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HDD no longer visible in Windows after a clean

Last response: in Windows 7
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Posting this in this forum in case the previous one I had it in was incorrect

Hello:

I did my first home built computer a few weeks ago and finally got around to making my SSD my boot drive (was dormant before and I had a HDD running Windows/programs).

I did a clean on the HDD (via diskpart) and then installed Win 7 64 bit on my SSD. Everything worked well on that front.

However, now when I try to find my wiped HDD in Windows, it can't find it. I look in my BIOS and it finds it, but it's not showing up in the boot selection options (boot selection options are only my SSD, DVD-ROM and USB drives).

My goal is to have my boot drive as my SSD and then the rest of my programs on the HDD.

Some notes:
MOBO: GIGABYTE Z77X-UD3H (all drivers are installed on it)
Windows: Windows 7 64 bit
SSD: Crucial M4 128 GB
HDD: Western Digital 640 GB
My experiece level/technical savvy: Low

Any feedback/suggestions are greatly appreciated. If you require more information, let me know (in layman's terms) and I'll do my best to provide it.

Thanks!

An update:

If I run diskpart again and then 'list disk', the HDD does show up with no space used. So it's there, it's just not accessable in any way.

Does it need to be formated or setup after a clean is done?

More about : hdd longer visible windows clean

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Slantyme42 said:
Posting this in this forum in case the previous one I had it in was incorrect

Hello:

I did my first home built computer a few weeks ago and finally got around to making my SSD my boot drive (was dormant before and I had a HDD running Windows/programs).

I did a clean on the HDD (via diskpart) and then installed Win 7 64 bit on my SSD. Everything worked well on that front.

However, now when I try to find my wiped HDD in Windows, it can't find it. I look in my BIOS and it finds it, but it's not showing up in the boot selection options (boot selection options are only my SSD, DVD-ROM and USB drives).

My goal is to have my boot drive as my SSD and then the rest of my programs on the HDD.

Some notes:
MOBO: GIGABYTE Z77X-UD3H (all drivers are installed on it)
Windows: Windows 7 64 bit
SSD: Crucial M4 128 GB
HDD: Western Digital 640 GB
My experiece level/technical savvy: Low

Any feedback/suggestions are greatly appreciated. If you require more information, let me know (in layman's terms) and I'll do my best to provide it.

Thanks!

An update:

If I run diskpart again and then 'list disk', the HDD does show up with no space used. So it's there, it's just not accessable in any way.

Does it need to be formated or setup after a clean is done?


My Computer > Manage > Disk Management > Drive should be listed but may require to be initialized or you need to specify the type of partition followed by a format.

Hope this helps...

Ah - that helps - couldn't find 'my computer' anywhere, but got to disk management via the 'search programs and files' in the Start Menu.

It immediately popped up a window stating "You must initialize a disk before Logical Disk Manager can access it" with the following options:
1) MBR (Master Boot Record)
2) GPT (GUID Partition Table)

Assuming MBR as my HDD is not larger than 2TB? However it's confusing as my HDD is not my primary boot drive.
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Typically if you are adding a secondary or a tertiary drive, you will need to set it up as either MBR or GPT followed by creation of partition(s) and then a format - hence the pop up window.

If your drive it 3TB+ then GPT if less then MBR is good enough unless otherwise stated.

Slantyme42 said:
Ah - that helps - couldn't find 'my computer' anywhere, but got to disk management via the 'search programs and files' in the Start Menu.

It immediately popped up a window stating "You must initialize a disk before Logical Disk Manager can access it" with the following options:
1) MBR (Master Boot Record)
2) GPT (GUID Partition Table)

Assuming MBR as my HDD is not larger than 2TB? However it's confusing as my HDD is not my primary boot drive.


You would create a "Primary partition" as MBR

It's up and running now. Thank you very much! I was going nuts today trying to figure this out (checking cables, switching SATA slots).

Can't imagine how people did things themselves before the internet...

Slantyme42 said:
It's up and running now. Thank you very much! I was going nuts today trying to figure this out (checking cables, switching SATA slots).

Can't imagine how people did things themselves before the internet...



lol that's true
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