PC wont recognise new hard drive

A2Z · 23 Sep 2006 at 12:25

Ive just got a samsung 160gb sata hard drive and cant seem to get it recognised by windows at all

i want to make it my main drive for XP

i tried booting from windows cd but it didnt list it in the available drives to install xp on
i then tried booting along with my current windows drive, and it freezes on startup. i did manage to boot once with it, but it didnt show up in disk management etc
i tried booting normallly, then plugging in the HD, that just freezes windows

any ideas?

Simon N · 23 Sep 2006 at 15:24

Ah a common one this.

First up do you have it enabled in the BIOS. On my pc I have to enable the sata drives in bios first.

If its there then add it in as a second drive to start with. Boot pc as usual then check to see if device manager can see it...chances are its there.

You would then right click "my computer" and select manage then select the storage devices. You will see your new drive sat there waiting to be initialised (right click and select initialize) then do a quick format on the drive.

Should then show up as usual.

Camalot · 23 Sep 2006 at 15:34

I noticed its a SATA hard drive, not IDE.

You will need SATA drivers for your motherboard. Pres F6 when when installing windows. Then it will ask for the sata drivers.

Once complete your windows install will see the new sata drive !

Without loading the drivers first, the sata drive will be invisable to your motherboard.

A2Z · 23 Sep 2006 at 15:49

simon n - in my bios it just lists 1st sata master / 2nd sata master / 3rd sata master / 4th sata master. under the 1st one it has my current windows HD, but on all the others it just says none - and theres no option to 'install' any sata HD :confused:

camalot - ive got 3 other sata HD's and they are all fine and have never needed to install any sata drivers, nor do i know where from..

mobo is asus a8n-sli btw

JonC · 23 Sep 2006 at 23:21

You probably need do something on the windows side.

Goto "Control Panel", "Administrative tools", "Computer Management".

Under "Storage", "Disk Management" you should be able to see your new drive.

You probably need to format and/or mark partition as active.

(I also have the Asus A8N-Sli Deiluxe, the SATA drivers are needed for the Silican Image SATA controller, but not the one that is associated with the NF4 chipset)

atopork · 23 Sep 2006 at 23:35

You need to boot from cd with your motherboard disc in, It will ask if you want to make boot disc, you put a floppy in and make a boot disc. when you start to install windows you press f6 to install third party drivers, it will see your hard drive straight away

wizardmaxx · 23 Sep 2006 at 23:45

"You need to boot from cd with your motherboard disc in"

Never heard of that before.

A2Z · 24 Sep 2006 at 00:30

JonC said:
You probably need do something on the windows side.

Goto "Control Panel", "Administrative tools", "Computer Management".

Under "Storage", "Disk Management" you should be able to see your new drive.

You probably need to format and/or mark partition as active.

(I also have the Asus A8N-Sli Deiluxe, the SATA drivers are needed for the Silican Image SATA controller, but not the one that is associated with the NF4 chipset)

i cant boot to windows with the HD plugged in - if i plug it in before i boot then it gets to a black screen and just hangs. if i plug in the HD when im already in windows it jus freezes windows.

You need to boot from cd with your motherboard disc in, It will ask if you want to make boot disc, you put a floppy in and make a boot disc. when you start to install windows you press f6 to install third party drivers, it will see your hard drive straight away

i havnt had a floppy drive for years. and i dont see what drivers i need to install, every other sata HD has installed fine with no drivers

wizardmaxx · 24 Sep 2006 at 00:33

Can u try the hdd in another system?

A2Z · 24 Sep 2006 at 00:52

wizardmaxx said:
Can u try the hdd in another system?

my other pc is IDE only, but im goin back to uni tomorrow, so will get someone to test it in their pc there

ns400r · 24 Sep 2006 at 00:58

In the bios there should be an option to enable the second SATA port if it's not already enabled*. Then with the new drive on the second port* look in the bios for a screen that will tell you what is plugged into each SATA port. Totally forget about Windows and Windows drivers until you have the new disk configured and recognized in the bios first. Drivers won't help you until this is done.

*Or whichever port you decide to use.