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sata HDD cant be found

Forum Storage : Hard Disks - sata HDD cant be found

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jae9   06-09-2007 at 02:45:07 PM

i have an extra SATA hdd with Windows Vista installed on it.
When i connect it my XP, it does not recognise it at all.
The hdd is alrdy formatted so what's the prob?anyway to solve it?
thanks

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amuehl1   06-09-2007 at 03:26:16 PM
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Have you gone into "disk management" and enabled the drive?
(control panel=>admin. tools=>computer management=>disk management)

Reply to amuehl1
jae9   06-09-2007 at 03:38:36 PM
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i tried to find it there but to no avail.
it just states no media.
the drive itself is alrdy formatted with vista installed in it.
i have another SATA external with XP installed on it and it works fine.
hv no idea what's the prob.

Reply to jae9
michiganteddybear   06-09-2007 at 03:40:25 PM
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was vista installed on that drive while hooked to your current (xp) pc??

also, sometimes each individual motherboard port (ide or sata), may need to be enabled (many, many later model Dells, to name a few).

Does the XP installation run off a SATA drive, or IDE?? and are the sata drivers installed for XP? and if running off xp from IDE drive, is the sata enabled in the bios?

Reply to michiganteddybear
jae9   06-09-2007 at 03:48:22 PM
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nope, the Vista was installed separately, meaning it was alrdy installed when i got it.
The other hdd i have with XP on it has the SATA drivers installed.
hmm not sure bout the BIOS thingy.
I actually tried using the XP SATA hdd as the main one in the laptop and then tried pluggin in the Vista SATA. Still cant detect.
kinda confusin huh but thanks for ur help appreciate it.

Reply to jae9
jae9   06-09-2007 at 05:07:54 PM
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oh btw,how do u go about enabling the SATA in BIOS?
i have no idea how to get there.
supposed to press some key when com just startin right?cant seem to find it though.

Reply to jae9
amuehl1   06-10-2007 at 03:42:09 AM
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should be the "delete" key. then "advanced settings" (maybe), you should be able to find. but if you aren't sure of a setting (and you've changed it) exit WITHOUT saving.

do you know if the mobo has two SATA controllers or one?

Reply to amuehl1
jae9   06-10-2007 at 06:24:00 PM
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well there's no option for me to enable SATA or anything.but looks like all the stuff listed are enabled.
hmm i guess i've only one controller. ULi SATA controller hmm.
I tried pluggin this hdd(vista installed on it) into every computer i could find and none could identify it.hmm....

Reply to jae9
jitpublisher   06-10-2007 at 07:05:47 PM
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Among a whole list of issues you will have trying to do this, even if you get the BIOS settings right and the drive is detected at boot, you cannot simply plug a drive with a previously installed OS into different machine and expect it to work.

Reply to jitpublisher
jae9   06-10-2007 at 07:58:31 PM
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hmm but well..it works the other way round hmm.
like when working with Vista, the XP external hdd can be found by vista.but not the other way rnd.

Reply to jae9
jitpublisher   06-10-2007 at 08:09:48 PM
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If you are trying to enable the drive as simply storage, yes it should work if you get it set up correctly in the BIOS. If you are trying use it as a boot disk, it just isn't going to work.

Reply to jitpublisher
jae9   06-10-2007 at 08:28:04 PM
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yup tryin to get it as storage.
everything in the BIOS is enabled...but it still doesnt recognise the hdd.......

Reply to jae9
blue68f100   06-10-2007 at 09:11:31 PM
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Check your bios settings for your SATA port, You may have set the drive up as AHCI or Std IDE.

Reply to blue68f100
amuehl1   06-11-2007 at 05:00:49 AM
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hmmm...sometimes obvious/stupid things are overlooked...have you been using the same SATA cable on the Vista drive this whole time? Could be a bad cable.

Reply to amuehl1
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