Doesn't see hard drive 2. Why the computer does not see the second hard drive and how to fix it

Typical situation - you bought a new hard drive, which you want to install second in your computer. Opened the lid, connected it, turned it on. And after loading, Windows 10 does not see the second hard drive. However, it is displayed in the BIOS, but not in Explorer. In my memory, this happened a couple of times with an external hard drive connected via USB. The reason for this incident is usually that the new hard drive may be clean and unformatted. Therefore, of course, there are no partitions on it yet and it cannot appear in Explorer.
The built-in tool for working with HDDs will help correct this state of affairs. To use it, you need to open the toolbar and select the section “Security System -> Administration -> Creating and Managing Hard Drives”. Or you can press the Win+R key combination and enter the command “diskmgmt.msc”. This will open the Disk Management utility of Windows 10.

In the lower right area you will see the HDD already in use; its partitions will be highlighted in blue. But the new, unmarked one will be displayed lower and in black. Right-click on “Disk 1” and select the “Initialize disk” menu item.
Next, right-click again on the black bar and select “New Section”.

This will launch a special wizard, with the help of which you must first create the “Main Section”. Windows will automatically assign it a letter to designate it. If the hard drive is large, then it makes sense to make several partitions.
Now you can start formatting them. Nowadays, it is best to use the NTFS file system, even for small partitions of less than 32 GB.
After that, click on “Done”. That's it, now the operating system will successfully see the second hard drive and its partitions will appear in the general list of Explorer.

Hello dear friends!!! In this article I want to talk about why after - does not see a broken hard drive. It was not for nothing that I decided to write this article, I just had a lot of questions about this, of course there is a lot of material on this topic on the Internet, but still people ask questions and I think that it would not be superfluous on my website.

Why the hard drive is split during installation of the operating system, the answer is simple, for the convenience of storing files, so that your data and files are not piled up on the same partition with Windows, so that you can install programs and games on a separate partition of the hard drive. thereby touching the partition with the operating system. In general terms, I think everyone understands why all this is needed. So let's get started.

Let's say during the installation of Windows 7 you split your hard drive into two partitions. The first section is " C"on which you install the system, and the second partition " D"on which you will subsequently install games, programs, upload photos and files. After installing the system, you go to “My Computer” and see only the “ C", and the section " D"The system does not see the hard drive. What needs to be done for the system to see the second partition of the hard drive? Right-click on “My Computer” and select the “Management” tab. A window will appear where you need to select the “Disk Management” tab.

You will see a window like this, where your hard drive partitions will be displayed.

In order for the section " D" was visible in "My Computer", right-click on the second partition and select the "Format" tab. Attention: After formatting, all data on the hard drive will be deleted.

After formatting is completed, you will need to specify a letter for this section; if you do not specify a letter, then the system will not see a broken hard drive. How to do this, see the screenshots below.

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 to the 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 it is a system drive, Windows will not boot and an error will appear 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 detected in the underlying I/O system, it 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 ordinary 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 in order with the hardware, check the settings of the BIOS itself - the SATA and IDE controllers should be enabled. In different BIOS versions, the names of the settings you need may have slight differences, but usually they always mention the word SATA (ATA) or IDE. If this is an 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 the disk is visible in the built-in LiveCD file manager, 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 fine with the BIOS settings, but the computer does not see the second hard drive, 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 is not allocated. 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 disk or perform a file system restore with the command chkdsk [drive letter]: /f. Alternatively, you can use special utilities like TestDisk for this.

– 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 installing Windows 7/10 deserves special attention. 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 an empty window appears for selecting a partition to install the system, click “Download”, specify the path to the copied driver and install it.

If the system is installed from an 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, USB device settings are usually located in the Advanced – USB configuration or Advanced – Peripherals section.

Problems with USB ports. 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. An external drive may not be recognized by Windows for the same reasons why the system does not recognize 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.

There are times when when I connect a new HDD or split the old one into several parts, the drive does not appear in my computer and cannot be used. If you connect a new hard drive, you first need to make sure that the computer displays it in the BIOS; if this does not happen, then you need to check that the connection is correct. The article will describe several ways to force Windows to see the new drive.

Using Disk Management

You can connect new media through the standard utility " Disk management", which is available in the OS. There are several ways to get to it. In the first method, right-click on “Computer” and select “Management”, then select the utility itself in the window that opens. In the second, you need to start the combination Win + R and, in the window that opens, enter diskmgmt.msc and click “OK”. After which the following window will open.

