Installing Windows 8.1 and it Doesn't Recognize my Hard Drive

TaylorNotThatSwift

Honorable
Jun 15, 2014
68
0
10,640
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor ($119.99)
CPU Cooler: Phanteks PH-TC12DX_BK 68.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Thermal Compound: Arctic Cooling MX4 4g Thermal Paste ($6.97 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3P ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($74.97 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Kingston Fury Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($74.19 @ OutletPC)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 430 ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($48.98)
Case Fan: Kingwin CF-012LB 40.0 CFM 120mm Fan ($3.99 @ Micro Center)
Other: Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 1GB ($65.00)
Total: $544.06
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-17 19:54 EST-0500

The above is my PC build and I put everything together and it's working great. The PC comes on and I get sent to my Gigabyte BIOS. I have Windows 8.1 on a flash drive and am installing it from there. I enter my key and tell it to install Windows, except it doesn't recognize my 2TB hard drive.

I downloaded an "AMD SATA AHCI Driver" on my motherboard webpage (http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=5194&dl=1#driver) from Gigabyte's website onto my flash drive but even after that, Windows won't detect my hard drive.

Does anybody have an idea as to what I should do?
 
Solution
You have to format your HDD to NTFS inorder for your mobo to recognize this.

Search in youtube on "how to format HDD using commands".

You`ll have to use commands like, "chckdsk", "disklist", etc.
There is a youtube guide in doing this.

iamlegend

Admirable
You have to format your HDD to NTFS inorder for your mobo to recognize this.

Search in youtube on "how to format HDD using commands".

You`ll have to use commands like, "chckdsk", "disklist", etc.
There is a youtube guide in doing this.
 
Solution

Gaveroid

Reputable
Mar 15, 2014
18
0
4,520
Yeah, what is the HDD formatted to? Although it doesn't have to be NTFS I believe, Windows only installs to a couple of common formats (NTFS, and FAT32 are two of the few I believe).
 

TaylorNotThatSwift

Honorable
Jun 15, 2014
68
0
10,640
Well, I just feel plain stupid now! :/

Turns out I didn't plug in my SATA cable to the hard drive or motherboard so it wasn't being detected. Thanks for your help, though! Almost gave myself a heart attack thinking my hard drive was dead, but I should have just checked cables! Didn't think my computer would even boot up, though, without a hard drive, but apparently it can. Thanks!
 

Riki Curtis

Reputable
Nov 16, 2014
21
0
4,510
Well yes, it can. You had a bootable USB so that's why your PC booted to that. You don't need a hard disk to get that far. Glad you got it sorted, now you know that cabling is one of the first troubleshooting steps to take! :p
 

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