Third hard drive not showing in Device Manager or in "My Computer"

[brightfutureahead]

To anyone willing to help,
I was having issues with my hard drives, so I replaced them. I currently have one WD VelociRaptor (SP?) and one WD Caviar Blue. The VelociRaptor is picked up just fine. The Caviar Blue is noticed in Device Manager (I just need to partition and all that for it to show up in "My Computer" correct?). However, I have a third hard drive that I was using before, that has no issues on it. I did not put the Vista OS on this one. It is a WD 10000 RPM Caviar Black (I believe. At work, will double check later). I put this in with the other two, and it is not recognized in either Device Manager or "My Computer. Any suggestions?

BTW, I am running Win7, and it is on the VelociRaptor.

Thanks to anyone who helps. I have been coming here for a little over a year now, and have received incredible levels of help from very knowledgeable people, and am very grateful for that. Thanks to all past and present!!

 

[saint19]

In the disk manager the disk is online?

 

[Snipergod87]

If the drive is plugged in and running the device manager should show the drive. Something simple could have happened, it could be that the SATA cable became disconnected from either the hard drive or motherboard or the power connection to the hard drive came lose. Double check those connections. (I assume you are using SATA if you are using an older IDE drive check the jumper conenctions on the drive)

 

[jsrudd]

Check the connections. If that doesn't work type compmgmt.msc into the run dialogue box. See if it shows up. If it doesn't go into bios and look and see if it shows up there.

 

[brightfutureahead]

@saint19: The Hard Drive I am looking for is not online in the DEVICE MANAGER, WHICH I ASSUME IS THE SAME AS THE DISK MANAGER (but we all know what assumptions are the mother of).
@snipergod87;jsrudd: I am using SATA, and I will check those connections when I am home. However, when I closed everything up, I made sure it was connected. After firing it up, I looked through the side window, and everything still seemed to be connected.

On a somewhat different note, the second hard drive I have, the WD Caviar Blue, is recognized in the Device Manager, yet it does not show up in "My Computer". Device manager says "This device is working properly". I checked for any updated drivers, and discovered all are "up to date". Also, there are no options to partition and all that jazz (this is done from device manager correct? If not, can someone point me in the right direction?) I cannot remember how to correct this. Any help?

 

[brightfutureahead]

@saint19: As I said, and just proved to myself, assumptions are the mother of all.... so yeah, haha. The disk I am looking for is NOT in Disk Manager.

@snipergod98;@jsrudd: In disk manager, the WD 320 GB Caviar Blue IS online, however, I do not have an option to initialize, only options to: Convert to Dynamic or Convert to GPT. A black line appears stating "unallocated", if that helps. I am staring at Disk Manager right now, so if anyone desires more information, just ask. On top of that, the third hard drive does not appear at all.

Again, the help being provided just shows how great this place really is to newcomers like me. I appreciate the help.

 

[saint19]

The device manager isn't the same as the disk manager. The device manager show you devices intalled on your PC that are installed, if the disk isn't online CAN'T BE INSTALLED, SO, ISN'T LISTED IN THE DEVICE MANAGER.

 

[Paperdoc]

Disk Management is NOT Device Manager - it is an entirely different tool. It is where you go to Partition and Format any new drive so it can be used by Windows. It is also where you should be able to get helpful info on your "missing" drive.

jsrudd told you one way to get there. Here's another. Click on Start lower left, and in the main menu RIGHT-click on My Computer. From the mini-menu choose Manage, and this pops up a new window. In the left pane expand Storage if necessary and click on Disk Management. You will see two panes on the right - BOTH are scrolling so you can move through all their contents. The upper one shows you all the drives Windows is using now. The LOWER RIGHT pane has a series of horizontal blocks, one for each hardware device in your system. For example, I expect the first one represents your Velociraptor unit and it has a small sub-box on its left end that says "DISK_0" with its size and a few other details. To the right of that will be one large block representing the Partition on that unit that is being used as your C: drive, with its name, size, and a few other items. There will be another block below representing your optical drive.