All connected drives are displayed at the bottom of the window. If one hard drive has been divided into several partitions and the system does not see them, then in disk management an area will be highlighted with the inscription “ Not distributed" If this is a second physical drive it may be displayed " No data. Not initialized" And in both situations, there may be an area labeled RAW or in another file system; they can be reformatted to the NTFS option, or immediately assigned a letter.

When a new drive is connected, you need to right-click on it and click “ Initialize disk».

In the next window, you need to select the partition style, MBR for version seven and younger, and GPT from version eight of Windows and older. After such actions, the area will move to the “ Not distributed" To be able to use such an information repository, you need to right-click on it and select the item “ Create a simple volume" In the future, all that remains is to follow the wizard’s instructions, select the file system and the corresponding letter, and you can also set the size.

The unallocated area can be divided into several more logical partitions, if necessary. After completing the wizard, the hdd can be used and will be displayed in the system through Explorer.

Connecting a drive via the command line

This method is best used only by experienced users. You need to launch the command line by going to " Execute" and entering cmd, or also enter in the search for programs, and then run as administrator, then you need to enter the following commands: diskpart And list disk. In the information provided, you need to remember the number of the section that is not displayed in the system. Next, you need to enter the following commands one by one:

In this case, the partition will be cleared, formatted in ntfs, and the letter D will be assigned to it. It is better not to use this method if the necessary information was in the part that the OS stopped seeing. In this case, it would be better to try to assign a letter to it or use one of the utilities to recover “lost” partitions. For example, Starus Partition Recovery can help you find and return a partition without loss or help you recover information.

Most users create partitions on their hard drive for their convenience. They are usually called C, D, etc., and their usefulness cannot be denied in any way. Let's say you have an operating system on one volume, and all other user files (music, photos, movies) on the second. When you reinstall the OS, the partition with your files will not even be touched, which will allow you to save your data and continue to use it in the new Windows.

One of the extremely common problems that users often encounter is that the computer does not see hard drive partitions and cannot find them. This problem occurs unexpectedly and can be caused by a number of reasons that affect the operation of the hard drive. Let's figure out what to do in this situation and how to solve the problem that has arisen.

Assigning a letter

If your PC or laptop does not see one of the hard drive partitions, then the first thing you need to do is go to the special control menu and check whether it is displayed in the corresponding list. If it is there, then it needs to be assigned a letter.

Let's look at the process in order:

The requested information will be instantly displayed on the screen. It is necessary to look through the local drives, and if there is one that has disappeared, then you need to set the letter.

To do this you need:

For the changes to be successfully applied, you need to restart your computer. As soon as the operating system boots, check whether the partition is visible, it should appear under the letter you specified.

Creating a new volume

It is likely that when you go to the management menu you will not find the missing area, instead there will be an unallocated part that cannot be assigned a letter; you can only create a new volume:

But at the same time, you will completely lose the files stored on it. Therefore, if you do not value them, then feel free to use this method; in other cases, I recommend using the method discussed below.

All processes are analyzed using Windows 7 as an example, but in other versions, Windows XP/8/10, they will be similar.

Creating a new partition

If the first method did not help and the computer still does not see the hard drive partitions, then the problem may be that the OS itself cannot see it due to the loss of the file system, as often happens, but the data on it will still be saved.

In this case, to correct the situation, we will use one very effective tool, namely the Acronis Disk Director program. With its help, we will recognize the disappeared local hard drive partition, separate a small part from it, from which we will make a new area with the NTFS file system, and then simply merge them.

This may seem very difficult to some, but if you follow the following instructions, which detail what to do in this situation, you will easily cope with this task:

After you create a partition, all that remains is to merge the problematic and new partitions using the “Merge” function.

Now you need to save the changes and reboot the system. To do this, you need to enter the BIOS again and return the boot to its original location - from the Hard Disk. After exiting the BIOS, the system will automatically boot into Windows OS. We check the disk partition again, now it should definitely be displayed correctly.

Partition recovery

In almost all cases when a logical partition of a hard drive disappears, it can be returned. For recovery we will use the same Acronis Disk Director.
So here's how to do it:

The procedure for restoring information from a partition that the PC has stopped seeing can take a significant amount of time. The duration of the process depends on the amount and volume of data available on the disk. Therefore, you should be prepared for the fact that the computer may work for quite a long time.

We hope that the methods we have listed for solving the problem are easy to implement, and you can use them to fix the problems that have arisen.