HDD is detected in bios but not in windows. What to do if the computer and BIOS does not see the hard drive? Disk management partition

Greetings, dear readers.

Sometimes users encounter a situation where the computer cannot detect the hard drive. Moreover, this situation is accompanied by various symptoms. Today I will try to tell you why Windows does not see the hard drive under certain conditions.

Sometimes computer users encounter a situation where the device does not see the HDD when installing Windows. The problem is mostly due to a lack of the right drivers. This usually occurs when " Conductor"There is no desired partition, but the BIOS sees what it needs. There are several options for solving the disease:

After installation( )

Sometimes the memory may not be shown after installing the OS. Or as a result of connecting to a new computer. In this case, the first thing you need to check is the correct connection.

In addition, the second hard drive can often simply be turned off in the system to speed up work. To change the situation, you need to do a number of actions:

In the first case, right-click on the disk name. Select " Initialize" Specifying the structure GPT or MBR(not always). It is recommended to use the latter. At the end you will get the “Unallocated” area.

Then right-click on this segment again and select “ Create a simple volume».

We follow the wizard's instructions.

After this, the second hard drive should appear in Explorer. Sometimes the device needs to be rebooted.

The last option can be solved by right-clicking on the desired area and selecting “ Format" Sometimes assigning a letter can help.

In AHCI mode( )

The mechanism itself is designed for devices connected via the SATA protocol. It allows you to use additional functions that speed up your work.

Sometimes there are situations in which the device is in AHCI simply not defined. In this case, if you turn it off, everything starts to function normally.

There is a solution to the problem, although it may be somewhat painful for many users. To do this, we need an installation disk with Windows 10 or other latest versions of Microsoft OS. So, we need to do a number of actions:

External device( )

Many users come across a situation where their system for some reason does not accept an external hard drive. As usual, this can be for various reasons.

For example, often a HDD-USB just purchased from a store may simply not be formatted. The solution is simple - using built-in or third-party utilities, we produce everything necessary.

In addition, drivers can also become a problem. You can find this out simply - try connecting the equipment to other units. If everything is fine on them, then the solution is simple:

To do this, right-click on the element and select the desired line. If the system cannot automatically find what it needs, we go to the official website of the removable device or motherboard. We find suitable software and install it.

In addition, you can use a special program that automatically finds and installs everything you need. I have already mentioned it more than once and talked about it in previous articles.

Another, albeit drastic, but effective method is to reinstall Windows.

Moreover, it is worth noting that it is better to find a clean image, without any additions. This often helps when using components with large amounts of memory, for example, 3 Terabytes.

There are several reasons why the system does not see the hard drive:

To correctly download and install drivers, perform the following manipulations:

Load the Windows distribution into the DVD drive tray. After this, disconnect the computer from the power supply.
Insert the SATA hard drive and connect it. Turn on your computer.
During the installation process, you will need to press the F6 key at the appropriate moment to start the driver installation process. During the normal course of the system installation, a screen will briefly appear stating that in order to install the system normally, you need to download the missing drivers: “Press F6 if you need to install a 3rd party driver.” Try not to miss the moment, otherwise you will have to start all over again.
After a while, an interface will appear to load drivers for the SATA controller. Press the S key to continue installation.
To download the drivers, you will need disks with installers; this must be found and downloaded in advance on the Internet, on the website of the manufacturer of the motherboard that is installed on your computer.

Data cable fault

In my example, I will try to format an external hard drive to make it more clear.

The system will ask again whether to format correctly.

It also happens that there is no disk in the drive, but the operating system stubbornly does not see the hard drive.
In this case, try going into the BIOS parameters First Boot Device and setting it as the first
boot device is your HDD.

The computer does not see the SATA hard drive when installing Windows

If your computer does not see the hard drive when installing Windows, then there are two solutions to fix it
this problem. It should be noted that the computer does not see the SATA hard drive; such problems do not arise with IDE.

Method 3. If the two methods described above did not bring the desired result, then you will have to integrate SATA drivers into the OS distribution. The first step is to integrate individual SATA drivers or, in some cases, entire packages. You can also integrate drivers together with updates.

