WD Caviar 640 GB not recognized!

[ha2fb]

The pc that I've installed this hdd into is a home built gaming rig

HDD that is not recognized - Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb

HDD currently installed with the OS - Western Digital Caviar Blue WD800JD 80GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0G

OS - MS Win XP w/ SP 2

MOBO - ASUS P5Q Pro LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard

CPU - Intel E7300

With all that being said here's the problem. I installed the HDD and it won't show in My Computer. The HDD does show in Device Manager. Also the HDD doesn't show in Computer Management>Disk Management. I bought the HDD from New Egg, and it didn't have the plastic piece for the jumpers? So I don't know if that's the problem. I'm lost, and I need help!

 

[ha2fb]

Come on guys! I need some help! ideas ideas?

 

[ha2fb]

Anyone, oh Anyone! Still awaiting an answer.

 

[aford10]

You don't need a jumper for the SATA drives unless your using them on a 1.5G SATA port.

Are there conflicts on the drive in the device manager? Does it show up in the bios? If it's a new drive, it will be in the bottom window of the disk management, not the top.

 

[Paperdoc]

Looks like you don't know where to find the tools.

One option is go to the WD website and download and install their utility software (free) to get a new disk ready to use. There are two steps - Partition and Format - that it can do for you.

Other way is use the built-in tools in Windows. I assume you are just going to add this HDD to your system (keeping the old 80 GB unit as the C: drive). Here are the steps:

1. Click on Start at lower left, then RIGHT-click on "My computer" in the upper right of the panel., and in the menu click on Manage to open up the Computer Management window. In the left panel expand Storage and Removable Storage if necessary then click Disk Management.

2. In the right portion are two panes. The upper one shows you all the devices you are using already with some info, so you'll see there your C: drive and your DVD drive(s). On the lower right there's a scrolling pane that shows all the drives attached, including the ones above it that are in use, plus other devices not yet ready to use. Your new drive should be there showing it all as Unallocated Space. Check very carefully that you are looking at your new drive with 640 GB capacity, and NOT your old one that has stuff on it. The next steps will destroy any data on the drive you are working on, but that's no problem IF you work on the empty new drive!

3. RIGHT-click on the new drive and choose Partition from the menu. Check around for choices. You want to make it one huge volume using up all available space, I presume. You do NOT need this HDD to be bootable. If it asks, use the NTFS File System for such a large drive. Go ahead and Partition the drive. This operation writes to the HDD a Partition Table and Master Boot Block containing data on how the space on the drive is organized.

4. When that's done, right-click on the drive again and choose Format. You have a choice of Quick format, which creates the basic data structures needed, or Full format which does that job and then checks every sector on the HDD to be sure it's OK. A Quick format will take several minutes - maybe 5 to 10. A Full Format will take MANY hours on a big disk, and you don't need that unless you are being extra careful and paranoid.

5. When that's done, exit back out of disk Manager and reboot the machine. The new HDD now should show up in My Computer available to use with no data on it and a size of about 590 GB. The 50 GB did not disappear! Microsoft defines a GB as 1024 x 1024 x 1024 bytes, so 640,000,000,000 bytes they call 596 GB. Allow for some consumed in creating the Root Directory and Sector Allocation Table (or whatever NTFS calls it) and that's what you get on an empty drive.

 

[ha2fb]

I followed the steps, but in Disk Management it's not showing. In the BIOS it does though??

 

[aford10]

So both HD's show in the device manager, but the secondary drive doesn't show in the top or bottom window of disk management? Is there a yellow ! next to the disk in disc management?