Computer Not Detecting Hard Drive

[Qcan]

Hi,

I had to reinstall Windows 7. All went well except that computer will now only recognize 1 hard drive. The bios shows a second hard drive, but I cannot find it by going into computer managment. Further, my crappy bios has no features to allow me to manipulate anything.

A bit of background. I might be responsible for this as I was using a program called "Killdisk" to wipe my hard drive clean. I ended up canceling the job a couple of hours into it as it was taking too long. Since then, I have not been able to view it.

Yeah... I'm a dumbass.

Need some ideas and options please.

The hard drive is 500g. System is Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit.

Thanks.

 

[lehnerus2000]

Live Linux CD?

Do you have access to a Live Linux CD (like Ubuntu)?

If so:

• Disconnect your good HDD
• Reboot your PC with the Live CD in the drive
• Use the "Try" option (not the "Install" option)
• Once its booted up, start "GParted"
• Try to reformat your bad HDD (choose NTFS)

If you use Ubuntu with Unity you will have to type "Gparted" in the Search box (no quotes).

​

If you are using an older version you should be able to find it in:

System menu > Administration > Gparted



​

 

[Qcan]

No.... unfortunatly not - but thanks for the reply.

 

[lehnerus2000]

You may have to wait ...

No.... unfortunatly not - but thanks for the reply.

You may have to wait for gregrocker or one of the other HDD experts to "drop in" on this thread.


I assume that you can't format the HDD using the W7 install disc?

Remember to disconnect your good HDD, before you try formatting the bad one (just in case).

 

[Qcan]

Correct.

 

[bigmck]

The one that you can't see, is that your Win 7 disk or another? In your post you said "Computer Management". Do you mean "Disk Management"? Posting a snip of your Disk Management would help. This explains how to use your Snipping Tool and post if you are not familiar with the process. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/9733-screenshots-files-upload-post-seven-forums.html Thanks,

 

[Qcan]

Hi Bigmck,

Thnaks very much for guiding me re: screenshots and file uploads. If all goes well, the attachment will be enclosed here. Yes, I meant computer management.

Hope someone can help.

Thanks.

 

[bigmck]

What about if you hit your Start Button and click on Computer, does the missing HDD show there?

 

[Parman]

You can also check device manager. Maybe windows doesn't have drivers for it.

Also you can try booting into windows RE see if it shows up.

Lastly go into diskpart from the command prompt. In windows RE or normal windows type in the command list disk and see how many show up.

 

[Qcan]

What about if you hit your Start Button and click on Computer, does the missing HDD show there?

*** No.


You can also check device manager. Maybe windows doesn't have drivers for it.

*** I ran device driver. The message I got indicated "PCI Simple Communications Controller" - No driver found.
I did a search.... no driver was found. Not sure if this might be related to the hard drive in question.

Also you can try booting into windows RE see if it showa up.

*** Tried it a couple of times.... nothing. Having said that, I can see the hard drive in the BIOS. However, I cannot do anything in my BIOS (crappy BIOS).

Lastly go into diskpart from the command prompt. In windows RE or normal windows type in the command list disk and see how many show up.

*** I wasn't too familiar with diskpart... but figured it out from the cmd line. It only recognized 1 HD.

I just find it weird that my BIOS recognizes it... but nothing else.

 

[lehnerus2000]

Do you know the HDD manufacturer and HDD model?

You could try downloading the manufacturer's HDD tool(s).

 

[Qcan]

Good idea. I think that will be my next step as I am pretty much out of options. Thanks.

 

[bigmck]

Do you have another computer available that you could try the HDD in to see if it shows there?