Hard drive not appearing in Disk Management (Windows 8)

In Disk Management, look in the LOWER RIGHT pane. It SCROLLS so you can see all the valid hardware storage devices, even the ones Windows cannot see and use yet (like a brand new empty HDD). If your HDD shows in BIOS Setup, it REALLY should also show up in this lower right pane.

Glad it's working. Sometimes computers do their part to present a few of life's unknowable mysteries!

I have the same problem and cant work it out.

See my post of Jan 13 above. Can you see that HDD in the LOWER RIGHT pane of Disk Management? If so, what does it show you in the large rectangle that represents it? Does it show sub-blocks labelled with something, or is it all called "Unallocated Space"?

http://i.imgur.com/qLRRbQf.jpg
here's a screenshot of it, the missing drive is a Seagate Barracuda ST3000DM001.

That screen shot suggests you have a different problem. It shows no hint of a second HDD unit. Now, the lower right pane will always show any valid storage device. Since it's not there, that suggests the new HDD is is not working at all. In the original post, OP said his / her drive does show up in BIOS Setup. What about yours? I doubt it is there. If that is the case, the HDD is faulty.

The thing is it does show up in the bios. I was going to try and install windows 8.1 on to it and then see if windows can detect both it and the ssd which works then boot off the ssd and then attempt to delete the partitions off the hdd. As soon as i download the install again.

I have the same Problem.

I have

1x SATA SDD - Boot Drive - Windows 8.1
1x SATA TB - a) Partitioned with a backup windows 8.1 booth for emergency
b) Empty Storage
1x SATA 500 GB - Drive (old Laptop drive)

Bio's see all three drives, lets me booth from either SSD or emergency backup. But neither will see each other once windows is loaded, and this includes disk management.

Any thoughts?

yeah if you go to disk management it will show the drive and say unallocated or something like that if you right click the drive and press format it sets up the main partition on the drive and activates it.

Hi guys,

I have had the same problem, and like one of the other replies, I simply used the computer for a day, off and on, and rebooted a number of times, and suddenly the drive was there.

It had been in the BIOS the whole time, but was not showing in Disk Management.
I had tried moving cables/connections etc. nothing was working.

I left it running for hours and rebooted, still nothing. Check for windows and drivers updates. Nothing.

Turned it off, and on, and rebooted, still nothing.

Left it for 20 mins to make a drink, and when I came back, suddenly the drive was there in Disk Management.... no explanation.

I was then able to create a partition and format the drive ready for use and it works great.

The weirdness that is Windows and PC's

I'm in this same exact pickle with Windows 7.
And I don't feel like waiting around until it "fixes" itself.

Luticman, I find you note confusing. You say the new unit DOES show up in BIOS Setup and is recognized. Does the Setup Screen's info (like manufacturer, model number, and capacity) appear correct?

Then you say that unit shows up in Windows' Device Manager. Does it show any problems with a yellow triangle? Does it indicate anything odd about its driver?

IF you are running Win XP, there could be a driver issue. If your Windows is Vista or later, ignore this paragraph! The issue with XP and earlier is that they do NOT have any "built-in" driver for SATA or AHCI devices. So, like many other devices, you need to install the required driver. Now, if your HDD is being used in Windows XP only as a data device and NOT as your boot drive, this is simple. First of all, as you boot up go immediately into BIOS Setup and to the place where you configure the SATA drive unit and ports. There you will find (either for each port separately, or for all SATA ports together) an option to specify the SATA Port Mode, with choices like "IDE (or PATA) Emulation", "Native SATA", "AHCI", or "RAID". For any SATA HDD the best choice is AHCI, or maybe Native SATA. Do NOT use RAID unless you actually are going to use a RAID array system. If you have to change any setting in here, be sure to SAVE and Exit from Setup and the machine boots into Widows. Now go to Device Manager and look to see if that HDD is there. If it is, check for a yellow warning triangle. If it's there but even without a warning, go to where you can update its device driver. If, on the other hand, this new HDD does not even show in Device Manager, choose to have the system scan for device changes and new devices. The whole idea here is to ensure that you load the driver for an AHCI device type (or SATA if there's no AHCI to choose). Back out of Device Manager etc.

Once that is done check Disk Management's Lower Right panel again (not upper right) and scroll through if necessary to find the new HDD. If it's recognized in BIOS Setup and in Device Manager, it REALLY should be there in Disk Management waiting for you to Initialize it. In more recent versions of Windows, this is often called "Create a New Simple Volume".

In Windows Vista and later versions, the AHCI device driver is "built in" and does not need to be separately loaded in the manner above. It should be there already, so the HDD should show up properly in Disk Management.