HDD is Missing

[vinny993]

Hi all,
I have a missing hdd(1 Tera WD), I can see it in the device manager and BIOS but it does not show up in Computer or Disk Management. In the device manager it says its working fine, I tried changing the drive letters of my other drive(but not my c as i think it is unwise to do it) and the cd drive but no difference.
I also tried swapping the SATA cable and updating the BIOS and motherboard drivers but to no avail, if anyone can help i would be forever grateful. Thanks

 

[zigzag3143]

hd

Hi all,
I have a missing hdd(1 Tera WD), I can see it in the device manager and BIOS but it does not show up in Computer or Disk Management. In the device manager it says its working fine, I tried changing the drive letters of my other drive(but not my c as i think it is unwise to do it) and the cd drive but no difference.
I also tried swapping the SATA cable and updating the BIOS and motherboard drivers but to no avail, if anyone can help i would be forever grateful. Thanks

Whats the 'label' and drive letter of it as seen in disk mgmnt? Is it formated (in ntfs)?

thanks

Ken

 

[vinny993]

Thanks for the reply ken,
It does not show up at all in Disk Management Just in Device manager and the bios. I had the hdd working with xp and it worked fine. I just upgraded to Windows 7 today and thats when the problem came up.

 

[Zidane24]

Thanks for the reply ken,
It does not show up at all in Disk Management Just in Device manager and the bios. I had the hdd working with xp and it worked fine. I just upgraded to Windows 7 today and thats when the problem came up.

It seems like a controller issue...have you installed the most current chipset drivers for your computer?

 

[vinny993]

yes I did that also, its a weird one.

 

[zigzag3143]

Thanks for the reply ken,
It does not show up at all in Disk Management Just in Device manager and the bios. I had the hdd working with xp and it worked fine. I just upgraded to Windows 7 today and thats when the problem came up.

Is it an internal drive? have you upgraded the usb drivers, the bios, the chipset, etc

Ken

 

[vinny993]

yes it's internal, and yes to all the updates too.

 

[Zidane24]

Hm...try this.
Disconnect the HD that isn't being detected...
Shutdown
Restart
Shutdown when it gets to the desktop
plug back in the HD that isn't being detected
Restart and see if Windows detects it
LOL do step two before step one

 

[vinny993]

ok Ken I'll give it a go, I'll let you know asap.

 

[Zidane24]

ok Ken I'll give it a go, I'll let you know asap.

Zidane? LOL I hope that works...

PS You might have been speaking to Ken...if so ignore the first part of my post

 

[SquonkSC]

Thanks for the reply ken,
It does not show up at all in Disk Management Just in Device manager and the bios. I had the hdd working with xp and it worked fine. I just upgraded to Windows 7 today and thats when the problem came up.

Are you sure about that?

Isn't there a drive in diskmanagment without any drive letter?
If there is a drive without letter you can right click and add it.

If there isn't a blank drive there, it could be hidden.

You would need "Acronis Diskdirector 10", or another drive app to make it visible.

Hope this helps.

greetz

 

[zigzag3143]

Acronis actually might not be a bad idea. there is a free trial I believe

Ken

 

[vinny993]

sorry zidane about the name, i tried what you suggested but no go I am afraid.

 

[vinny993]

i will definitally try that app thanks all I will let you know how it goes.

 

[SIW2]

You could try this freebie -

Partition Wizard is a Windows based FREE Partition Manager. It works as partition magic and supports Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/2008 server and Windows 7. FREE for Home and Business user.

If Partition Wizard can't see the drive, d/l Gparted .iso, burn to cd ( don't format the cd).

http://sourceforge.net/projects/gpa...ing/0.4.5-3/gparted-live-0.4.5-3.iso/download

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/download.php

Boot the Parted cd - it stops 3 times to ask about keybosrd settings, etc - just press enter.

That should see it - it may be seen as Raw.

 

[Zidane24]

sorry zidane about the name, i tried what you suggested but no go I am afraid.

Well damn...I figured I could get it to redetect...go ahead and try acronis like Ken and the others said

 

[SquonkSC]

One thing came to mind.

I believe acronis won't work under 64bits.

If you are running 64bits, google for "free partioner x64" or maybe the one SIW2 mentioned will work under 64bits.

If you are under 32bits, acronis is fine.

After installing acronis, I recommend making a acronis boot cd instead of using it under windows.
It's more stable.

 

[Antman]

A simple magic trick - uninstall from device manager. Reboot is best, or just go straight to Detect new hardware. Quick, easy, no risk, works occassionally.

But it won't help find dynamic disks

 

[vinny993]

It's showing up with acronis as a dynamic disk, can i use this to recover the data on the hdd or do i have to reformat?

Thanks for all the help so far.

 

[vinny993]

I tried that a few times Antman but no joy, thanks for the input tho.