How do i know if my hard drive is bad?

[Slick Smurf]

i have a 250gb sata hard drive, it shows up in "device manager" but not in "my computer" , does it mean my hard drive is bad??? need someone to answer urgently

 

[rusabus]

Not necessarily. If the disk does not have any partitions on it or has a corrupt partition table, you would see it in device manager but not in My Computer. The easiest way to determine if the disk is bad is to visit the manufacturer's website and download their diagnostic software. Within about 10 to 20 minutes, most disk diagnostic programs can tell you if the drive has failed.

 

[iam2thecrowe]

^ +1, it probably hasnt been partitioned or formatted yet. You need to go into Control panel> computer management > disk management, and you will be able to partition/format the drive.