You can find out exactly what updates and drivers are required on the website of the manufacturer of your motherboard installed on your computer. To find out what kind of motherboard you have, you can right-click on the “My Computer” shortcut and through the drop-down menu go to “Properties”, where this data is indicated. You can also look at this information in the documents that were given to you when you purchased the computer.
It is worth saying that a large number of users encounter a situation where the system does not see the hard drive, especially when reinstalling Windows. If you also encounter this problem, then it is not necessary to contact a service center or specialists to solve it. You can handle it quite well on your own.

First of all, if the hard drive is not detected when reinstalling the operating system, you must resort to the methods described earlier (integrating motherboard drivers and disabling the AHCI parameter through the BIOS). If these actions did not give the desired result, then you will need to check whether the connection is made correctly on your hard drive. Figure 5 shows an example of a correct connection.

In many cases, it will be helpful for you to ask yourself this question. Yes, it can be very difficult to value in rubles something that has not been bought or sold. Perhaps, in addition to the cost of an alternative way to obtain this data, such concepts as nerves, time, memories, work done or upcoming work, and so on will be involved in the assessment. But it’s still worth trying and understanding at least the approximate cost of the data. This will help you avoid confusion and take the right steps.

2.6. Diagnostics won't hurt anyone

Even if the problem seems simple to you, and the cost of data is low and you hope to save money by solving it yourself, I strongly recommend using

in a specialized company. I think everyone will agree with me that two doctors can treat the same disease differently. And often both will achieve a positive result. But no matter which method of treating a particular disease the doctor chooses, the chances of a favorable outcome will be negligible if he made a mistake in determining the disease itself. In the case where the disk is not visible, this also works. Yes, perhaps your skills, computer literacy and luck are enough to solve some simple data recovery problems. But isn’t it better to understand for sure that at least the problem is defined correctly? After all, an error in making a diagnosis is dangerous not only because recovery will not give a positive result, but also because further attempts will be complicated and the likelihood of a successful outcome will be reduced. And no matter how optimistic you are about your chances, it will be better to increase them. Moreover, you don’t have to pay for it, since there are enough companies on the market that provide diagnostics for free.

2.7. Making the right decisions

As a result of the diagnosis, you will receive answers to the following questions:

What is the nature of the malfunction?
Is data recovery possible?
How much will the restoration cost?
How soon will you receive your data?

The solution to this problem is not as difficult as it seems at first glance. In most cases, users who have installed or reinstalled the operating system encounter this problem. Don’t immediately panic and call service centers to have a specialist come to your home, first try BIOS disable option like AHCI, then try to integrate all the motherboard drivers into your computer's distribution.

If the above does not help, then try to determine how the connector is connected HDD, and how correct. This very device, thanks to which it is possible to connect a hard drive to the motherboard, has only two connectors - black and blue, which should be connected to the hard drive, since it works more stably.

The wonderful times when no hard drives simply existed have long since sunk into oblivion. The development of high technologies differs from others in that it does not obey general laws, but rushes forward like a stratospheric rocket.

Tape drive mechanisms may have failed more often than modern magnetic disks, but the reasons for their failures were much more understandable. Although... what are we saying? No, we are not asking everyone to go back to the Stone Age. God forbid! We simply present some comparisons, which, according to certain parameters, do not always turn out to be in favor of modern technology.

So, your hard drive has broken down or you suspect that the failure lies precisely in it - in the inadequate operation of this complex and obscure device. You are saved if there is another PC nearby that sees its own hard drive. Just swap these two drives and make sure that the other machine recognizes it as working.

If this is the case, then the problem lies in incorrect settings on your system. If the second computer doesn’t see your unfortunate screw, it means it’s really faulty, and at the very least you need to take it in for repairs. As a maximum, simply throw it away and replace it with a new one if its surface did not contain some critical data.

We will assume that the screw was detected by another computer and the essence of the problem should be looked for in the settings. It happens that the BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) does not recognize this or that hardware. In this case, it is usually not recognized by Windows itself. Let's see this using the example of a hard drive.

BIOS does not see the screw

I had such a case, I changed the BIOS settings, rebooted, but the settings remained the same, that is, they did not change. The problem turned out to be a dead CMOS battery, after replacing it all my changes took effect.

Another case was even more interesting, when connecting the second hard drive to the system unit, it did not want to be seen in the BIOS and, accordingly, Windows did not see it point blank, although before that I had connected this hard drive alternately to two more system units and everything was fine there. The problem turned out to be a faulty 350W power supply; it simply did not power two hard drives at the same time. After replacing the power supply, the two hard drives worked perfectly together in this system. So keep in mind, a faulty power supply can be a problem for even a single hard drive.

