New WD HDD Not Recognized

[phattonez]

New HDD not being detected.
I just purchased a 750 GB 7200 RPM WDBlack HDD for my Toshiba Satellite M640-ST2N03. I remember when I first put it in that it was spinning, but when I went to the Windows Install had no luck getting it to recognize that there was any space on the drive. I still have the problem, but now I don't even heard the hard drive spinning. Could it be dead that quickly?

 

[RealBeast]

Did you go into Windows Disk Management and initialize the drive and then format it?

If you look in Disk Management do you see the drive, does it have a drive letter assigned?

 

[phattonez]

Did you go into Windows Disk Management and initialize the drive and then format it?

If you look in Disk Management do you see the drive, does it have a drive letter assigned?

This is a new HDD that doesn't have Windows installed, so all that I have access to is the Windows installation disk (and Ubuntu from my flash drive).

It can detect the hard drive, but it says that there is no space on it. I've heard of formatting it, but I have no idea how to do it when I can't even get into the operating system.

Oh, and in the BIOS it's saying that the hard drive isn't installed, which is the same message that I get when I boot without the hard drive connected.

 

[RealBeast]

If you did anything on the drive with Ubuntu, Windows installer may not work on the drive until it is cleaned.

In your bios, is the drive set to legacy type (if there is a choice) and the primary HDD boot device?

If you can get to the command prompt with the Windows install disk, instead of trying to install you can run diskpart commands to clear and format the drive.

In diskpart, the following sequence of commands will clean the drive to an unallocated state where Windows installer should be able to format and install:

diskpart
list disk
select disk <the disk number you want to work on>
clean
create partition primary

HERE is a syntax guide to diskpart.

 

[RealBeast]

"Oh, and in the BIOS it's saying that the hard drive isn't installed, which is the same message that I get when I boot without the hard drive connected."

Double check the drive data and power connections. I would attach it to a desktop machine SATA and power and run the WD Lifeguard drive test from HERE to check the drive.

 

[phattonez]

If you did anything on the drive with Ubuntu, Windows installer may not work on the drive until it is cleaned.

In your bios, is the drive set to legacy type (if there is a choice) and the primary HDD boot device?

If you can get to the command prompt with the Windows install disk, instead of trying to install you can run diskpart commands to clear and format the drive.

In diskpart, the following sequence of commands will clean the drive to an unallocated state where Windows installer should be able to format and install:

diskpart
list disk
select disk <the disk number you want to work on>
clean
create partition primary

HERE is a syntax guide to diskpart.

I tried that and got the error when I tried to clean that there is an error in the I/O device and check the system log book for more information. So then when I tried to restart diskpart, the disk no longer even shows up.

 

[phattonez]

"Oh, and in the BIOS it's saying that the hard drive isn't installed, which is the same message that I get when I boot without the hard drive connected."

Double check the drive data and power connections. I would attach it to a desktop machine SATA and power and run the WD Lifeguard drive test from HERE to check the drive.

I don't have a free computer that I can do that with, though.

Maybe it's at the point where I should return it to the manufacturer. It makes a noise anyway when I'm starting up the computer, like maybe it's trying to spin but getting nowhere.

 

[RealBeast]

To save time, I agree -- I would just return it for a new drive.