Second Hard Drive Not Appearing in Explorer

CKWD and Layback Bear.

Thanks for all the information. Will hopefully have time to act on all of it today.

My efforts yesterday didn't turn up much.
First went to a friends who is running Window 7 (some version of Home and without UAC or UEFI) Not Pro
and looked at his CP > Device Manager > Disk Management and Status Line to see if it could be toggled between Online and Offline. His also was not clickable, so at least confirmed for me I can't easily toggle the drive on/off at least there.

I next talked with a Tech person at the local "Best Buy". His solution was to reformat the disk.
So quickly dismissed that as I'm "fairly" confident there is nothing wrong with the Drive.

Found KB978951 which fixed the UAC slider issue so I don't have toggle using regedit.

Wandering one info regarding the "Snippet Tool" will help with future post interfacing until I can get my program converted to use JPG. Haven't tried it yet so hopefully will be straightforward.

Will post back after trying all your helpful suggestions.

David

Hi again David!

It's ok, we are here almost all the time. :)

dw85745 said:

That is easier said than done. These new MOBO do NOT have IDE interfaces anymore Only SATA. Since this is an IDE drive I had two choices. One find a daughterboard that would go from PCI or PCIExpress to IDE. I could Not find one locally. The second is this external adapter which goes from USB to IDE. Hence my use of the external.

Yes, I understand very well that new motherboards don't have IDE interfaces anymore. What I meant was connecting the drive through a converter directly to the motherboard, instead using a USB connection. Something like this, there are variations:

SATA IDE Adapter - Bi-directional SATA to IDE | IDE to SATA | StarTech.com

Comparing the two drives was a good idea, so it does look like there could be something wrong with the motherboard itself. But more likely a controller or the chipset, because of the fact that motherboards with UEFI can still load from IDE drives, using converters. So perhaps the Mobo itself is damaged.

Try your USB adaptor for the IDE drive on a different system, to confirm that the motherboard (connections) may be the issue.

I wish you good luck!

CK_WD

Hi CKWD: Trust you had a nice weekend.
Will look into StarTech.

Perhaps the Mobo itself is damaged.

Don't understand that rational. All three old drives I've tried are WD16000AAJB.

The one old that has the XP operating system was recognized using the USB to IDE convertor from this new MOBO with Win7 on the SATA boot drive.

The two old with Win7 operating system are the ones that are NOT recognized using the USB to IDE convertor using the same new MOBO with Win7 on the SATA boot drive.

As stated my rational -- but your the expert -- is that either:
1) the controller boards are bad on the two drives
OR
2) Because Win7 is trying to read another drive with the exact same Win7 (M$ gave me a new activation key when I loaded the new SATA drive). Maybe there is a registration number embedded in Windows hidden partition on both drives that is checked and is saying "can't have to copies of the same Win7 put drive offline". However, you would think that at least the second drive partition would show if that was the case.

Any feedback on my question:
Have any ideas about my killing the controller board if I swap it in if the platters are bad?

==================

Downloaded WD latest tools to check the drive but not really sure how to go about this going through USB. I can physically disconnect the SATA and then run WD tools. from the DVD.
Whether the WD software (tools) can go through the MOBO, then through USB, and then find the IDE drive is unknown. Guess only way to know is try.

You should've been able to select a boot device at POST by pressing a certain function key.

No function key per sey. You drag and drop what the system shows is available to create a boot order list. In my case I have the SATA, DVD and then the problem drives. No way I've figured out yet in the BIOS to make the problem drives available but make them non-bootable. So since I'm booting off SATA you'd think that the problem drives would just be considered storage only and the OS would be ignored. on those drives.

Unfortunatelly, I am in no position of giving advice or suggestions about the controller board and swapping in case the platters are bad.

Understand.

It sounds to me that this issue is now more for an expert on the spot who can see for himself and even test the technical part.

Easier said than done. First is finding someone who is a competent technical expert. I've talked to a couple of support techs and their recommendation was the drive needs to be reformatted. That may ultimately be the solution, but I don't buy it right now, and I can reformat the drive just as easily as they can using WD tools. I still hang my hat on all this UEFI and CSM.

The BIOS has a "Secure Boot" line which is Enabled, I can NOT toggle it on/off. Whether there is some other BIOS line that allows it to be toggled I have yet to find.

When and IF I figure this out I will post what I did. Until then, thank you again for all your efforts on my behalf and HAPPY HOLIDAYS.

David

Do you think if you try and update your BIOS or firmware, it could help? I think it may give you some more ground to work on.

This is new MOBO, manufactured Nov 2014 so BIOS should be up to date. With ASUS support being nonexistant (won't use ASUS boards again because of support or unless they get their act together), Id be afraid if something went wrong with the flash I'd have trash the board.

you could try and reset the CMOS battery

Already tried that 3 time prior to my initial post.

Startech link.

Unit looks similar to the KingWin I'm using. KIngWin has both internal and external. Tried internal but the problem with internal is the Molex power plug with the ears doesn't want to go in with the data adapter inserted. The external power does NOT have ears so enough room for both adapter and power.

Will definitely post back.

David