This article explains in detail what to do if Windows 7 does not see the hard drive. You will also learn how to deal with errors and problems that arise when reinstalling the Windows operating system.

This is information that will be useful for everyone to know, because nowadays there is a personal computer in almost every home. Moreover, most often it is Windows that is used as the operating system. Simply put, if you have problems with the operating system while working on your computer, then this article will help you. Let's look at the situation when the system does not see the hard drive. Initially, you will need to perform a couple of simple steps:

Find the “My Computer” shortcut on your desktop, hover your mouse over it and right-click. A menu will appear in which you need to click on the “Management” line (Figure 1).

Figure 1 – Context menu

In the “Computer Management” window that opens, click on the “Disk Management” line from the “Storage Devices” category (Figure 2).

Figure 2 - Computer management

Figure 3 - Change drive letter

Now all that remains is to change the drive letters so that the OS can find it. Also, those who installed Windows 7 instead of Windows XP can move the settings of programs installed on the computer and the “My Documents” folder to the Windows system directory, which will allow them to use the new OS. Hard drive not detected during Windows reinstallation

Quite often, when reinstalling Windows, users encounter the problem that the hard drive is not detected. There are several ways to fix this problem.

Method 1. The most well-known method is to disable AHCI in the operating system through the BIOS (Basic Input Output System). Immediately after you do this, the computer will be able to detect the hard drive. Now let's describe in more detail how to do this:
1. Restart your computer. Press “F2” or “Delete” on your keyboard from the moment it starts to turn on. This will take you to the BIOS settings.
2. Select the operating system settings menu and turn off AHCI mode, as shown in (Figure 4).

Figure 4 - Disabling AHCI

Method 2. It may well be that the computer does not see the hard drive due to problems with the motherboard (when reinstalling any version of Windows). In this case, you need to download the driver for the motherboard of your computer on the Internet and burn it to disk. Next, using this disk, add the driver to the root directory of the operating system.

This is done as follows:
1. Insert the driver disc into the drive.
2. Restart the computer and while it turns on, press “F6” on the keyboard.

Figure 5 - Connecting a hard drive

The main thing you should learn for yourself is that the device, thanks to which the hard drive is connected and attached to the computer motherboard, has two main connectors. One of them is black, the second is blue (cyan). Moreover, this characteristic is the same regardless of what version of the Windows operating system you have. Of interest to us is the blue connector, which is responsible for the operation of the hard drive and floppy drive (device for external reading). It is better to connect the hard drive to the blue connector, because, as practice has shown, the black connector is quite unstable.

If, after checking the connection, the hard drive is still not detected or a message is displayed stating that the HDD device is not working correctly, then most likely it is all due to software errors.

If none of the methods described above helped, you will have to contact qualified specialists.

Hard disk (HDD) is a storage device or the main storage device in most PCs. A large number of people are faced with the fact that their computer (laptop) does not see the hard drive. What to do in this case?
In computer slang it is called a hard drive, and it can be external or internal. On a device that operates on the principle of magnetic recording, not only user information is stored, but also an operating system that processes service data.
How can we still solve the problem of the “invisibility” of the hard drive? Let's step by step understand what a hard drive is and how to make it so that the PC detects it.

If problems occur with the hard drive, then the computer does not display all the recorded information. The PC may not see the hard drive for many reasons. We will try to describe all the causes of malfunctions and available methods for eliminating them.

All these reasons apply to both internal and external hard drives, and the “treatment” in both cases will be the same.

Diagnostic measures

If such a problem occurs, a diagnosis must first be carried out. Its purpose is to identify the source of the problem. After all, the problem may not be in the hard drive, but in the operating system. To find out, the hard drive is connected to another PC.

If the computer boots, it means that it is not the hard drive that is sick, but the operating system itself. And if not, the problem, accordingly, lies in the malfunction of the hard drive. In this case, it is best to take the device to a workshop for repair or exchange it for a new one if the warranty is valid.

In the first case, when the problem lies in the operating system, you can fix it yourself. There are several methods on how to do this yourself, without financial expenses.

