SATA drive

So I have two hard drives and two DVD drives, and I wanted another hard drive. I got a SATA one, and installed it just now, but Windows doesn't recognise it. What to do?

In before stop using Windows.

Check drive jumper settings,
Verify motherboard supports drive's datarate,
Install drivers if necessary,
Does the BIOS recognize the drive properly?
Is the drive listed in Device Manager and/or Disk Management?




 
 

>>2
It's not listed anywhere. I went to setup as well but it wasn't there. I set it to limit the datarate since I didn't know whether it was supported or not.
What drivers? I'm sorry, I don't really know much about this.

>>3
On Seagate's site it says that XP should already have the drivers needed, so...

Sorry if you already implied as such, but I just want to be sure- does the drive indeed show up in the BIOS or no?

Also, what is the drive's model number, and what motherboard are ye using?

If you have "two hard drives and two DVD drives", then you added a SATA drive, I assume the 4 former devices are all IDE and are run on 2 IDE drive cables.

So we check the BIOS to see if the SATA interface is turned ON, and if it then detects the SATA drive.  If not, then you've got problems:

1. Is the drive good?  Is it new?  Does it seem to power up when the power plug is connected?

2. Check the SATA cable for damage.  Try another one if you have one handy.

Once you determine that the BIOS has the SATA on and the drive seen, then just boot into Windows (XP, I assume) and check hardware devices for a SATA drive interface.  If it's not there, then of course you can't see the drive.

If the SATA interface is loaded by XP, then there's no reason why the disk manager wouldn't see the drive.

>>5
No, it doesn't show up on BIOS. I don't know about the motherboard, but I emailed tech support for my computer before buying the drive and they said it would be fine. This is the drive: http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/113428

>>6
I'm not sure what you mean by "good", but it's brand new. And I don't know- Could I tell by turning the computer on with the case open? The cable is also brand new, so I'm assuming it's fine.
I don't see anything mentioning SATA in hardware devices. But how do I turn SATA on in BIOS? I looked around and couldn't see anything mentioning it. I'm sorry for being such a noob! Thanks for helping me despite it.

re-install windows
i think its the only way to do it

#7, bear with us.  N00bs ask for haaaaalp so it's not like we don't know what we're dealing with, here.  :^)

When we techies call a piece of hardware "good", we mean functional and usable.  If the drive powers up and then can hold data, it's "good".  In the sense I used, I was asking if the drive is suspected to have problems (i.e. is "bad"), and largely if the drive powered up.

To detect if the drive powers up, you'd have to know how to detect that.  Obviously, when you hold the drive in your hand right out of the box or something, it's laying inert in your hand.  It's cold, isn't vibrating, and makes no sound.  When it powers up, it vibrates, makes some sound (which varies for each drive), and soon warms up (often becoming hot to the touch in a few minutes).  To properly detect this things, it's a short procedure to simply have the drive out of the case yet connected to the cabling.  Since cases are crowded and noisy, you have to have it out in order to hear it (unless you have a stethoscope handy).

Once you determine the drive is giving you the proper physical indications (warm, noisy, vibrating), then you deal with the BIOS.  What make and model of computer do you have?  Search for the BIOS tutorial or something that unit.  If you have a SATA port on the motherboard, there MUST be a SATA setting in the BIOS.

>>9
Okay, I checked the drive and it works fine. But my brother said that the data cable doesn't seem to fit very well, and that might be the problem. I'm gonna try to buy a new one tomorrow, so hopefully that'll fix it. If not, I'll be back :3

maybe you need the sata driver that probably is in the cd that came with your motherboard. the driver is a executable that makes a diskette that you have to use upon booting up the pc

#11, are you saying that (I assume) XP wouldn't load the SATA driver by first detecting the instance on the motherboard?  The OP should have had some indication of that.  Or, are you saying XP/whatever loaded the WRONG SATA driver, thus fooling the OP?

OP here. I can't BELIEVE this. It's not the goddamn cable! I emailed tech support again, and they said that my computer only supports SATA 1. I wish they'd specified this the first time, before I forked out for a fucking SATA 2 drive!

That shouldn't be the problem. I run a SATA 2 drive on a SATA 1 controller, and it works just fine. They're made to be backwards compatible and fall back to the highest common mode.

>>14

Really? I mean, I already set it to limit so it should be okay if that was the case... man, this is so frustrating. Really wishing I'd just bought an external.

OP, can't you just return the drive (or sell it off via ebay/craigslist) and get that external drive?  It sounds like you're up against a weird incompatibility and it's probably not worth your time to chase it down.

>>16
Yeah, can't return it now, but my friend was thinking of getting a new hard drive and his computer is a lot newer than mine, so I can just sell it to him... After all this I really wanna try to get it working, though. I'm gonna try a different cable and if there's no change I will officially give up.
Thanks for sticking with me through this horrible journey of awful, though. You're probably the kindest 4channer I've ever met!