Issues with HDD not showing up properly on Windows 10

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wahidussc

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Sep 11, 2013
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I recently upgraded my Graphics card (no recollection of this being a problem before the upgrade) and decided to clean up my SSD and reinstall Windows 10, clearing everything.

The problem is that once that happened, I successfully updated my BIOS to the latest version and got all the barebone drivers in and updates... but after my last restart my 2nd hard drive, the HDD, was not showing up on my Computer. I searched for solutions found out my BIOS was registering it and so decided to move the cable off the HDD to another slot.

It worked... kind of. I could see the hard drive and it said it was X amount full due so nothing got removed. But as I attempt to click on it I go inside and it tells me the folder is empty. I got frustrated and decided restart my PC but this time neither my BIOS nor the OS detected the HDD.

I took a day break and decided to try again, after a few restarts it appeared again on my computer but again no files are shown.

I'm not sure what has happened and am now looking for help from you guys if you experienced something like this before because I sure as hell can't find a solution :(

Sorry for the long post but this is giving me a headache

Note: I won't be able to reply atm because I need to wake up early but if there is any more info needed or screenshots please do ask!!!
 
Solution
SuperSoph_WD
This sounds pretty unfortunate, @wahidussc!

I'd strongly recommend you save yourself the trouble of trying to fix the issue with the HDD. You should check the warranty on the secondary hard drive from the manufacturer's official website. If it's still covered, you might be able to RMA it through their Customer support. If it's not, I'd simply buy a new one. If there are any important files that you wish to retrieve, as I already mentioned, it's probably best to turn to a professional data recovery company for assistance. Mechanical hard drives are pretty sensitive hardware and once they encounter any physical/hardware issues, there's not much you can do about their health state. :( That's why we always recommend keeping multiple...
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SuperSoph_WD

SuperSoph_WD

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Jul 30, 2014
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Hey there, @wahidussc!

I'd follow @dudio's advice and go to Disk Management in Windows to check if the HDD is recognized properly there. You might also want to check Device Manager as well. If you haven't tried this already, you should also swap the SATA cable and the port where the HDD is plugged to the motherboard. If you have access to another PC, I'd suggest you connect the hard drive there as well to see how it will get recognized by the other system.

Hope it works. Keep us posted.
SuperSoph_WD
 
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wahidussc

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Sep 11, 2013
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Hey there, thank you for the reply.
Turned on my PC and this time it decided not to show my HDD >.> ... but yeah I went on Disk Management and received this prompt, I then clicked OK and it decided to do this, not sure what that was. But this is what my Disk Management shows, some weird partition thing, my C: drive but not my HDD (D: drive).

I will redo the connection momentarily but what I do not understand is the constant existence then non existence of my drive depending on what restart I go for :/
 
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SuperSoph_WD

SuperSoph_WD

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Jul 30, 2014
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From what I see in your screenshots, it appears that the disk in question is DISK 0, not DISK 1. The one you are trying to tamper with is the system/ OS drive, so better leave it alone.
Instead, try to right-click on the Unknown/Not initialized one. Keep in mind that if you initialize it , you will need to reformat it , too. This will erase the files and you will LOSE ALL THE DATA stored on the HDD. If it's not a brand new drive and you have important files on it, you should better turn to a professional data recovery company for assistance, instead.

Let me know how it goes, though.
SuperSoph_WD
 
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wahidussc

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Sep 11, 2013
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Decided to try this out the following day but this time Disk Management decided to not recognise the other Disk... So I couldn't do anything.

The following day I booted my PC again and for some reason everything went back to normal, I could see my HDD and I could click into and view my files... Albeit it took longer time to see each folder. I did not understand and so I restarted to see if everything was okay but then it decided to back to square one.

I fiddled around the wires, they were not the problem as I switched my ssd wires with my HDD; PC only recognised my ssd.

I do not know if this ever happened where the hard drive sometimes gets recognised depending on some reason but I am finding no results of something like this.

This problem literally started after I upgraded my GPU , I do not understand why. Another note and I hope this wasn't the case but before I upgraded my GPU I decided to clean my computer. Nothing hands on the parts but I used a canned duster to blow away dust. I have done this before and this never happened so I am not sure what was different this time.

If you know any other solutions besides buy a new one, I'm all ears haha....
 
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SuperSoph_WD

SuperSoph_WD

Glorious
Jul 30, 2014
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Hey there again, @wahidussc!

I'd recommend you consider re-seating all the connections inside the PC case again and make sure you have mounted and plugged everything properly. If the issue is present only after upgrading the GPU, I'd suggest you swap it back with the old one and see how the system will perform then. As I already mentioned, you should definitely check how your HDD will get detected in another computer. This will help you determine what is the source of the issue.
If you haven't tried this already, it might also be a good idea to reset BIOS back to its default settings. You will need to re-configure all manual changes you have made in the BIOS, but it might also help you recognize all the hardware properly. You should also check your BIOS firmware/version, SATA Controller & Chipset drivers from the motherboard manufacturer's official website and make sure you manually install all the latest versions.

Keep me posted & Good luck!
SuperSoph_WD
 
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wahidussc

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Sep 11, 2013
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Well I reset my BIOS, reinstalled latest drivers for everything, unplugged and re-plugged all the connectors on my mother board and I removed my new graphics card to see any change. Again, it's a gamble on whether the BIOS and/or Windows 10 recognises my 2nd drive :/

The only thing I have left is to check how another computer would recognise my drive, I haven't done that yet since the only other PC I have is being used currently but I will report sometime in the next few days to update on whether there is any change.

Hope something happens and thank you for your suggestions so far!
 
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wahidussc

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Sep 11, 2013
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So back again, no good news unfortunately :( , my HDD is also not being recognised by a different setup. So from this I would assume it has something to do with the hard drive... what, I don't know...

Is there any other solutions to fixing this unusual problem of mine?
 
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SuperSoph_WD

SuperSoph_WD

Glorious
Jul 30, 2014
6,758
3
45,960
This sounds pretty unfortunate, @wahidussc!

I'd strongly recommend you save yourself the trouble of trying to fix the issue with the HDD. You should check the warranty on the secondary hard drive from the manufacturer's official website. If it's still covered, you might be able to RMA it through their Customer support. If it's not, I'd simply buy a new one. If there are any important files that you wish to retrieve, as I already mentioned, it's probably best to turn to a professional data recovery company for assistance. Mechanical hard drives are pretty sensitive hardware and once they encounter any physical/hardware issues, there's not much you can do about their health state. :( That's why we always recommend keeping multiple backups of your data stored in several locations/storage devices. File copies/duplicates are the surest way to avoid any future data-loss headaches.

Best of luck! Let me know if you have more questions!
SuperSoph_WD
 
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