1. While the operating system is loading, click Del/F2 several times. If everything is successful, you will see the BIOS settings.
2. If you disconnect the internal hard drive from your computer, wrap it in antistatic material to prevent damage due to electrostatic discharge.
3. Before any manipulations with the hard drive, thoroughly study how to connect it.
4. Antistatic agent is also useful for the bottom part of the hard drive (where the boards are).

Main problems and solutions

There are problems related to hard drives that you can fix yourself. For example, if the contacts come loose, it is not necessary to contact a repair shop.

Outgoing contacts

If the contact is loose, the computer will not see the hard drive. To resolve the problem, reconnect all cables in the system unit. Check all connections carefully, and then perhaps the problem will be solved.

Incorrect BIOS settings

Even if the BIOS (basic input/output system) does not see the hard drive, the problem may lie in the system date. If the operating system crashed, the date could have been changed, sending your computer back in time. Reset the system date settings by removing the battery on the motherboard for 20-35 minutes and then installing it back.

If the problem lies precisely in incorrect date settings, the computer will recognize the hard drive as a physical storage medium.

There is another problem, which lies in the fact that the devices are not loaded in the correct order. In BIOS, find “Boot” and make the HDD the priority device that will boot first.

Insufficient nutrition

If the hard drive makes suspicious sounds and from time to time disappears and then “reads” again, the problem is hidden in insufficient power, so periodically the PC does not see the hard drive (HDD). There are two ways to fix the problem: the first is to buy a good power supply, the second is to remove some device from the boot.

Device conflict

If your computer has two hard drives of the same model installed at once, they may conflict with each other. In this case, the following will help you:

1. Run diagnostics on both devices to identify faults.
2. Connect both hard drives to the operating system separately.

Bus version

Older versions of Windows OS may not support SATA.

The smartest thing to do is to upgrade to a new OS version. If for some reason you cannot do this, you will need to reinstall the operating system and integrate drivers that are supported by SATA.

Problem with operating system settings

If everything is fine in the BIOS, but the operating system does not recognize the device, it must be configured manually using the capabilities of the OS. Do the following:

Step one: Go to the “Control Panel” from the “Start” menu and click on the “Administrative Tools” section.

Step two Click on “Computer Management”.

Step Three Click on "Disk Management". Here you will see all the drives that are connected to the computer. One of the devices will not have a letter. Right-click on the unnamed device and open “Change Drive Letter” and assign your volume letter.

After this, you need to reboot the system.

If all these methods did not help and the computer (laptop) still does not see the hard drive (HDD), then most likely you need to bring it in for repairs. You are unlikely to be able to detect the malfunction on your own, but a computer technician can do it quickly. And there are cases when only professional help is recommended.

I have problems with my Seagate 7200.11 drive:
- The disk is not detected in the BIOS, but a normal reclamation sound is heard.
- BIOS correctly recognizes the model name, but has a zero size.

If you have additional questions about recovery problems, please ask a question and we will answer you at the specified email address. A hard disk, as a physical device, can contain several logical devices, which in the operating system are designated by Latin characters - A:, B:, C:, D:, ... Z:. Information about the location of logical disks and the type of their file systems is located in partition description tables, sometimes called partition tables. Each table can contain up to four descriptions of the partitions into which the hard drive is divided.
There are two types of partitions in Windows:

basic
additional

Main section describes the area of a specific logical drive. The first sector of each logical drive is called BOOT sector, contains its specific description, file system type, sector size, cluster size and other parameters.

Additional section describes the next area of the disk, which in turn can be divided further in the same way.

As a result of software failures, virus attacks, erroneous user actions, and similar actions, partition tables or boot sectors may become corrupted. Moreover, these distortions can only be noticed after reboot operating system. Depending on which area is destroyed, this can manifest itself in different ways:

The first sector of the hard drive is completely distorted, covered with garbage.The drive is visible in the BIOS, but there are no logical drives on this hard drive. If the disk is bootable, then the system does not boot and prompts you to boot from another device.Partial corruption of the first partition table.Distortion of the boot sector of a logical disk.

Distorted area of the system	External manifestation

The system considers this disk unformatted and prompts you to format it. If the distortions are partial, then the root folder may not be readable, or individual folders may contain garbage in the names of files and (or) subfolders. This type of distortion, as a rule, is not fatal and one hundred percent recovery is possible, and.
You can do it yourself!