Windows 7: Hard Drive Not Recognized

hollyoaks777 · 08 May 2011

Hard Drive Not Recognized i followed this tutorial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jclt_ylFWXs but i obviously done it wrong and wiped my hard drive and had to buy a new one. I still have the old one what i am wondering is can i take the hard drive out when my system is running and put the old one in and fix it with drivers. It's a Western digital hard drive if that makes any difference.
Thank you in advance.

brianzion · 08 May 2011

hi there

well on the motherboard you should have a few sata connectors so why don't you plug the drive(leave the new drive in you don't need to take it out) that you replaced back in(WARNING please unplug the pc from the mains lead pull the cable from the pc and press the on/off button for 5-10 seconds to discharge any power in the machine, and touch a piece of clear metal on the pc case to earth yourself to rid any harmful static before doing any work on your pc) and we will go from there ok. i take it its a internal drive? could you post your machine specs to help with diagnosing problems in the forums please.

brianzion · 08 May 2011

You need to format the drive before you can use it for data.

Right-Click on the My Computer icon either on your desktop or in the Start Menu and select Manage.

A new window titled Computer Management comes up.
Select Storage from the left hand side by clicking it once, then select Disk Management(local) from the right side by double-clicking it. Find your new drive and format it with one large partition.

First you partition - do a primary partition if you want only one partition on the hard drive. Then you format the partition - again right click and select format use NTSF - use default allocation size and give the new volume a label (no spaces allowed in the name).

hollyoaks777 · 08 May 2011

Quote: Originally Posted by brianzion

hi there

well on the motherboard you should have a few sata connectors so why don't you plug the drive(leave the new drive in you don't need to take it out) that you replaced back in(WARNING please unplug the pc from the mains lead pull the cable from the pc and press the on/off button for 5-10 seconds to discharge any power in the machine, and touch a piece of clear metal on the pc case to earth yourself to rid any harmful static before doing any work on your pc) and we will go from there ok. i take it its a internal drive? could you post your machine specs to help with diagnosing problems in the forums please.

Hi mate what cable would i need to connect.
It is a Dell 1545 inspiron laptop and yes it's internal hard drive.
specs as follows
Built-in Devices Stereo speakers,
Wireless LAN antenna
<LI class=even>Width 14.7 in Depth 9.6 in
<LI class=even>Height 1.5 in Weight 5.7 lbs
<LI class=even>Color Purple passion Screen type Widescreen
<LI class=even>Wireless capabilities IEEE 802.11b,
IEEE 802.11g Processor

Processor Intel Pentium T4200 / 2.0 GHz
Multi-Core Technology Dual-Core
64-bit Computing Yes
Data Bus Speed 800.0 MHz
Chipset Type Mobile Intel GM45 Express

Cache Memory

Type L2 cache
Installed Size 1.0 MB

RAM

Installed Size 3.0 GB / 4.0 GB (max)
Technology DDR2 SDRAM - 800.0 MHz

Environmental Parameters

Environmental standards EPEAT Bronze

Storage Controller

Storage controller type Serial ATA

Storage

Floppy Drive None
Hard Drive 250.0 GB - 5400.0 rpm
Storage Removable None
Hard drive type Portable

Optical Storage (2nd)

2nd optical storage type None

Optical Storage

Type DVDï¿½RW

Card Reader

Card reader type 7 in 1 card reader
Supported flash memory cards Memory Stick PRO,
SD Memory Card,
MultiMediaCard,
Memory Stick,
SDIO,
xD-Picture Card

Display

Display Type 15.6 in TFT active matrix
Max Resolution 1366 x 768 ( WXGA )
Widescreen Display Yes
Features Glossy

Video

Graphics Processor / Vendor Intel GMA 4500MHD Dynamic Video Memory Technology 5.0
Max Allocated RAM Size 256.0 MB

Audio

Audio Output Sound card
Compliant Standards High Definition Audio
Audio Input Microphone

Notebook Camera

Camera Type Integrated
Sensor Resolution 1.3 Megapixel

Input Device(s)

