Second HDD can't be found in BIOS or Windows

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x1c0

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Nov 26, 2013
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Intel i7 4770
Asus Z87 Pro motherboard
2x8gb gskill 1866
nvidia gtx 780 Ti
Windows 7 64-bit
1 TB Samsung EVO SSD
2 TB HDD Seagate
850 watt EVGA psu 80 gold plus

A year ago I added the SSD drive and used the software to migrate the data from hard drive to ssd. I got the ssd and for a time the hard drive was visible in windows but soon after it disappeared. Life got in the way and I didn't get around to addressing the issue but I would like to reformat the drive and use it for archival storage.

So I have tried to do my homework before coming for help. I bought the power supply to replace one that may have been failing. I changed out the power wires with the new ones but that didn't get the HDD to show up. I switched data cable with my ssd and shuffled data ports on the motherboard.

I've looked in device manager and there are no disks beyond my ssd and virtual drive. BIOS shows nothing.

I am a loss now because I don't know how to diagnose a dead drive.

Thanks in advance.
 
Solution
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The way one diagnoses a truly "dead" drive is to either pursue a RMA with the disk's manufacturer assuming the item is still under warranty, or if not, take it to your local dumpster. If there was sensitive data on the drive at the time of its demise, then you might first consider taking a sledgehammer to it for its final rites before disposing of it.

Seriously...if the drive is defective there's not much you can do except dispose of it one way or another.

I assume you've done the usual troubleshooting, i.e., changed the SATA data/power cables & connectors, possibly connected it as a USB external drive to determine if the drive is detected in the system that way. If at all possible, install the drive in another PC to determine if it's...
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ArtPog

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Sep 17, 2014
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The way one diagnoses a truly "dead" drive is to either pursue a RMA with the disk's manufacturer assuming the item is still under warranty, or if not, take it to your local dumpster. If there was sensitive data on the drive at the time of its demise, then you might first consider taking a sledgehammer to it for its final rites before disposing of it.

Seriously...if the drive is defective there's not much you can do except dispose of it one way or another.

I assume you've done the usual troubleshooting, i.e., changed the SATA data/power cables & connectors, possibly connected it as a USB external drive to determine if the drive is detected in the system that way. If at all possible, install the drive in another PC to determine if it's detected in that system and if so, test it there.
 
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x1c0

Distinguished
Nov 26, 2013
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I have done everything you mentioned short of testing it as a usb. I think I will try it out and then call it quits after that. I just bought an ssd archive drive and online backup storage to replace this loss. That might be my last hdd, it's the most (personally) valuable component and seems to fail without warning.

Thank you for the input.
 
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ArtPog

Admirable
Sep 17, 2014
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Good. The idea behind testing the drive as an external USB device is simply to determine if it's detected in the system through that interface. If it is, then you can test it with a HDD diagnostic program. Frankly, it's little more than a shot-in-the-dark, but if you have a USB external enclosure or one of those SATA-to-USB adapter cables I suppose it's worth trying.

Good luck with the backup strategy. We generally create & maintain our comprehensive system backups "in-house" so to speak. We utilize a disk-cloning program for this purpose.

BTW, what specifically is a SSD "archive" drive. I'm assuming it's a "normal" fairly large-capacity SSD that you will be using as the recipient for your backups. But is it something different?
 
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