Windows not detecting sata hdd

Format the drive in the simple volume by following the wizard. Most users prefer the NFTS file system. Perform a quick format. When the progress is done, you can see the hard drive on the File Explorer. As an outdated device driver can also be a cause, it is highly advisable to update it from the drive manufacturer support by following the below steps:.

Choose Windows Update and then click the Check for updates selection. Wait for the update to complete. If an update is published in the Windows Update service, updates will be downloaded and installed automatically. Expand the branch to look for the hard drive in question. When prompt says the command is executed successfully, close Command window and restart your PC.

Note : make sure that you are running diskpart on the correct hard drive to make sure that no data is wiped. Reboot your PC. Check whether the hard drive is in the list of all connected drives.

If it does not appear, it could probably be because the hard drive is not connected properly. Another case is you disabled the hard drive in BIOS before. You can check if it is enabled or check if the destined hard drive is enabled.

If not, allow it, exit the BIOS, and restart the system. A hard drive malfunction may be caused by faulty wiring or damaged ports.

If after doing this, the hard drive remains undiscoverable, the problem may be on the cables. You can try replacing old cables with new ones and check to see if the drive is now listed as a connected drive.

If you do not have any prior knowledge about hard drive cables and ports, do not attempt to do this method on your own. It would be better to approach an IT expert who knows their way around computers to avoid damaging your system further. Click on the Start menu and enter cmd in the search box. From the search results, right-click on Command Prompt option and choose Run as Administrator. Finally, reboot your PC system and check if the hard drive is now visible.

All SATA systems are supposed to be backward compatible and make adjustments automatically. In that situation some of those drives fail to slow themselves down to the port's speed and communication fails. For that situation most HDD makers have a way to force the drive to slow down.

Seagate and WD and others do this by placing a jumper on a specific pin pair on the back edge of the drive unit. Some drives even arrive with this jumper in place. IF you believe you have this combination of hardware, check the HDD maker's website for how to force the drive to slow down to 1. Now, time to check the BIOS settings. You say you can "see" the drive in BIOS as a "master". Wherever it is, check that the port is Enabled probably is already. Set that to the optical drive first, then the HDD you have just configured, and no other devices.

Save and Exit to make these changes permanent. Make sure your Win Install disk is in the optical drive so it will boot from there. You must log in or register to reply here. Post thread. Question I want to upgrade my computer.

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Latest: drivinfast 4 minutes ago. Graphics Cards. Different situations need different solutions, and here we will show you what to do in different cases.

If everything is right, but the problem is still there, try one of the following technical solutions. If you cannot find the second hard drive in File Explorer, but you are able to see it in Disk Management, the following solutions might help. Solution 1. Initialize and partition the second hard drive. Besides you can also use PowerShell to initialize disk.

After you initialize the disk, the disk will be shown as unallocated space, then you need to partition it to make the drive visible in Windows. Right click on the unallocated disk space and select "New Simple Volume". Notice the minimum and maximum allowed size when creating the partition. On the Format Partition page, you can decide the file system, allocate unit size and volume label. To create more than one partition on the second hard drive, you can leave some free space in step 4.

And repeat the steps to create another partition. Right-click the second hard drive and select "Quick Partition". In the pop-out windows, you can set the disk type, partition counts, partition size, and volume name, file system and so on. After all are done, click "Start Partitioning".

With two clicks, you can create multiple partitions at one time instead of creating them one by one. So try changing the drive letter following the below steps.