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illJazz
Premium Member
join:2002-09-04
Zurich

illJazz

Premium Member

Got new hard drive, Vista can't see it?

And I thought I knew hot to install a new HD.. anyway, I got a new Western Digital 320GB Special Edition Caviar (16MB Cache) 7200RPM drive tonight and just installed it. The BIOS detects it just fine and it shows up on SATA 5. My primary disc and DVD drive/burner are on SATA 1 and 2, respectively. This new drive is on SATA 5 if I remember correctly, because that's what was most convenient as far as cable placement and all that goes

Well, the drive won't show up in Vista. I've checked the "computer management" tool and the "disk management" and it just doesn't show up. Anyone?

eX_NihiLo
Here's Your Something For Nothing
Premium Member
join:2003-08-05
Louisville, CO

eX_NihiLo

Premium Member

did you format?

signmeuptoo94
Bless you Howie
Premium Member
join:2001-11-22
NanoParticle

signmeuptoo94 to illJazz

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to illJazz
Go to Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Disk Management -> Look for the drive, it will show as not partitioned or formatted possibly. Partition it and then format.

illJazz
Premium Member
join:2002-09-04
Zurich

illJazz

Premium Member

said by eX_NihiLo:

did you format?
No, because I can't even see the drive anywhere.
said by signmeuptoo94:

Go to Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Disk Management -> Look for the drive, it will show as not partitioned or formatted possibly. Partition it and then format.
That's the thing. It doesn't show up at all. BTW, I'm not looking for a drive letter assigned to the drive, am I? All I see under disk management is my current C: drive, my DVD drive and one virtual DVD/CD drive. The new hard drive isn't there.

apostrophe
Premium Member
join:2005-01-04
Philadelphia, PA

1 edit

apostrophe

Premium Member

i've actually got the same problem (only with XP pro)

i will try signmeuptoo's advice tonight.

it shows in the BIOS, Everest shows that i have it installed, and knows what model/size drive it is... but windows can't otherwise access it.

(ironically, it's the same exact drive.. hehe)

cvrefugee
Premium Member
join:2003-09-15
Riverside, CA

cvrefugee to illJazz

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to illJazz
This might be a shot in the dark, but on my friend's Dell 9200, the BIOS would detect a new drive, but you actually had to enable it too. There was a setting for each drive that would allow you to enable/disable it. Then Windows would see the new drive.

Airwolf
Premium Member
join:2001-10-30
Windsor, ON

Airwolf to apostrophe

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to apostrophe
Shot in the dark here, but what about additional SATA/RAID drivers?

I know some motherboards have two different controller chips for SATA. One usually being the southbridge chipset and an additional chip. i.e. JMicron

illJazz
Premium Member
join:2002-09-04
Zurich

1 edit

illJazz

Premium Member

On the BIOS main page, the drive shows up in the list of SATA connected devices. In the setting for device boot order, however, it does not show up. I get my DVD drive and current C: drive. I'm guessing that's because it's not formatted.. but how the heck am I supposed to format if Vista can't see the drive?

All I'm doing is trying to add a hard disk to the system! WTH..

BTW, I saw no option to just enable the drive in the BIOS. It's auto detected by the BIOS and even shows up during post.. but I don't see it in Windows :/. Perhaps it's some service I disabled? Hardly.. since my other drive is recognized just fine.
illJazz

illJazz

Premium Member

I checked with SIW and looked at both storage devices and disk drives... and the new drive is nowhere to be seen. Something's definitely wrong. Hm.

CylonRed
MVM
join:2000-07-06
Bloom County
·Metronet

CylonRed to illJazz

MVM

to illJazz
If the drive was retail then there should be a cd with it - which would include a utility to check the hard drive. If it is OEM then you should be able to download the program.

I would boot to the cd or utility and check the hard drive - see if the software that bypasses Windows can see the drive and then partition/format it.

illJazz
Premium Member
join:2002-09-04
Zurich

illJazz

Premium Member

said by CylonRed:

If the drive was retail then there should be a cd with it - which would include a utility to check the hard drive. If it is OEM then you should be able to download the program.