Input device type Keyboard,
Touchpad

Telecom

Modem None

Networking

Networking Network adapter
Wireless LAN Supported Yes
Wireless NIC Dell Wireless 1397
Data Link Protocol IEEE 802.11g,
Fast Ethernet,
IEEE 802.11b,
Ethernet
Compliant Standards IEEE 802.11b,
IEEE 802.11g

Expansion / Connectivity

Expansion Bays None
Expansion Slot(s) 2.0 (total) / 1.0 (free) x ExpressCard/34 - SO DIMM 200-pin,
1.0 Memory
Interfaces 1.0 x Network - Ethernet 10Base-T/100Base-TX - 15 pin HD D-Sub (HD-15),
1.0 x Hi-Speed USB - VGA - RJ-45,
1.0 x Audio - Input - Mini-phone 3.5 mm,
1.0 x Display / video - Line-out/headphones - 4 pin USB Type A,
3.0 x Microphone - Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm

Power

Power Device External
Voltage Required AC 120/230 V ( 50/60 Hz )

Battery

Technology 6-cell Lithium ion
Installed Qty 1.0
Capacity 2200.0 mAh

Operating System / Software

OS Provided Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
Microsoft Office Preloaded Includes a pre-loaded image of select Microsoft Office 2010 suites. Purchase an Office 2010 Product Key Card or disc to activate preloaded software on this PC.
Software Roxio Creator DE 10,
Adobe Acrobat Reader 9.0,
Microsoft Works

Manufacturer Warranty

Service & Support 1 year warranty
Service & Support Details Limited warranty - 1 year

Sustainability

ENERGY STAR Qualified Yes
EPEAT Compliant EPEAT Bronze

brianzion · 08 May 2011

thanks for the specs well it being a laptop you would not be able to connect the old drive up they are designed for only one i believe

you could always sell it on and recover some £££ for the new one you bought. the tutorial you followed did not help you much. if you have deleted data from it there is a possibility that you could install a linux operating system for notebooks but that would mean keep swapping drives (not a good idea). the advice i gave previous is for tower/desktop machines sorry.

marsmimar · 08 May 2011

Brian, just a thought. Would it be worthwhile to get a hard drive enclosure and try connecting via USB and do the reformatting to NFTS?

hollyoaks777 · 08 May 2011

Quote: Originally Posted by brianzion

thanks for the specs well it being a laptop you would not be able to connect the old drive up they are designed for only one i believe

you could always sell it on and recover some £££ for the new one you bought. the tutorial you followed did not help you much. if you have deleted data from it there is a possibility that you could install a linux operating system for notebooks but that would mean keep swapping drives (not a good idea). the advice i gave previous is for tower/desktop machines sorry.

when I bought new hard drive at the computer store the guy said it was Knackered and said it was just sitting at splash screen on his computer. Do you think he could have fixed it but wanted me to spend money on new one. Thanks for your help

brianzion · 08 May 2011

Good thinking its worth a try can't see why it would not work it does on normal hard drives converting internal to external. I wonder if there is a docking station?

hollyoaks777 · 08 May 2011

Quote: Originally Posted by marsmimar

Brian, just a thought. Would it be worthwhile to get a hard drive enclosure and try connecting via USB and do the reformatting to NFTS?

so Marsmimar is that the only option to use it as external hard drive or throw it in the bin mate

brianzion · 08 May 2011

Quote: Originally Posted by hollyoaks777

Quote: Originally Posted by brianzion

thanks for the specs well it being a laptop you would not be able to connect the old drive up they are designed for only one i believe

you could always sell it on and recover some £££ for the new one you bought. the tutorial you followed did not help you much. if you have deleted data from it there is a possibility that you could install a linux operating system for notebooks but that would mean keep swapping drives (not a good idea). the advice i gave previous is for tower/desktop machines sorry.

when I bought new hard drive at the computer store the guy said it was Knackered and said it was just sitting at splash screen on his computer. Do you think he could have fixed it but wanted me to spend money on new one. Thanks for your help

quite possibly he wanted to make money, hard drives are pretty robust when it comes to replacing data etc

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