[SOLVED] Hard Drive not detected by Windows Explorer

JakeRozen · 05-30-2009, 10:05 PM

Windows 7

3 SATA Drives:
Seagate 320gb (C:)
Western Digital 640GB (X:)
Western Digital 640GB (Y:)

C: and Y: are being detected and working fine in windows.
I've had all three in the computer and working for a good 6 months now.
X: is where the problem is at, I have about 400GB of media on there, so obviously I don't want to have to format it without being able to get those files.

BIOS DETECTS it.
Device Manager DETECTS it.
Disk Management does NOT detect.
Windows Explorer does NOT detect.
I then ran uBuntu off a CD and that COULD detect it.

I've used google time and time again, failing to find any information or advice on this problem.

Please help me guys, I know this is your specialty. =]

**raptor_pa** · 05-30-2009, 10:12 PM

What is the model number, is it reported correctly by model number in BIOS and device manager?

JakeRozen · 05-30-2009, 10:53 PM

I cannot determine which drive is the one that isn't working as I have two identical drives.
WD6400AAKS-00A7B0
WD6400AAKS-65A7B0
One of these is Y: and the other (the one not being detected) is X:

Also just a little more detail: everything was working fine until 5 days ago after some widnows update I believe.

BIOS detects both drives as they are above.
So does Device Manager.

dai · 05-30-2009, 11:25 PM

what do you see in disk management

JakeRozen · 05-31-2009, 02:36 AM

**raptor_pa** · 05-31-2009, 06:35 AM

Not identical, the models are different, check device manager right click each drive in disk drives, then select populate to see which disk is which volume.

JakeRozen · 05-31-2009, 09:18 PM

WD6400AAKS-00A7B0 is the one that is not working.
Thanks for walking me through that, I'm not extremely computer literate.
If it's any more help I've swapped the X and Y controllers on the motherboard and still, X refuses to show up in Windows. =[

**raptor_pa** · 05-31-2009, 09:28 PM

Can you feel that drive spinup when power is applied? Does it make any noises like clicking grinding or scratching? What is unusual is that BIOS and Dev manager are detecting the drive, but it is not showing up in Disk management... Assuming it spins up and doesn't make any noise then download WD's diagnostics from their site and run it against the drive.

JakeRozen · 05-31-2009, 09:39 PM

It powers up, I can feel and hear the drive working, there is no scratching or abnormal sound.
The data is all there, as I said before when i run it in uBuntu everything is fine and working so clearly it's something to do with Windows.

*EDIT: Any chance you could link me to exactly what diagnostics tools I should be using?

**raptor_pa** · 05-31-2009, 09:48 PM

Start from here, drill down to your model.. http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?lang=en

JakeRozen · 05-31-2009, 09:52 PM

Haha, crap, I don't know which one it is.
I THINK it's a SATA II drive, it's considerably new, the very first 640GB drives that WD released, does that mean it's this one?:

WD Caviar Blue /
SE / SE16 (SATA II)

Again, incredibly sorry for the ignorance.

JakeRozen · 05-31-2009, 10:02 PM

Nevermind, figured out which to download, I downloaded the Diagnostic Tools, Ran the test, Says everything is fine..? :S

**raptor_pa** · 05-31-2009, 10:07 PM

And it did find both the drives? Did you run all the tests? If all came back clean, then next step would be test_disk as in this sticky Have you "lost" a hard drive, partition or files in your computer?

JakeRozen · 05-31-2009, 10:23 PM

It displayed 3 hard drives in the "Physical Drive" section.
It only displayed 2 hard drives in the "Logical Drives" section.
Again, not showing the X drive.
I then ran the quick test on the drive that is the X drive in the Physical Drive section, it came up all fine.
How did I miss that sticky?
Ughh, sorry, I'll try it now.

JakeRozen · 05-31-2009, 10:41 PM

I just ran test_disk
Everything worked according to plan until the restarted.
I got the error message in BIOS saying:
NTLDR is Missing
Press Ctrl Alt Del to Restart

Couldn't get past that point, in order to get back into my OS I had to physically unplug My "X:" Hard drive from the motherboard, it then didn't give me that error message and worked upon restarting.

Also one other question, when test_disk asks me if the partition was made using Vista, I don't know if I say yes or no, because it was made with Windows 7, but test_disk would assume if I say no that it was XP.
Or should I just select no?

JakeRozen · 05-31-2009, 11:06 PM

Fixed.
test_disk worked.

dai · 06-01-2009, 12:26 AM

glad you have it sorted

05-30-2009, 10:05 PM	#1 (permalink)
JakeRozen Registered User Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 10 OS: Windows 7	[SOLVED] Hard Drive not detected by Windows Explorer Windows 7 3 SATA Drives: Seagate 320gb (C:) Western Digital 640GB (X:) Western Digital 640GB (Y:) C: and Y: are being detected and working fine in windows. I've had all three in the computer and working for a good 6 months now. X: is where the problem is at, I have about 400GB of media on there, so obviously I don't want to have to format it without being able to get those files. BIOS DETECTS it. Device Manager DETECTS it. Disk Management does NOT detect. Windows Explorer does NOT detect. I then ran uBuntu off a CD and that COULD detect it. I've used google time and time again, failing to find any information or advice on this problem. Please help me guys, I know this is your specialty. =]

05-30-2009, 10:12 PM	#2 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,896 OS: XP	Re: Hard Drive not detected by Windows Explorer What is the model number, is it reported correctly by model number in BIOS and device manager? __________________

05-30-2009, 10:53 PM	#3 (permalink)
JakeRozen Registered User Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 10 OS: Windows 7	Re: Hard Drive not detected by Windows Explorer I cannot determine which drive is the one that isn't working as I have two identical drives. WD6400AAKS-00A7B0 WD6400AAKS-65A7B0 One of these is Y: and the other (the one not being detected) is X: Also just a little more detail: everything was working fine until 5 days ago after some widnows update I believe. BIOS detects both drives as they are above. So does Device Manager.

