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SATA Drive not recognized

Last response: in Storage
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I am at a loss. Have 3 WD10EARS that are new (never been opened) that I have been trying to use as external storage. I have plugged them into my Dell Latitude into the USB and the eSATA ports and the PC does not recognize. The BIOS says SATA is enacted. I have tried to scan using Device Manager but its still doesnt see them. I have even switched the enclosure to see if that works but nothing. It does power up and that's it. I also tried it on a MAC and still nothing. Ideas?

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Before you can use any brand new empty hard drive, you must do a two-step process: Create a Partition on that HDD unit, and then Format that Partition. Often in current OS's the two steps appear to be combined into one easy process in a Wizard, and often are called Initialization. So, if you CAN detect the new HDD in BIOS Setup properly, but it does not show up in My Computer, that is likely your problem. There is an easy way to do what you need.

Read WyomingKnott's sticky at the top of the Storage ... General Discussion Forum, here:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/265764-32-guide-insta...

Pay special attention to his Step 5. That should help you get going.
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