Windows has stopped recognizing my secondary HDD

[ayeshaf]

I found one morning that Windows got stuck on the Welcome Screen. Eventually I installed the newest RAID Driver from Intel (instead of the old one from Dell I had) and now I can get into Windows normally. However, the second HDD still doesn't show up either in BIOS or Windows Disk Management. However, it does seem to appear in the Intel Rapid Storage Applet. What should I do?

 

[TVeblen]

Hello ayeshaf. Welcome to the forum.

Sorry, more questions than answers:
Are you running (or have you ever run) a RAID array?
Are these RAID drivers a combination AHCI/RAID package, or is there a separate AHCI driver available?
What do you have on the secondary drive? Is the data backed up? If you lost it would it ruin your day?
If you go into the BIOS(UEFI) settings, do you see the second hard drive there?

 

[ayeshaf]

Hello ayeshaf. Welcome to the forum.

Sorry, more questions than answers:
Are you running (or have you ever run) a RAID array?
Are these RAID drivers a combination AHCI/RAID package, or is there a separate AHCI driver available?
What do you have on the secondary drive? Is the data backed up? If you lost it would it ruin your day?
If you go into the BIOS(UEFI) settings, do you see the second hard drive there?

Thank you for your response! This is a much more friendly forum than the last one I tried.

- To my knowledge I have never run a RAID array.
- This is the driver I installed https://downloadcenter.intel.com/De...Rapid Storage Technology (Intel RST)&lang=eng. I am not sure whether it's a combination package or not.
- I have some data on my secondary drive that is not backed up. I'd like to keep it but it wouldn't be a terrible disaster if it were lost.
- The second HDD does not appear in BIOS.

 

[jumanji]

A basic question again till TVeblen comes along and continues..

Does your DELL XPS Laptop come with two HDDs inside its belly or do you mean an external HDD as your secondary HDD?

 

[ayeshaf]

A basic question again till TVeblen comes along and continues..

Does your DELL XPS Laptop come with two HDDs inside its belly or do you mean an external HDD as your secondary HDD?

It has two HDDs in the belly.

 

[TVeblen]

OK, that "driver" is the Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver. There are many versions of IRST and you must be sure to get and use the version that works with your laptop. There have also been several problems reported here concerning using newer IRST drivers - the older ones worked better.

But your motherboard chipset will usually use a specific AHCI driver for the SATA controller. This (and the correct version of IRST) will normally be listed on Dell's website for your exact model of laptop. Perhaps if you could post a screenshot or link to the Downloads page for your laptop we could take a look.

But here is a secondary thought process: it is possible for components in a laptop to become loose, especially if they have been through a rough patch or some traumatic event. So the first thing I would do is open up the laptop (power OFF, power supply unplugged, and battery removed please!) and re-seat the hard drives. Check carefully to see if there is dust or crud in the connections. Blow it out with compressed air to be sure. Then check it again.
Could be as simple as that.