I would boot to the cd or utility and check the hard drive - see if the software that bypasses Windows can see the drive and then partition/format it.
It's retail and did come with a CD. The sticker on the retail box has a Vista compatibility sticker.. the manual that came with the drive only lists Win2k/XP support. I just checked the WD support website, and the latest version of their Data Lifeguard Tools suite is from April 2006 and has no support for Vista: »support.wdc.com/download ··· 9&swid=1

Still.. I shouldn't need the CD at all just to add a new drive to my system. The Disk Management way of doing things should be perfectly ok.. but the drive doesn't show up. I'm puzzled. Perhaps it's DOA? But if it is.. then why the heck does it show up in BIOS and POST.. :/

CylonRed
MVM
join:2000-07-06
Bloom County
·Metronet

CylonRed

MVM

I agree that you should not 'need' to but the point was to see if their software can see the drive and interact with it.

I would try the cd that came with the box anyhow if there was a sticker for Vista compatibility. It would not be the first time a web site did not have the newest software version.

sechs
Premium Member
join:2001-07-19
Wrong Coast

sechs to illJazz

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to illJazz
Does the drive appear in the device manager?

illJazz
Premium Member
join:2002-09-04
Zurich

illJazz

Premium Member

said by CylonRed:

I agree that you should not 'need' to but the point was to see if their software can see the drive and interact with it.

I would try the cd that came with the box anyhow if there was a sticker for Vista compatibility. It would not be the first time a web site did not have the newest software version.
It has some pretty useless stuff on it when I look at it while running Vista.. I highly doubt it's bootable, but I'll try and see where that gets me.
said by sechs:

Does the drive appear in the device manager?
Nope. If you mean under "disk drives", no. It's just not there. This could be a simple BIOS setting I overlooked, but I checked the BIOS more than once already and did not find anything that's set incorrectly..

eX_NihiLo
Here's Your Something For Nothing
Premium Member
join:2003-08-05
Louisville, CO

eX_NihiLo to illJazz

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to illJazz
illJazz are you running 64bit Vista? You might try setting the WD to SATA1 by jumper and see if that makes any difference.

illJazz
Premium Member
join:2002-09-04
Zurich

illJazz

Premium Member

said by eX_NihiLo:

illJazz are you running 64bit Vista? You might try setting the WD to SATA1 by jumper and see if that makes any difference.
Nope. It's 32-bit Vista Business. My other primary drive is basically the same drive, but 250GB. Been running great for months now.. I must say I'm rather puzzled here.

eX_NihiLo
Here's Your Something For Nothing
Premium Member
join:2003-08-05
Louisville, CO

eX_NihiLo

Premium Member

try and force it into SATA-1 mode anyway. That is one strange problem.

illJazz
Premium Member
join:2002-09-04
Zurich

1 edit

illJazz

Premium Member

Ok.. problem's fixed. I did two things. I took out the red Foxcomm SATA cable I used at first to connect the drive to the mobo.. and used the weird, blue SATA cable that came with the new drive instead. It has a huge connector on the end that goes in the HD, with a plastic part that goes into a hole on the back of the HD, right next to the data SATA connection. It's just made to secure the connector on there better and to make 100% sure you connect it the right way. Anyway.. then I put the other end of the SATA cable to SATA 4, not 5 as I had it before.. I rebooted, did a quick check in the BIOS just to see if it was detected (it was), logged on, started Disk Management by typing Start, then "diskmgmt.msc", and boom, a dialog popped up, the "add new disk wizard" or something, telling me that I need to initialize the new disk before it can be used. From there I clicked through and now it's being formatted as NTFS.

That's how it should have been in the first place.. no idea what happened here. I banished the shitty Foxcomm cable to a drawer.. it was so strongly connected to the motherboard SATA port that I couldn't believe how hard I had to pull to get it out. When I finally did, I had ripped off the L-shaped plastic part surrounding the metal wires OFF THE MOBO. Crazy stuff.. luckily, nothing broke, and I was able to put the plastic part back on the mobo without much trouble.

Anyway.. many thanks to all you who stopped by and tried to help. This whole problem was kind of random..
illJazz

illJazz

Premium Member

Ugh.. it's still formatting. 9%. I feel like I should have checked the box that said "quick format".. oh well

CylonRed
MVM
join:2000-07-06
Bloom County

CylonRed

MVM

Yea - it is going to take a good while - I don't like quick formats except with maybe with a floppy so all of mine are formatted the long way...

illJazz
Premium Member
join:2002-09-04
Zurich

illJazz

Premium Member

said by CylonRed:

Yea - it is going to take a good while - I don't like quick formats except with maybe with a floppy so all of mine are formatted the long way...
16%. Yeah.. looks like it's going to take a little while. Oh well.. at least it all works now
illJazz

illJazz

Premium Member

So I'm moving my entire downloads folder over to the new drive, and the moving process from one drive to the new drive is going at roughly 50MB/sec. Is this normal? Seems slow :/.. I'd have expected this to be faster by today's standards.

