Hard Drive Probs

[Newfiejig]

Just built a new system and installed win 7 on a new WD 1TB Black, worked fine. I had two WD Green Drive with data (music movies etc.) on them in my old system which was running XP. when i hook up one or the other in sata 2 or 3 they get recognized in the BIOS but does not show in win 7. Shows as unallocated in Computer management.
I can format it but have data on it.

Can someone please help to if the data can be recovered. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Do they have drive letters in Disk Management? If not, can you assign drive letters to them?

 

[TonyTiger2004]

Usually what happens is the drivers for the additional (old) drives are plugged in the appropriate drivers arnt recognized due to driver issues. They should be in device manager with probably yellow marks beside them just need to install drivers for those drives.

Try This

Start -> Right Click Computer -> Properties
Device Manager (on left side)
Click the Disk Drives arrow to show the list
Find Your Drive You Installed Here
Right Click on the Drive -> Uninstall
After the SATA HDD disappears, click the Action menu -> Scan For Hardware Changes
This will rescan your system and reinstall your SATA HDD drivers.

 

[Newfiejig]

Tried it and still the same. Have no drive letters to choose in Computer Management.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Do they even appear in Disk Management, even without a drive letter?

If they appear at all, you should be able to assign a letter.

 

[Newfiejig]

They appear in DM but cannot assign a letter.

 

[panais]

They appear in DM but cannot assign a letter.

I had the same issue and solved it.
I don't know if it will work for you but you can try because that saved me(pictures,music etc.)And i know exactly how you feel.
OK try this...
A) BIOS-Standard CMOS Features-IDE Channel-highlight hard disk-press enter
Set IDE Channel [Auto]
Access Mode [Auto]
Highlight IDE HDD Auto-Detection,press enter,wait 2-3 secs
Do this for all ur hard disks
Save and exit setup.
B)Open WD Support / Downloads / SATA & SAS
Find in the list ur hard disk and download the Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for Windows
Setup Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for Windows and Run diagnostics etc.
And again,that worked and fix my hard dik,but is not guarantee for you.
Give it a try anyway,its 5 minutes work
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Question,your hard disks are FAT or NTFS?

 

[Newfiejig]

will give it a shot shortly

thanks

 

[Newfiejig]

Still no luck

 

[panais]

Still no luck

OK,a <<simple>> solution for some people is.....(I have done this also)
Insert the hard disks in system which is running XP.(You must try with pc that recognize ur hard disks)
Then plug in an external hard disk and copy paste everything in.
Insert the hard disk back to the new pc,full or quick format the hard disk.
Copy paste from the external.Now your safe and ready.
My opinion is the better solution because by formatting the hard disk you also refresh it,is good for the disk.

 

[Newfiejig]

have tried everything posted here and still no luck. Now the HD is showing not initialized and when i go to initizale it it says that device not ready. Also i have a sound coming from the HD, its a clicking sound.

 

[theog]

Is this the noise your HD is making:
Normally you will not hear the HD.
YouTube - Hard Drive Click of Death Explanation and Live Demonstration

 

[ignatzatsonic]

It's very very peculiar that you would have 2 known good WD green drives working fine on XP and both suddenly can't be found on Windows 7. One going bad maybe, but 2 simultaneously??????

Try the WD drive diagnostics.

Have you tried connecting them to other ports?

 

[Newfiejig]

Yes that sound is very similar to what i am hearing.

 

[1Bowtie]

My suggestion is unplug the drive you just installed Win 7 on, plug in the one with XP and boot on it retrieve your data to a safe place then unplug it plug the Win 7 drive back in go to disk mgmt delete the volumn and rebuild it then transfer your data back

 

[Newfiejig]

tried this and still can't access drive

 

[1Bowtie]

Is the drive turned on in bios and did you install the sata controller driver when you installed the os

 

[Newfiejig]

Yes all good there