wipe the OS (other drive) and Apps (this drive) and retain data (files, pics, videos, music...) but that leaves you needing to guess the sizes you will need.