05-30-2009, 11:25 PM	#4 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 56,702 OS: win 7 32x 64x rtm	Re: Hard Drive not detected by Windows Explorer what do you see in disk management __________________

05-31-2009, 02:36 AM	#5 (permalink)
JakeRozen Registered User Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 10 OS: Windows 7	Re: Hard Drive not detected by Windows Explorer

05-31-2009, 06:35 AM	#6 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,896 OS: XP	Re: Hard Drive not detected by Windows Explorer Not identical, the models are different, check device manager right click each drive in disk drives, then select populate to see which disk is which volume. __________________

05-31-2009, 09:18 PM	#7 (permalink)
JakeRozen Registered User Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 10 OS: Windows 7	Re: Hard Drive not detected by Windows Explorer WD6400AAKS-00A7B0 is the one that is not working. Thanks for walking me through that, I'm not extremely computer literate. If it's any more help I've swapped the X and Y controllers on the motherboard and still, X refuses to show up in Windows. =[

05-31-2009, 09:28 PM	#8 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,896 OS: XP	Re: Hard Drive not detected by Windows Explorer Can you feel that drive spinup when power is applied? Does it make any noises like clicking grinding or scratching? What is unusual is that BIOS and Dev manager are detecting the drive, but it is not showing up in Disk management... Assuming it spins up and doesn't make any noise then download WD's diagnostics from their site and run it against the drive. __________________

05-31-2009, 09:39 PM	#9 (permalink)
JakeRozen Registered User Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 10 OS: Windows 7	Re: Hard Drive not detected by Windows Explorer It powers up, I can feel and hear the drive working, there is no scratching or abnormal sound. The data is all there, as I said before when i run it in uBuntu everything is fine and working so clearly it's something to do with Windows. *EDIT: Any chance you could link me to exactly what diagnostics tools I should be using?

05-31-2009, 09:48 PM	#10 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,896 OS: XP	Re: Hard Drive not detected by Windows Explorer Start from here, drill down to your model.. http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?lang=en __________________

05-31-2009, 09:52 PM	#11 (permalink)
JakeRozen Registered User Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 10 OS: Windows 7	Re: Hard Drive not detected by Windows Explorer Haha, crap, I don't know which one it is. I THINK it's a SATA II drive, it's considerably new, the very first 640GB drives that WD released, does that mean it's this one?: WD Caviar Blue / SE / SE16 (SATA II) Again, incredibly sorry for the ignorance.

05-31-2009, 10:02 PM	#12 (permalink)
JakeRozen Registered User Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 10 OS: Windows 7	Re: Hard Drive not detected by Windows Explorer Nevermind, figured out which to download, I downloaded the Diagnostic Tools, Ran the test, Says everything is fine..? :S

05-31-2009, 10:07 PM	#13 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,896 OS: XP	Re: Hard Drive not detected by Windows Explorer And it did find both the drives? Did you run all the tests? If all came back clean, then next step would be test_disk as in this sticky Have you "lost" a hard drive, partition or files in your computer? __________________

05-31-2009, 10:23 PM	#14 (permalink)
JakeRozen Registered User Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 10 OS: Windows 7	Re: Hard Drive not detected by Windows Explorer It displayed 3 hard drives in the "Physical Drive" section. It only displayed 2 hard drives in the "Logical Drives" section. Again, not showing the X drive. I then ran the quick test on the drive that is the X drive in the Physical Drive section, it came up all fine. How did I miss that sticky? Ughh, sorry, I'll try it now.

05-31-2009, 10:41 PM	#15 (permalink)
JakeRozen Registered User Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 10 OS: Windows 7	Re: Hard Drive not detected by Windows Explorer I just ran test_disk Everything worked according to plan until the restarted. I got the error message in BIOS saying: NTLDR is Missing Press Ctrl Alt Del to Restart Couldn't get past that point, in order to get back into my OS I had to physically unplug My "X:" Hard drive from the motherboard, it then didn't give me that error message and worked upon restarting. Also one other question, when test_disk asks me if the partition was made using Vista, I don't know if I say yes or no, because it was made with Windows 7, but test_disk would assume if I say no that it was XP. Or should I just select no?

05-31-2009, 11:06 PM	#16 (permalink)
JakeRozen Registered User Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 10 OS: Windows 7	Re: Hard Drive not detected by Windows Explorer Fixed. test_disk worked.

06-01-2009, 12:26 AM	#17 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 56,702 OS: win 7 32x 64x rtm	Re: Hard Drive not detected by Windows Explorer glad you have it sorted __________________