There is no hard drive in my computer. Why might my external hard drive not be detected? SATA operating mode

From time to time, a computer or laptop needs to replace components, and probably the most common component is the hard drive. Today our conversation will focus on why the computer does not see the hard drive. It’s a fairly common problem, but there is a solution, and moreover, more than one.

As usual, I will tell you about several ways to make the system recognize the disk; you choose the one that you think is the most convenient and fastest.

By the way, if your computer does not see external hard disk, then this article is also relevant for you.

Disk check

First let's look at solving the problem with standard using Windows 7. Right-click on the “Computer” icon, or on the inscription of the same name in the “Start” menu if there is no icon on the desktop. In the pop-up menu we are interested in the “Management” item, then “Disk Management”.

Here we wait a couple of seconds while the information is loaded. Right-click on the drive that is not displayed in the system and select “Change drive letter or drive path...”.

To change the letter, click the "Change" button. Give this hard drive a letter and click OK.

Then, if you don't like the new letter, you can do the same procedure, changing the letter back. Often these manipulations are not enough for Windows to see the hard drive.

Above in the images I showed how to do this in Windows 7, if you have a different system, then read more in: “”.

If there was a file on this hard drive Linux system, then in Disk Management you will see that the file system is not NTFS or FAT32. Then you can safely understand that the problem is not with hard drive, but Windows simply does not see this file system. To change this situation, you need the hard drive to be in NTFS.

Checking in the system unit

If the computer still does not see the hard drive, then before continuing, let's see if all the cables are connected to this hard drive. Don't skip this point, of course it's easier to sit on a chair and press the keys, but sometimes a little physical intervention is required in the system unit.

If you skip this recommendation and continue reading the article further, you may not achieve what you need. To do this, you need to turn off the computer and then remove the cover system unit. Next, check the wires that are connected to the hard drive. To be more sure, unplug the wires from it and plug it in again. Now you can turn on your computer.

It should also be noted that the solution to this problem may be to replace the cable or power that is connected to the hard drive. If you don’t have a cable in your stash that transmits data, you can disconnect it, for example, from the drive during the test.

Driver problem

It is possible that you have some problems with your drivers. To eliminate them, you need to go to the manufacturer’s website, and we are specifically interested in the manufacturer motherboard. Download the most latest versions drivers for your board model (I won’t go into detail on this; any such site has a section where you select the model of the board you’re interested in and select the most suitable driver).

If you bought an assembled computer, then the computer model must be written on the computer, then go to the office. website, indicate what computer and system you have. After which a list of drivers will appear, where you find required driver. Now, having installed the drivers, reboot.

By the way, if you have saved installation disk with drivers from the computer that came with the purchase - great! We insert it into the drive and install them.

Operating System not found error and BIOS settings

There is also a stupid situation when the computer does not see the hard drive on which, in fact, the system is recorded. In this case, the computer will not boot, but the following message will appear on a black background: “Operating System not found” (translated as “Operating system not found”).

First, check that there is media in the drive, USB ports, as well as floppy. If they are not there, you must be 100% sure that the disk is connected correctly and, of course, Windows is recorded on it (well, at least some kind). We go into the BIOS using the above method, but this time we look for a menu whose name contains the word Boot (believe me, no matter what BIOS version I haven’t been, it’s definitely there or it might be called a little differently). We go there and in the line “1st Boot Device"We install the hard drive, and not the CD drive that can be selected there.

You can also try pressing the F12 button during boot, a menu may appear where you select CD ROM or DVD ROM. Thus, you do not need to make any changes to the BIOS.

You can also try resetting BIOS settings default. You also use the BIOS for this. If you cannot reset the settings, then use the battery on the motherboard to do this. To do this, turn off the computer, open the system cover and remove the battery for 5 minutes. Then put the battery back in place and turn on the computer. We must also not forget that the cause of this problem may be a dead battery, and if this is the case, then it needs to be replaced.

If nothing has changed, again in the BIOS we look for the Marvell IDE Controller parameter. It may be located in a section whose name contains the words IDE, SATA, Device Type. Set the value to Enabled if it is different.

Formatting

If Windows does not see the hard drive, then the way out of this situation is formatting. But there’s one nuance here: you need to format it not from the system itself (since it doesn’t see it), but through special programs, which are loaded from under the BIOS.

