Windows 7 doesn't see my 2nd hdd

[Aga En]

Hey,
I recently finished building my first pc, I installed windows 7 on to a ssd. I also have a 2nd 1tb hdd installed into my computer however windows 7 doesn't seem to see it in "My Computer". Bios and drive management both see this hdd, I don't have the option to change the drive letter, and I really can't format the disk as it contains important information.
Is there any way I could at least move my information off the hdd before I have to format it, or even better allow my system to see it normally.
Any help is appreciated,
Thanks,
Aga

 

[drtweak]

In Disk Management what does it show the drive as? a black bar with that says unallocated, Blue bar as says something like NTFS, RAW etc? Maybe post a screen shot?

 

[Aga En]

In Disk Management what does it show the drive as? a black bar with that says unallocated, Blue bar as says something like NTFS, RAW etc? Maybe post a screen shot?

 

[reedo_43]

Right click and assign a drive letter.

 

[Aga En]

Right click and assign a drive letter.

It doesn't let me...

 

[reedo_43]

If there is no data on the drive, delete both partitions till you have only unallocated space. Create 1 partition and format and assign a drive letter. Not sure why you have 2 partitions there.

 

[Aga En]

If there is no data on the drive, delete both partitions till you have only unallocated space. Create 1 partition and format and assign a drive letter. Not sure why you have 2 partitions there.

I really don't want to the delete the data that is on the drive, is there any other thing I could do?

 

[reedo_43]

If it is just data, just move it temporarily to the drive that widows does see.

 

[Aga En]

If it is just data, just move it temporarily to the drive that widows does see.

How do I do that if I can't access the drive? ;(

 

[drtweak]

Need some info on the 1TB Drive. Where did it come from, what Windows installed on it ect.

You may be able to use Diskpart.

Try this

1. Open a command prompt. (If UAC Enabled Right click on Command Prompt from the Accessories in the Start menu and Run As Admin)
2. Type in diskpart.
3. Type - list disk - to see a list of disks.
4. Type - select disk # - (where # is the disk you want, Most likely Disk 1 (PC's start with Disk 0)).
5. Type - list partition - to see partitions.
6. Type - select partition # (where # is the volume you want, Most likely partition 0).
7. Type - assign letter=x (where x is the drive letter).

see if that works.

But need to know if that hard drive had windows on it, Linux, mac? Need to know where it came from exactly

 

[drtweak]

And for Geeks Sake DON"T DELETE THE PARTITION REGARDLESS OF WHAT ANYONE SAYS Until have more than one person telling you to just delete it (No Offence redoo), but that is just bad advice when someone is trying to access data off a drive.

If the Drive letter doesn't work, and it came from a Windows PC, there are a few free file recovery programs we can run. If we do that route you WILL need a separate hard drive that can hold the data first, then once it is all recover then format the drive, and the copy it back to the 1TB. Its best if you have another 1TB Drive is possible

 

[Aga En]

Need some info on the 1TB Drive. Where did it come from, what Windows installed on it ect.

You may be able to use Diskpart.

Try this

1. Open a command prompt. (If UAC Enabled Right click on Command Prompt from the Accessories in the Start menu and Run As Admin)
2. Type in diskpart.
3. Type - list disk - to see a list of disks.
4. Type - select disk # - (where # is the disk you want, Most likely Disk 1 (PC's start with Disk 0)).
5. Type - list partition - to see partitions.
6. Type - select partition # (where # is the volume you want, Most likely partition 0).
7. Type - assign letter=x (where x is the drive letter).

see if that works.

But need to know if that hard drive had windows on it, Linux, mac? Need to know where it came from exactly

This didn't work for me, the command prompt just said, "There is no volume specified. Please select a volume and try again.", whatever partition I selected.

The hard drive is a western digital 1TB 3.5 inch - Caviar Blue, that's pretty much all I know off the top of my head.
This drive actually contained and I'm pretty still sure contains the os Linux Rebecca 17.
I definitely have a 250gb hard drive lying around somewhere but not a 1tb one. I didn't have an awful lot of stuff on the drive, maybe I could use this 250gb one to hold the data?

And just wanted to let you know, I really appreciate all of this help : )

 

[reedo_43]

You can't see the drive due to the linux files system. Download a bootable live linux cd and boot to it. It will allow you to access the drive and get your data off of it.

 

[drtweak]

It was most likely formatted in EXT3 then so yea windows can't read it natively.

Download the first program in the list in the link below. The Ext2Fsd

This will help you mount the drive, give it a driver letter, then copy all your files off

http://www.howtogeek.com/112888/3-ways-to-access-your-linux-partitions-from-windows/

If you plan to keep that drive in this Windows PC you WILL HAVE to copy ALL your files that you want to save off the drive and onto another drive. Then we will have to erase that drive and reformat it as a NTFS Drive

 

[reedo_43]

Nice find Drtweak! Had not heard of that one. Thanks for the info. Guess that is why you are the "storage authority"!

 

[drtweak]

lol there is a program out there for nearly everything. Just gotta do a little searching lol. Plus I do IT work and even though i rarely deal with Mac/Linux it helps.

I love it when people take their Mac in with their failing hard drive, Mac guys are like - Nope its dead we can't do anything - Its like REALLY! You guys call yourself a Genius? Yea right... So many free tools to make bit for bit backups of failing hard drives, then free programs to read the HFS/EXT systems. Its not rocket science. Just gotta have the right tools for the job.

 

[reedo_43]

I do use trans mac for reading mac file systems.