[SOLVED] Windows disabling HDD when a new one is plugged in?

[mookachalupa]

Recently rebuilt (moved all components and upgraded) my PC and I've set up everything the way it had been before. Noticed something odd not too long ago that I was missing one of my drives(games), checked drive manager, checked BIOS then went into my system and fiddled around with the one that wasn't showing up. It was connected the entire time and running all the same, switched the SATA cable and then voila, I could access my games drive once more but at the cost of losing access to another (my backups)HDD. I've even gone ahead to plug in a crisp new SATA power cord to see if it was a faulty one from the Daisy chain I have been using for the rest of my drives. It seems like Windows is disabling one in favor for the other based on which was plugged in last and I can't figure out why. Hopefully I can learn something! Thanks to anyone in advance!

Games Drive: WD Black 4TB 7200RPM
Backup Drive: Toshiba DT01ACA100 1TB 7200RPM
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNova 850 G2

 

[DSzymborski]

Do you see it in Disk Management? It could be trying to assign them the same drive letter.

 

[Nemesia]

Will need the full specs of your system.

 

[mookachalupa]

Nope, only whichever is currently active shows up in disk manager. I had both of them running side by side fine before the rebuild

 

[DSzymborski]

Have you tried different SATA ports?

 

[mookachalupa]

EVGA SuperNova 850 G2
ASUS ROG B450-F
Gigabyte RTX 3080
Ryzen 7 3700x - AMD Wraith Air Cooler
WD Black M.2 Performance SSD 256GB
WD Black 4TB 7200RPM
Toshiba DT01ACA100 1TB 7200RPM
Samsung 860 EVO 1TB SSD
4 DeepCool RGB Fans

 

[DSzymborski]

And the motherboard? And which exact ports are all these drives plugged into?

This is crucial information as typically, the lane configuration means that using some ports will disable other ports. For example, the diagram for my motherboard.

 

[mookachalupa]

Have you tried different SATA ports?

Actually, I was going to say yes because I initially thought it was only one problem with the WD Black HDD so I tried a new port for that but I'm going to swap the one to the Toshiba as well. I'll report back in a minute, thanks!

 

[mookachalupa]

And the motherboard? And which exact ports are all these drives plugged into?

ASUS ROG B450-F and they're all plugged into the SATA hub apart from the M.2 which is on the Mobo.

 

[Nemesia]

ASUS ROG B450-F and they're all plugged into the SATA hub apart from the M.2 which is on the Mobo.

The SATA hub?

 

[Nemesia]

When you put an M.2 in M2_1 the SATA port 5 and 6 are disabled on that board.

 

[DSzymborski]

ASUS ROG B450-F and they're all plugged into the SATA hub apart from the M.2 which is on the Mobo.

Why are you using a hub? How is this hub connected? Use the SATA ports directly on the motherboard and pay attention to which ports they're plugged into. They're numbered; you can reference the manual.

This is important, because when M.2_ 1 is occupied on your motherboard, SATA6G_5/6 are disabled.

 

[mookachalupa]

Okay, sorry for the confusion. Poor choice of words, by "hub" I meant the actual sata ports on the Mobo, and I had one of my cords plugged into SATA6G_5. Really interesting nuance I never would have thought of but I'm glad I know now. All drives are now appearing and won't be making the same mistake again haha. Super grateful for both of your help was not expecting to have this figured out within the night. Thank you!!!

 

[DSzymborski]

Assuming you have no objections, I'm assigning the Best Solution that you gave me to Nemesia. He beat me to the exact SATA port in conflict, and to the victor should go the spoils!

Yeah, it's one of those things that people sometimes miss when they don't do a ton of these, even if they've read the motherboard manual cover-to-cover. Essentially, lots of things want lanes and since most people don't populate every port, usually the best solution is to have some port choices be mutually exclusive. Trust me, it's annoying; I have six HDDs and an NVME in my main rig (the one referenced above) and I had to use a SATA daughterboard to get everything working.

I'm just happy everything's working for you!

 

[mookachalupa]

No problem man, you're both legends in my book now! It's ridiculous the amount of relief that washes over me after finally fixing something that stumped me so bad without help.

I hope you have an excellent night!

 

[DSzymborski]

No problem man, you're both legends in my book now! It's ridiculous the amount of relief that washes over me after finally fixing something that stumped me so bad without help.

I hope you have an excellent night!

A sleepless one. I have an article I was supposed to file three hours ago, instead I'm PC hobbyisting!

 

[Nemesia]

You two have a good night and thanks!

Just here to help people. Most important part to me