One of the most popular programs, which I often use to work with hard drives, is software Acronis Disk Director. To boot from Bios, you must download a program marked BOOT. Next, burn the image to CD or DVD disc, go into the program and look for a disk that is not detected. If the disk is detected, then try to format it. If you need the data that is recorded on it, then try copying it to another medium.

Sometimes, this program saves me not only in this situation, but also in others, for example, if the system is infected and there is no way to log into it. To solve this problem, I go through this program and download the necessary data. Then I install a new system.

Have you started reading this paragraph? I sincerely sympathize with you, because apparently nothing helped you. This means we take the hard drive out of the computer and try to run it on another computer; if this is not possible, we take it to the service center so that it can be checked for functionality. In any of these options, you will decide whether to buy a new one or pay for repairs. But whatever happens, I sincerely wish you good luck with your hardware.

Follow these steps in order. If the first does not help, move on to the second and so on.

What to do if a Windows computer does not see the hard drive

Disk does not show up in BIOS

1. If you have just connected the hard drive, check if you did it correctly. Find official instructions to your motherboard and hard drive and follow all manufacturers' recommendations.

2. If you are trying to install Windows XP or more old version and the system reports that there is no hard drive, make sure that the hard drive mode compatible with this OS is enabled in the BIOS - IDE. To do this, find the setting in the BIOS SATA work(SATA Mode, SATA Configuration or similar name). Set the value to IDE, save changes and restart your computer.

3. If possible, check the functionality of the hard drive by connecting it to another PC. If it works, look for faults in the motherboard or other components of your computer. If not, you can take the hard drive to a service center.

Disk doesn't show up in Windows

1. Make sure the hard drive is turned on BIOS settings. To do this, restart the computer and, as soon as the machine starts to turn on, press the F2 or DEL key (the desired key is usually displayed on the screen) until you get to the BIOS.

Then find the disk management section (Storage Configuration, Drive, or a similar name) and make sure that the desired hard drive is activated. Opposite it should be the words Active, On or something similar. Save the changes and restart your PC.

2. Check if Windows has properly prepared the disk for use. First open the window command line (Windows keys+ R), then enter in it diskmgmt.msc and press Enter. Carefully read all system warnings so as not to accidentally format the drive or change the data written to it.

If you see a disk without a volume label in the Disk Management menu, this may be the cause of the conflict. Then right-click on the drive and assign a letter to it using the appropriate option in the context menu. Then restart your computer.

If you see in the same menu new disk with the caption “Not initialized”, right-click on it, select “Initialize disk” and follow the Windows prompts. After initialization, click on the disk again to call context menu, select “Create a simple volume” and follow the system instructions. When finished, restart your PC.

3. Download latest drivers for the hard drive from the manufacturer's website and install them.

4. Check your computer for malware using an antivirus.

5. Try it after saving all important data.

If none of the above helps, contact a service center for assistance.

What to do if Mac does not see the hard drive

Mac won't boot

If you have a modern Mac, it will most likely have one drive. And it is obvious that if there are problems with it, the computer simply will not boot. In this case, you need to carry out diagnostics with using Apple Hardware Test using the network mode.

Connect your Mac to a power source and unplug everything external devices, except for the keyboard, mouse, monitor and Ethernet cable. Turn off your Mac by holding the power button for a few seconds.

Turn on your Mac by holding down the Option + D keys. After running Apple Hardware Test, diagnose the components by following the wizard's prompts.

If disk errors are detected during testing, you will have to contact service. It will be possible to carry out repairs yourself only on older models with HDD by replacing the disk.

Drive doesn't show up in Finder

1. If your Mac has several disks and the problem is not with the boot disk, but with the auxiliary disk, then the computer will boot, but the disk will not be accessible. In this case, you need to check whether it is displayed in " Disk Utility».

To do this, open the application from the Applications → Utilities folder or through Spotlight and check if the disk is visible. If so, you can try formatting it (keep in mind that this will delete all data).

2. If the drive is not listed in Disk Utility, you should check whether it appears in System Information.

Open the utility through the Apple menu → System Information and then click the System Report button. Go to the "Storage" tab or SATA interfaces/SATA Express. Check if the required drive is available there.

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If the disk is not displayed, you can conduct diagnostics using Apple Hardware Test as described above, and if errors are detected with the disk, contact the service for repair.

The hard drive is one of the most important hardware components of a computer, without which it is impossible to save any data. When the user turns on the computer, the first step is to recognize the BIOS hardware, including connected hard drives, and then the boot record is determined, after which control is transferred operating system. But it happens that there is a failure in this chain.

