RealBeast :
The SeaTools for Windows that I linked in your post for testing your Seagate external will work on it and is free. If it doesn't see that drive either, probably a bad drive although you should test the power and data cables just in case.
Does the drive show up if you open a command prompt window and type diskpart, and then list disk? It should show up under diskpart even if it uses a format that is Windows incompatible or corrupted.
I don\t think you understood me correctly. I quote myself earlier: "Why is it not being detected when Windows and BIOS can see it just fine?" Yes. The Windows DOES see it. It says healthy partition. It came from sealed bag un-formatted and I formatted it in MBR. CMD sees it (I already tested that one). My cables are fine, I already thought of that, and tried another SATA to USB connector. (I have a couple, I fix PCs for a living).
My problem is just that Speedfan does not detect it. It doesn't with some drives, I have no idea why. The Toshiba utility is like that too - in the past it failed to detect a number of perfectly good Toshiba drives which I later installed on my customers' laptops and had nothing but good reports from them over the years). But the strategy of just buying and installing it could easily backfire. This is why - in both my questions I asked, it is imperative that I find a good freeware generic program besides Speedfan to test the S.M.A.R.T. characteristics for all drives, not just Seagate or WD or Hitachi or Toshiba. Something similar to Speedfan quick S.M.A.R.T. test that detects all or most drives without the need for WIFI. I really need this figured out because I desperately need a quick method for testing drives I buy IN THE STORE the way Speedfan does it. Returning items to the store every time is very costly when your time begins at $35/hr, you lose clients by not being able to respond quickly enough.
If you know of any such program - I would appreciate a suggestion.
2. It is entirely possible that I would have to connect the drive through SATA directly to my board to test it with Toshiba utility. Haven't done so yet. Trouble is - it's hard to do this every time because I go through a bunch of drives, and with my motherboard I need to restart the PC every single time I connect a drive through SATA directly. Refreshing in Device Manager doesn't work. This stuff is tedious. So another question I have is:
Could it be the way I formatted this drive prevents it from being detected by Speedfan/Toshiba Utility? Would it perhaps need some kind of altered formatting? What do you think? Please bear with me, I really need to get to the bottom of this. Normally - I very rarely get my inquiries solved here. Maybe it's because they have no solution, after all - I usually can solve 95% of problems on my own - ones I can't probably either have no solution or are very counterintuitive which may need more people to look at them to maybe have that "aha" moment. I could really appreciate if other members could brainstorm this too. Any at all suggestion is welcome. Thanks.