If things are working, you should have two more blocks - one for the new Blue which will show all its space as "Unallocated Space" because you have done nothing with it yet, and another block representing the black unit. From here you can Create and Format Partitions (each will be labeled and used as a unique "drive") on any of the drive units. But before you do, plan: you will create Partition(s) on the Velociraptor, but do you want them to have letter names right after the ones you have now, or do you want the older used black drive with its Partitions to have the next names, and then the new drive comes after? If you want the raptor to be last, let's try to fix the black unit first.

Is there a block representing the used older black unit? If not, then it is completely unrecognized. You will have to look closely in the BIOS Setup screens for info on that. Maybe it is plugged into a SATA port that is not yet Enabled. Or maybe its SATA mode is set wrong - easiest option to manage is IDE (or PATA) Emulation mode. If necessary, configure options in the BIOS to get the older drive recognized by the mobo and BIOS, then come back to Windows Disk Management and verify it does show up in the lower right pane.

OK, so the black unit is there now. I'm assuming it is NOT showing yet in the upper right pane with a letter name - if it is, then you must have fixed something, and it should be visible in My Computer and in Device Manager. But if it is visible only in the lower right pane of Disk Management, check the large block representing the Partition that exists on it. Does it have a letter name? If not, RIGHT-click on that block and choose the option to Change or give it a letter name - any letter not already in use. If you need to do this and can, then simply exit out after making the assignment and reboot so Windows can recognize that drive, and it will show up in My Computer.

If these steps don't allow you to get the black unit working, report here what it actually does say in the blocks representing the black unit. Maybe that will give us clues to help you.

Now, on to the new Velociraptor. It has one large block of Unallocated Space. Decide whether you are going to Partition it into one large volume using all the available space, or into two or more smaller Partitions. There's a two-step process to go through, although some Windows versions will pop up a Wizard to combine the two and make it easy. RIGHT-click on the Unallocated Space and choose to Create a Partition. Make it a Primary Partition. Set its size. Since this unit will be used for data and not as a boot device, it does NOT need to be bootable. If there are no options about Formatting and File Systems here, we'll do that as a separate second step; hence, just run the routine to create the Partition. Once that is done, the display will change and the block will be a Partition instead of Unallocated Space. RIGHT-click on that again and choose to Format this Partition. (As I said, this step MAY be included in a Wizard.) Choose the NTFS File System. A Quick Format will do all you need in 10 to 15 minutes. A Full Format will do that, then take MANY HOURS to do extensive testing on the entire disk surface looking for bad sectors to mark off. The long way is not usually necessary with a new disk, but it's a precaution that only takes time and patience. Your choice. When it's done both these steps it will have assigned a drive letter to it. If you want to for any reason, you can RIGHT-click again on that new drive and Change its name to another letter. When done, exit out of Disk Management and reboot. The drives should all be in My Computer ready to use.

 

[brightfutureahead]

@Paperdoc; I went through some of the steps you said, to no result. Not in a negative way though. The older HD, the Black, is not showing in BIOS. The VelociRaptor is all set up, and the Blue is the one with the Unallocated space, however I am not able to partition it, only the following options when I right click: New Simple volume, properties, or help.

Here is what I am looking at.

Disk Management is NOT Device Manager - it is an entirely different tool. It is where you go to Partition and Format any new drive so it can be used by Windows. It is also where you should be able to get helpful info on your "missing" drive.

jsrudd told you one way to get there. Here's another. Click on Start lower left, and in the main menu RIGHT-click on My Computer. From the mini-menu choose Manage, and this pops up a new window. In the left pane expand Storage if necessary and click on Disk Management. You will see two panes on the right - BOTH are scrolling so you can move through all their contents. The upper one shows you all the drives Windows is using now. The LOWER RIGHT pane has a series of horizontal blocks, one for each hardware device in your system. For example, I expect the first one represents your Velociraptor unit and it has a small sub-box on its left end that says "DISK_0" with its size and a few other details. To the right of that will be one large block representing the Partition on that unit that is being used as your C: drive, with its name, size, and a few other items. There will be another block below representing your optical drive.