In such cases, the computer either does not see the hard drive completely, or it is not displayed in Explorer. If this system disk, Windows does not load and an error appears on the screen. Most often it is “WARNING! HARD DISK NOT FOUND" or "DISK BOOT FALTURE, INSERT DISK AND PRESS ENTER", but there may be other messages indicating the absence of a hard drive.

The reasons why a hard drive is not detected can be either hardware or software in nature, but most often they are associated with hardware problems. What to do if the computer does not see the hard drive? The first step is to rule out faults in the hardware and only then look for what’s wrong with the software.

Hard drive is not detected in BIOS

The hard drive may not be accessible in Explorer or Device Manager, but it should be visible in the BIOS. If it is not defined in basic system I/O, this may indicate a hardware problem. Consistently check the correct connection of the cables, make sure that they are in good condition (you can try replacing them). Pay special attention to the quality of the contacts, see if there are any traces of oxidation on them. The disk itself may also be faulty. The easiest way to find out if everything is okay with it is to connect it to another computer.

On computers with two physical disks, you should pay attention to a special connector located on the HDD case between the power and data connectors. If you look closely at it, you can see four pairs of contacts and a special jumper that closes one of the pairs. This jumper is used to change the priority of the hard drive. If the disk is the main one, the jumper must be set to the Master position; if it is an additional one, it must be set to the Slave mode. Setting this jumper to the same position on both media will most likely prevent the BIOS from recognizing them correctly.

Note: The jumper for switching between priority modes is not present on all hard drive models.

All of the above mostly applies to conventional prefabricated PCs, but with laptop computers everything is a little more complicated. If the laptop does not see the hard drive, and you suspect that it is due to hardware problems, you may have to limit yourself to checking the contacts of the drive, the corresponding connectors of the motherboard and the drive itself. It is not recommended to disassemble a laptop without the appropriate knowledge and experience; in such cases, it is better to take the device to a service center.

If everything is fine with the hardware, check the settings of the BIOS itself - SATA controllers and IDE must be enabled. IN different versions The BIOS names of the settings you need may have slight differences, but usually they always mention the word SATA (ATA) or IDE. If this Ami BIOS, the required setting will most likely be located in the section Advanced – Onboard Device Configuration. Go into it and find a controller whose name mentions SATA or IDE. Make sure it is set to Enabled.

In the Award BIOS, you need to go to the Integrated Peripherals section and make sure that the On Chip Primary PCI IDE and On Chip Secondary PCI IDE parameters are Enabled, and the On Chip SATA Mode parameter is set to Auto.

As a last resort, you can try resetting the BIOS to factory settings. There are six reset methods in total, but only two will be available to you. Here's the first one. With the power turned off completely, find the Clear CMOS jumper on the motherboard, switch the jumper from pins 1-2 to 2-3, wait 20 seconds, and then return it to its original position.

And here is the second way. After turning off the power, find the CR2032 battery on the motherboard, remove it, also wait a minute and reinsert it. The BIOS will be reset. You can reset the BIOS on laptops in the section Exit – Load Setup Defaults, but this is only possible if the manufacturer does not have password protection installed, otherwise the device will have to be disassembled in order to remove the battery.

The disk is detected in the BIOS, but the system does not see it

Things are somewhat different when Windows 7/10 does not see the hard drive, but it is perfectly detected by the BIOS. If it is a system drive, Windows will naturally not boot, and it is important to understand what exactly is causing the problem. These could be problems with the disk itself, incorrect BIOS settings, or damage to the operating system. The latter is important to exclude. To do this, try to access the hard drive data by booting from a LiveCD or flash drive.

If in built-in file manager The LiveCD disk is visible, most likely there is something wrong with the operating system itself. In other cases, the first thing to do is go into the BIOS and see if your boot priorities are set correctly. By the way, the Operating System not found error may indicate a lost priority. In Ami BIOS you can do this on the tab Boot – Boot Device Priority, and in Award BIOS – in the section Advanced BIOS Features – First Boot Device.

Also in the Edward BIOS you need to make sure that in the Standard CMOS Features section the mode for the hard drive is set to Auto.

All of the above is true for additional (second) disks. If everything is in order with the BIOS settings, but the computer does not see second hard disk, check the following points:

– By opening the Disk Management utility through the Start menu, find your disk in the list and make sure that it is initialized. If not, right-click on it, initialize it, and then create a new volume on the disk.

– Disk space not distributed. Again, create a new volume.