Vamp
5c077
Premium Member
join:2003-01-28
MD

Vamp

Premium Member

seems alittle low but nothing unusual.. Interface speed and drive burst has no meaning to the sustained speed you actually get. 30-60 seem to be the normal.

illJazz
Premium Member
join:2002-09-04
Zurich

illJazz

Premium Member

said by Vamp:

seems alittle low but nothing unusual.. Interface speed and drive burst has no meaning to the sustained speed you actually get. 30-60 seem to be the normal.
Granted, I was moving roughtly 50GB in one shot.. so that might have had to do something with the "low" speed, but oh well. It finished fast enough.

apostrophe
Premium Member
join:2005-01-04
Philadelphia, PA

apostrophe to illJazz

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to illJazz
i just did what signmeuptoo said... i could see the drive in Disk Management, i just had to format it.

now all is well...

(sorry to hijack your thread)

illJazz
Premium Member
join:2002-09-04
Zurich

illJazz

Premium Member

said by apostrophe:

i just did what signmeuptoo said... i could see the drive in Disk Management, i just had to format it.

now all is well...

(sorry to hijack your thread)
No problem
Glad you got your drive working properly as well
xtanmanx
join:2007-12-04

xtanmanx to illJazz

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to illJazz
i am having ALMOST the same problem. I have a Raptor sata drive (on loan from a friend) that i had formatted with xp, and had one game on it. used it for about 3 weeks with no problems. accidentally did quick format on that drive. bought another sata (not a raptor) drive for my o/s. decided to put dell's oem vista on it. my bios (MSI 848p neo-v..dont laugh, i know its old) has only options for PATA and SATA only with options to keep the opposite on. i now have it set to SATA only as they are the only 2 drives i am trying to get to work.

The new o/s drive is seen and working with o/s. the raptor is not seen in disk management, but it is seen in bios and device manager. is it possible that vista is not recognizing the xp partition? i dont believe that to be true because my first step after installing was to copy my files from the PATA drives to the SATA drive, so i know it was seeing the xp o/s drive. is it possible that the xp formats/partitions differently? when i go to device manager it shows the drive, i can look for updated drivers online, but it shows it has the most recent. when i try to populate the volume field it says it cant read the disk. i have check cabling, but since it is seen by bios and windows, i dont think that is the issue

thanks, in advance, for any help.

CylonRed
MVM
join:2000-07-06
Bloom County
·Metronet

CylonRed

MVM

Vista and XP are likely using the same format - NTF and as such - there is no difference. Is the drive with XP will listed as one active partition? Only one active partition can be 'seen' at any time. So if the partition with Vista is active then the 'active' partition for XP will be hidden.

If there is nothing you need on the XP drive - use the hard drive manufacturer utility and delete all partitions on the drive with XP. If you want to use it for storage I would make the drive an extended partition and then one or any number of logical drives. If you choose to do this - unplug the Vista drive to prevent any accidental data loss or any confusion.
xtanmanx
join:2007-12-04

xtanmanx

Member

thanks..i'll delete partitions tonight and see what happens.

Pyrion
Liquid Metal Nanomorph
join:2001-12-01
Spirit Lake, ID

1 edit

Pyrion to illJazz

Member

to illJazz
said by illJazz:

So I'm moving my entire downloads folder over to the new drive, and the moving process from one drive to the new drive is going at roughly 50MB/sec. Is this normal? Seems slow :/.. I'd have expected this to be faster by today's standards.
Ignore the hype surrounding "theoretical" SATA maximum transfer rates, theoretical != practical. 50MB/sec sequential transfer is fine, particularly as you were moving from one drive to another, it would naturally be limited to the transfer rate of the slowest drive between the two.

Even most SATA2 drives on the market today won't come anywhere near 300MB/sec transfer rates. (You could hit that with a Gigabyte iRAM2, but that's a whole 'nother story.) You'll only see high numbers as burst transfers, which means very little.