Help! - Another Weird Hard Drive Thing

Simon W · 19th November 2008, 15:34

Having blown up an IDE Hitachi Deskstar (mentioned previously) I've decided to replace all the IDE hard drives in this machine with SATA drives.

To start with, the machine had this setup (A):
2 x Hitachi 500GB SATA (one as C:drive)
4 x Hitachi 123GB IDE
1 x LG Blu Ray Rewriter SATA
1 x Lite-on DVD Rewriter IDE

Now it has this setup (B):
3 x Hitachi 500GB SATA (same one as C:drive as above)
1 x LG Blu Ray Rewriter SATA
1 x Lite-on DVD Rewriter IDE

Vista recognised all drives in setup A but it fails to recognise one of the 500GB SATAs in setup B (i.e. the one I've just added). All three SATAs are present in BIOS but one doesn't show in Device Manager or Windows Explorer.

Any ideas?

NB. Motherboard is an Asus M2A-VM HDMI with four onboard SATA connectors. Two connectors are coloured red and two are coloured black - indicating there is some sort of difference between the two pairs (one pair possibly RAID capable). The drive that is not recognised is on one of the blacks.

I can't see anything in the BIOS that should be altered. Have I forgotten something stupid?

JamesP · 19th November 2008, 16:03

I too would like to know a solution for this, I am positive it is to do with Vistas' original cofigaration. The only work around I found was to put my new larger HD into an internal SATA caddy.

I have virtually the same motherboard as you but without HDMI.

Simon W · 19th November 2008, 16:22

Aha, Vista's Disk Management says the drive isn't formatted (which is weird since the other two are identical and were already formatted when supplied).

Anyway, it's formatting now - we'll see if that does the trick.

This could take ages on a 500GB drive.

Simon W · 19th November 2008, 18:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by JamesP

I too would like to know a solution for this, I am positive it is to do with Vistas' original cofigaration. The only work around I found was to put my new larger HD into an internal SATA caddy.

I have virtually the same motherboard as you but without HDMI.

That's sorted it James - drive not formatted!

Can't see why a SATA caddy should make any difference. Did you try your drive on another motherboard connector first?

JamesP · 19th November 2008, 19:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Simon W

That's sorted it James - drive not formatted!

Can't see why a SATA caddy should make any difference. Did you try your drive on another motherboard connector first?

No I didn't as they are being used, the original smaller drive needs replacing soon, so I will try again then.

Vista installs a driver for the Caddy, also it is Jumperless, I don't know enough about pc's to know why it should make a difference, but good to know that you managed to fit a different drive.

19th November 2008, 15:34	#1
Simon W This is my second home Rover 75 2.0 Litre Club Saloon Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: S Posts: 3,280 Thanks: 38 Thanked 50 Times in 47 Posts	Help! - Another Weird Hard Drive Thing Having blown up an IDE Hitachi Deskstar (mentioned previously) I've decided to replace all the IDE hard drives in this machine with SATA drives. To start with, the machine had this setup (A): 2 x Hitachi 500GB SATA (one as C:drive) 4 x Hitachi 123GB IDE 1 x LG Blu Ray Rewriter SATA 1 x Lite-on DVD Rewriter IDE Now it has this setup (B): 3 x Hitachi 500GB SATA (same one as C:drive as above) 1 x LG Blu Ray Rewriter SATA 1 x Lite-on DVD Rewriter IDE Vista recognised all drives in setup A but it fails to recognise one of the 500GB SATAs in setup B (i.e. the one I've just added). All three SATAs are present in BIOS but one doesn't show in Device Manager or Windows Explorer. Any ideas? NB. Motherboard is an Asus M2A-VM HDMI with four onboard SATA connectors. Two connectors are coloured red and two are coloured black - indicating there is some sort of difference between the two pairs (one pair possibly RAID capable). The drive that is not recognised is on one of the blacks. I can't see anything in the BIOS that should be altered. Have I forgotten something stupid? Last edited by Simon W; 19th November 2008 at 15:51..

19th November 2008, 16:03	#2
JamesP Loves to post Rover 75 ConnSE CDTi 131 Starlight Silver Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Truro Posts: 354 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	I too would like to know a solution for this, I am positive it is to do with Vistas' original cofigaration. The only work around I found was to put my new larger HD into an internal SATA caddy. I have virtually the same motherboard as you but without HDMI.

19th November 2008, 16:22	#3
Simon W This is my second home Rover 75 2.0 Litre Club Saloon Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: S Posts: 3,280 Thanks: 38 Thanked 50 Times in 47 Posts	Aha, Vista's Disk Management says the drive isn't formatted (which is weird since the other two are identical and were already formatted when supplied). Anyway, it's formatting now - we'll see if that does the trick. This could take ages on a 500GB drive.