– The drive letter is not assigned. Assign a free letter to it, otherwise it will not be displayed in Explorer.

– The file system of the media is defined as RAW. Format the drive or perform a recovery file system team chkdsk [drive letter]: /f. Alternatively, you can use special utilities like TestDisk.

– Disk drivers are damaged or not installed. Open Device Manager, look for your second drive under Disk Devices, and see if it has a yellow sign. If checked, this may indicate that the necessary drivers are missing. Download drivers from the official website of the disk manufacturer and install them.

The case when the computer does not see the hard drive when Windows installation 7/10. This problem is quite common on laptops with caching SSDs, SATA drives and RAID arrays. Its main reason is the lack of specific drivers that allow working with such configurations. It doesn’t matter, you can download drivers from the official website of the manufacturer of your laptop model or motherboard. The names of such drivers usually contain the words "SATA", "Intel RST" or "RAID".

Copy the driver to the USB flash drive from which you are installing Windows and boot from it. When will it appear empty window select a partition to install the system, click “Download”, specify the path to the copied driver and install it.

If the system is installed with optical disk, the driver file is also copied to a flash drive, which must be connected to the laptop/computer before turning it on, otherwise the portable media will not be recognized. After installing the driver, the disk should appear in the installation wizard window.

The computer does not recognize an external hard drive connected via USB

What to do if the computer does not see the hard drive connected via USB? Almost everything is the same as mentioned above. The only difference is that in the BIOS we check whether USB controllers are enabled. In Award BIOS these are USB EHCI controller, USB EHCI controller, USB Keyboard Support, USB Mouse Support and Legacy USB storage detect, in AMI settings USB devices usually located in the Advanced – USB configuration or Advanced – Peripherals section.

The external hard drive may also not be visible for a reason. Their serviceability also needs to be checked.

Lack of power is another reason why an external drive may not be recognized by the system. If possible, do not use extension cords; the connection itself must be made through the port on the rear panel. If possible, use an autonomous power source when connecting drives, this will increase the stability of the drive. And one last thing. External drive may not be recognized by Windows for the same reasons why the system does not see flash drives and other USB-connected devices. We recommend that you read the article; perhaps you will find a lot of useful information in it.

Follow these steps in order. If the first does not help, move on to the second and so on.

What to do if a Windows computer does not see the hard drive

Disk does not show up in BIOS

1. If you have just connected the hard drive, check if you did it correctly. Find the official instructions for your motherboard and hard drive and follow all manufacturers' recommendations.

2. If you are trying to install Windows XP or an older version and the system reports that there is no hard drive, make sure that the IDE hard drive mode compatible with this OS is enabled in the BIOS. To do this, find the SATA operation setting in the BIOS (SATA Mode, SATA Configuration or a similar name). Set the value to IDE, save changes and restart your computer.

Disk doesn't show up in Windows

1. Make sure the hard drive is enabled in the BIOS settings. To do this, restart the computer and, as soon as the machine starts to turn on, press the F2 or DEL key (the desired key is usually displayed on the screen) until you get to the BIOS.

2. Check if Windows has properly prepared the disk for use. First, open a command prompt window (Windows keys + R), then enter diskmgmt.msc and press Enter. Carefully read all system warnings so as not to accidentally format the drive or change the data written to it.

If in the same menu you see a new disk labeled “Not initialized,” right-click on it, select “Initialize disk” and follow the Windows prompts. After initialization, click on the disk again to open the context menu, select “Create a simple volume” and act according to the system instructions. When finished, restart your PC.

3. Download the latest hard drive drivers from the manufacturer's website and install them.

4. Check your computer for malware using an antivirus.

5. Try it after saving all important data.

If none of the above helps, contact a service center for assistance.

What to do if Mac does not see the hard drive

Mac won't boot

If you have a modern Mac, it will most likely have one drive. And it is obvious that if there are problems with it, the computer simply will not boot. In this case, you need to conduct diagnostics using Apple Hardware Test using the network mode.

Connect your Mac to a power source and disconnect all external devices except the keyboard, mouse, monitor, and Ethernet cable. Turn off your Mac by holding the power button for a few seconds.

Turn on your Mac by holding down the Option + D keys. After running Apple Hardware Test, diagnose the components by following the wizard's prompts.

If disk errors are detected during testing, you will have to contact service. It will be possible to carry out repairs yourself only on older models with HDD by replacing the disk.

