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2nd hard drive not showing up in my computer‏

Anonymous
2009-10-15T21:51:53+00:00

My 2nd hard drive isn't showing up in my computer.  The hard drive was a slave I took out of my old xp machine after it crashed.  I had installed it into my new vista machine before and it was working, but then I had to reinstall the OS and ever since then it has not shown up.  I have double checked to make sure it was set as a slave drive and it is.  It shows up in the Bios, the device manager, and in Disk Management, just not in my computer.  Nothing is showing up as unallocated in disk management and the drive says its healthy.  In the device manager it says the device is working properly.  I've tried to just give it a drive letter in disk management, but when I right click on it the only option I have is help.  I've also tried to update the drivers, it says they are up to date.  I've tried disabling and enabling the hard drive.  I've even tried uninstalling it.  When I restarted it did detect it and reinstalled the drivers, but I still cant get it to show up in my computer.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Devices and drivers

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Anonymous
2009-10-31T06:48:46+00:00

Alw179,

so I'm assuming you're using the new Windows 7 for this post.

John Doe's proposal worked for me. This is how you do it in a little more detail:

step 1: Windows "start menu"

step 2: TYPE IN, "disk management" into the "Search Programs and Files" box at the botom

step 3 find and RIGHT click on the Hard Drive in the list that program shows.

step 4: select "Change Drive Letter and Paths"

step 5: click ADD and make sure the ASSIGN THE FOLLOWING DRIVE LETTER:  bubble is selected, and then use the drop down menu to select a Drive Letter not in use.

step 5: Click OK

step 6: Done, you should have something pop up showing that your HD is available to show.

I hope this helps.

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  1. Anonymous
    2009-10-16T20:16:37+00:00

    Hi alw179,

    Is the hard drive getting recognized in another Computer?

    If not then the problem might be the hard drive itself. If it gets recognized, then the problem lies in your computer. In that case, run diskpart.exe utility.

    Use the list partition command and see whether the partition gets detected. If it does, then I would suggest you to format the drive from diskpart.

    However, take a back up of all the data on the hard disk before performing format by connecting it to another computer. For help regarding data back up, see

     Backing up: What, how, where

     http://www.microsoft.com/protect/data/backup/about.aspx

    To use the Diskpart.exe utility, follow these steps:

    1.                  1.    Type diskpart, and then press ENTER to open the diskpart tool.

         2.    Type list disk, and then press ENTER. A list of available hard disks is displayed.

         3.    Type select disk=[n]

    n specifies the disk number of the disk to receive focus.

         4.    Type list partition

    This command displays the partitions listed in the partition table of the current disk.

    1. Type select partition=[d]

             This command selects the specified partition and gives it focus.

    d specifies the drive letter or mount point path of the partition to receive the focus.

                            6.  Type format drive: /fs:ntfs /quick

     For details on the commands, refer

    A Description of the Diskpart Command-Line Utility

    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/300415

    By now you should be able to see the second hard disk in the explorer.

    Regards,

    Shinmila H - Microsoft Support

    Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forumand let us know what you think

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  2. Anonymous
    2009-12-16T02:50:43+00:00

    I am running windows 7, but I still don't have that option.  If I had the option for change drive letter and paths I'm sure it would work, but unfortunately only my c drive has this option.

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  3. Anonymous
    2009-10-18T05:05:52+00:00

    tried doing that too, only options i have that way is properties and help.

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  4. Anonymous
    2009-10-16T20:13:27+00:00

    try going back into disk management, right clicking on the drive itself, not the partitions, but the drive and see if you can initialize the drive. after that you should be able to assign drive letter to it and be on your way.

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