Seagate sata 500gb is not detected

[nunuk]

Hello,
i have a new seagate 500GB, but ut is not detected by the computer. my mother board is pt800ce-a7...

is there any compatibility issues with it???
how do i get it running?

 

[Paperdoc]

This sounds like a very common problem. It appears many people do not know that ANY new empty HDD needs to be prepared before Windows (or any other OS) can use it. It will NOT be "seen" just because you plug it in. So follow this and you can get it working.

The root of the problem is that the HDD is nothing but empty space - well, almost: it has been set up with defined "sectors" and "tracks" so that data can be written (that is part of the Low Level Format process), but that's all. So two additional steps need to be taken to organize the space for use. The first is to Create a Partition. This writes to a particular place at the very start of the drive two things - an MBR (a small piece of code for starting to boot from this drive), and a Partition Table that defines certain areas of the HDD as Partitions. A Partition is one continuous chunk of the HDD unit that will be treated as one "drive" with its own letter name. There can be up to 4 such Partitions on one HDD (more if you get fancy), but many people only want one that actually takes up all the space of the HDD. You can make one Partition smaller than the whole drive and leave the rest as Unallocated Space if you want to, then come back later and Create another Partition in that space.

The second step is to Format that Partition. This installs a particular File System in that Partition only (not for the whole drive), which consists of a set of files located at a particular spot within the Partition to keep track of file names and details, and to manage allocation of individual sectors within the Partition to specific files. Once these two steps are done, THEN your OS (Windows?) can use the info placed on the HDD by those two steps to understand and use the Partition(s) you created.

So, how is all this done? Sometimes you can get free software utilities by download from your HDD manufacturer's website to make it all easy. They often call this "Initializing" or "Preparing" the hard drive. But Windows already has the tool you need built in, so here is how to use it. I'll assume you have the new HDD installed in your machine, AND that the BIOS can actually detect it so we know the hardware is working OK. I also assume that you already have your OS installed and running on another HDD, and this new one will only be used for data storage.

Start up Windows normally. Click on Start at lower left and in the main menu RIGHT-click on My Computer. From the mini-menu click on Manage to open a Computer Management window. In its left column expand Storage if necessary so you can click on Disk Management. The right side will split into two panes. The upper one shows you all the "drives" Windows already is using. The LOWER RIGHT pane shows you those plus other pieces of hardware Windows does not yet understand. The information SCROLLS so you can see it all. Find your new HDD there. It will be represented by one horizontal block with a small sub-block at the left end for a label. It tells you something like "Disk_2", a HDD type, a size, and a status. To the right the main portion of this block will be empty and probably labeled "Unallocated Space". RIGHT-click on this and choose Create a Primary Partition. A Wizard of some sort will open for you to make choices. Set the size you want, up to its full capacity, which is probably about 465 GB. If you set it smaller, the space you don't use now will be left Unallocated and can be used later in this same process. The Partition you are creating should be a Primary Partition and made Active, but not Bootable.

In some older OS's, those are almost all the choices you have here, and the Format operation is done separately in a second step. More recently the Format options are combined into one simpler wizard. So look for a place to specify the File System you will have it install. Unless you know you have a special need for something else, choose NTFS. Then you get to choose either a Quick Format or a Full Format. A Quick Format will do the job in about 10 to 15 minutes. A Full Format will do that, then run a compete test of the entire Partition, marking off any Bad Sectors it finds so they will not be used in any file. This takes MANY HOURS. It is usually not necessary for a brand new HDD, but it is a good precaution if you can let it take that time. Choose which you want. When all options are set, run the task.

IF the Wizard you were using did NOT include Format options and did ONLY the Creation of the Partition, when it is done you must RIGHT-click on that new Partition and choose to Format it as the second step. Choices are exactly as above.

When the whole thing is done, back out of Disk Management and reboot your machine so Windows can update its Registry info. When it is running, look in My Computer. Your new drive will be there with its own letter name ready to use.