Drive doesn't show up in Finder

2. If the drive is not listed in Disk Utility, you should check whether it appears in System Information.

Open the utility through the Apple menu → System Information and then click the System Report button. Go to the "Storage" tab or SATA / SATA Express interfaces. Check if the required drive is available there.

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If the disk is not displayed, you can conduct diagnostics using Apple Hardware Test as described above, and if errors are detected with the disk, contact the service for repair.

The materials presented below will help everyone understand what needs to be done if the HDD is not displayed in the operating system, as well as for what reasons such a system failure may occur.

Perhaps the information provided for review makes it possible to take the right actions in the process of resolving this problem, as well as prevent the commission of erroneous actions.

In order for this to be the case, it is not recommended to treat the presented materials as some kind of step by step instructions. First of all, you need to fully familiarize yourself with the information provided, and only after that begin to eliminate the error that has arisen.

Why is my hard drive not showing up in My Computer?

Among all possible reasons First of all, you need to highlight:

Damaged cables;
motherboard malfunction;
problems with the HDD itself.

If the hard drive does not appear in “My Computer,” it is recommended to connect the HDD to other working cables to determine the presence or absence of a contact problem. After this, if you have another working Hard disk drive, you can connect it to check the normal operating condition of the motherboard.

If such a device is not at hand, you can try connecting the existing HDD to a computer installed by someone you know.

Naturally, information on how to repair or configure a personal computer is not provided in this article. However, if there are any extraneous noise, smoke, acrid smell, etc., it is easy to guess that the HDD is faulty and its subsequent operation is no longer possible.

It must be taken into account that in such a situation the user is dealing with problems with the electronics or mechanical parts themselves hard drive.

You should not take rash actions in such a situation:

Supply power to the Hard disk drive once again;
Try to conduct testing using special programs;
Disassemble the hard drive in order to determine what exactly is inside;
Remove and replace the board, etc.

You should stop and think carefully about your upcoming actions. It is necessary to take into account what exactly is the problem in the current situation: the need to spend money on a new or access stored data.

Problems with recognition in the system

It often happens that a Hard disk drive is detected in the BIOS, but is not displayed in any way in the operating system. Windows cannot work with such components properly. For example, by opening the device manager, you can find a simple line highlighted in the image.

However, if we consider the properties of such a Hard disk drive, pointing the cursor at it and pressing the right button of the manipulator, after selecting the required item in the menu that appears, you can see this.

The Disk Manager may show something like this.

However, the hard drive does not appear in My Computer. Accordingly, the size of its carrier is not determined. Perhaps the user suspected something strange when he discovered that the usual E: and F sections were missing when working with the operating system.

Such letters can be assigned to sections of the media that was connected after the first one. It is not difficult to guess what can happen if you try to boot from this Hard disk drive. Nothing will happen, the system will not boot, you can read some kind of message on the black screen that appears, notifying you that the hard drive device was not detected when the computer started.

It is quite possible that such a hard drive has certain difficulties with service information or the current firmware, or the quality of its protection provided by the manufacturer. The media may not perform well even after it has been detected in the BIOS.

What measures are there?

To ensure that the solution is reasonable and does not entail collateral damage, the main goal of each user is determined. In most situations, the choice is between recovery of saved data and repair.

Data recovery refers to a sequence of actions aimed at gaining access to data from damaged media and subsequent saving on a working HDD. In such a situation, subsequent optimization of the functional characteristics of the problematic media is possible, but it cannot be called mandatory.

Technicians who provide HDD repair services often have to participate in discussions with clients about their preferred options for solving the problem. At the same time, not everyone expresses a desire to get a clean hard drive without the data previously stored on it.

Often the system does not recognize a new hard drive because the necessary partitions are simply not created and formatted. For this purpose, there are special programs that can be used in the operating system itself and run before loading the OS.

Conclusion

Personal computer users have probably repeatedly thought about purchasing a new hard drive. If the information presented in this article arouses specific interest, then such a dream was destined to come true.

However, it is not always possible to see a new hard drive immediately after connecting to personal computer. To do this, standard procedures are performed, which involve creating HDD partitions and then formatting them.

During the operation of the PC, situations arise when the hard drive does not appear in “My Computer”. A problem with HDD recognition may arise if the computer is old and does not fit the new hard drive model.

In such situations, one can only hope for what the developers have created for specific model maternal BIOS boards. When updating the BIOS, the likelihood of recognition of the hard drive and subsequent normal operation increases.