If things are working, you should have two more blocks - one for the new Blue which will show all its space as "Unallocated Space" because you have done nothing with it yet, and another block representing the black unit. From here you can Create and Format Partitions (each will be labeled and used as a unique "drive") on any of the drive units. But before you do, plan: you will create Partition(s) on the Velociraptor, but do you want them to have letter names right after the ones you have now, or do you want the older used black drive with its Partitions to have the next names, and then the new drive comes after? If you want the raptor to be last, let's try to fix the black unit first.

Is there a block representing the used older black unit? If not, then it is completely unrecognized. You will have to look closely in the BIOS Setup screens for info on that. Maybe it is plugged into a SATA port that is not yet Enabled. Or maybe its SATA mode is set wrong - easiest option to manage is IDE (or PATA) Emulation mode. If necessary, configure options in the BIOS to get the older drive recognized by the mobo and BIOS, then come back to Windows Disk Management and verify it does show up in the lower right pane.

OK, so the black unit is there now. I'm assuming it is NOT showing yet in the upper right pane with a letter name - if it is, then you must have fixed something, and it should be visible in My Computer and in Device Manager. But if it is visible only in the lower right pane of Disk Management, check the large block representing the Partition that exists on it. Does it have a letter name? If not, RIGHT-click on that block and choose the option to Change or give it a letter name - any letter not already in use. If you need to do this and can, then simply exit out after making the assignment and reboot so Windows can recognize that drive, and it will show up in My Computer.

If these steps don't allow you to get the black unit working, report here what it actually does say in the blocks representing the black unit. Maybe that will give us clues to help you.

Now, on to the new Velociraptor. It has one large block of Unallocated Space. Decide whether you are going to Partition it into one large volume using all the available space, or into two or more smaller Partitions. There's a two-step process to go through, although some Windows versions will pop up a Wizard to combine the two and make it easy. RIGHT-click on the Unallocated Space and choose to Create a Partition. Make it a Primary Partition. Set its size. Since this unit will be used for data and not as a boot device, it does NOT need to be bootable. If there are no options about Formatting and File Systems here, we'll do that as a separate second step; hence, just run the routine to create the Partition. Once that is done, the display will change and the block will be a Partition instead of Unallocated Space. RIGHT-click on that again and choose to Format this Partition. (As I said, this step MAY be included in a Wizard.) Choose the NTFS File System. A Quick Format will do all you need in 10 to 15 minutes. A Full Format will do that, then take MANY HOURS to do extensive testing on the entire disk surface looking for bad sectors to mark off. The long way is not usually necessary with a new disk, but it's a precaution that only takes time and patience. Your choice. When it's done both these steps it will have assigned a drive letter to it. If you want to for any reason, you can RIGHT-click again on that new drive and Change its name to another letter. When done, exit out of Disk Management and reboot. The drives should all be in My Computer ready to use.

 

[Paperdoc]

New Simple Volume sounds like the right choice. Do that and see what options it offers to help you prepare the HDD for use.

So the black older unit you previously "had no issues with" does not show up anywhere in Disk Management, Device Manager, or even in the BIOS. There is a definite hardware problem there. Check the disk's cable connections - power and data. Try connecting the data cable to another SATA port - maybe even substitute it for the new blue one, because you already know that port on the mobo works. Try different data and power cables.

You could try hooking up the black to another computer and seeing if it performs there. You also should consider downloading and using WD's free diagnostic utility package, Data Lifegard. If you get the version that runs by itself from a bootable optical disk you can run all the tests on the disk without needing Windows at all.

There is one obscure problem you can check for. SATA and SATA II systems are all supposed to figure each other out and work. But there is one combination that sometimes does not and requires manual intervention. That is the combo of an older controller (on the mobo) with a newer SATA II drive. Sometimes you have to manually set a jumper on the drive's back edge to force it to slow down communications to the 1.5 Gb/s max that the original SATA used. Any chance that it the problom here? If yes, check the WD website on how to force the slower speed on your particular WD black.

 

[saint19]

I think that you need format the disk for can be recognize for the device manager.

 

[brightfutureahead]

@paperdoc; Thank you. I fixed the issue, and will take care of the third HD later this week. Again, thanks to all. I really appreciate it guys, especially the fact that you haven taken time out of your days with such lengthy answers.