Vista won't see any additional drives in "My Computer"

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weswood151

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Joined

Jan 20, 2008

• Feb 2, 2008

• #1

Let me explain what I have done so far.
1. Installed 2 seagate 500 GB SATA II HDs.
2. Verified that the BIOS recognizes them.
3. Attempted to format them through Vista Disk Managment.
4. Attempted to format them through Seagate Disk Wizard (w/ Seagate holding my hand). Format was initally succesful on one disk, until I attempted to format and assign the second.
5. Finally in an attempt to back up some date before I got to crazy, I attatched a USB drive that showed up in My CP until restart.

This pic is what I have thus far;


Oh, by the way, I refreshed!

What I need help w/ is;
1. Trouble shooting the issue.
2. Making VISTA, let me use my drives!

Any help would be apreciated.

weswood151

 

Dawgdoc

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Joined

Feb 20, 2007

• Feb 2, 2008

• #2

Wes, how are these drives set up? RAID or non RAID?

I assume everything is hooked up correctly? Power cable and SATA cable to each one?

So I assume that you had Vista allready installed on 1 drive, and then added the other?

 

OP

W

weswood151

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Jan 20, 2008

• Feb 2, 2008

• Thread Starter
• #3

They are not in a RAID.

That was my origional intent, RAIDed them, ran into the same VISTA recognition issue and took them out of RAID.

They are showing up seperate in Disk Management now.

 

Automata

Destroyer of Empires and Use

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Joined

May 15, 2006

• Feb 2, 2008

• #4

Do you have another computer you can try them in?

EDIT: If they are in Disk Management, you should be able to set them as active and format them...

 

OP

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weswood151

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Jan 20, 2008

• Feb 2, 2008

• Thread Starter
• #5

I don't have another SATA capable PC

As to EDIT, I agree, Seagate agrees, my PC doesn't.

Next step is Microsoft support, if they don't shut me down for having an OEM version.

Oh, by the way this is my 1st build!

 

OP

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weswood151

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Jan 20, 2008

• Feb 2, 2008

• Thread Starter
• #6

It has been recomended that I completely reinstall VISTA w/ the two new drives installed.

Any thoughts?

 

Automata

Destroyer of Empires and Use

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Joined

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• Feb 2, 2008

• #7

weswood151 said:

It has been recomended that I completely reinstall VISTA w/ the two new drives installed.

Any thoughts?

Click to expand...

Well, you could try it if you have exhausted all the other possibilities.

I don't think the drives are at fault and I don't think a re-install will help...but it can't hurt.

 

Last edited: Feb 2, 2008

shadowdr

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Joined

Jan 10, 2001

• Feb 2, 2008

• #8

Is the latest bios installed? Are the drives enabled in the bios? Are the controller drivers installed? What mobo is this?
Have you entered raid bios and set up the disks?

 

OP

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weswood151

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Jan 20, 2008

• Feb 2, 2008

• Thread Starter
• #9

It is an ASUS P5N32-E SLI and I have a new BIOS but no floppy drive and I can't write it to a USB drive, ect. ect...
The drives are enabled and recognized in the BIOS, and I was under the assumption that no drivers were needed beyond the VISTA general drivers (Seagate website).

Already tried this in a RAID and I am now just trying to getthe disks online by themselves, no luck!

Microsoft wants $60 to even talk w/ me about it. OEM version!

 

Dawgdoc

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Joined

Feb 20, 2007

• Feb 2, 2008

• #10

Wes, I am still not 100% clear about your setup process.

You had Vista installed allready on 1 drive correct?

Then you added another drive?

It may be a bad drive if the above is true (maybe, maybe not). If you are just adding an additional drive it should be as easy as plugging in sata/power cables, and thats that. No drivers necessary correct.

If you could give some more background details it might help more.

 

tuskenraider

Senior Member

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Joined

Apr 23, 2002

• Feb 2, 2008

• #11

Well you most definately would need drivers for RAID and you most likely need drivers if your drives are set up for ACHI in the BIOS as singles. Setting the drives to IDE mode doesn't require drivers for the OS.

 

Dawgdoc

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Feb 20, 2007

• Feb 2, 2008

• #12

tuskenraider said:

Well you most definately would need drivers for RAID and you most likely need drivers if your drives are set up for ACHI in the BIOS as singles. Setting the drives to IDE mode doesn't require drivers for the OS.

Click to expand...

True. TY for the clarification. You need to install the RAID drivers prior to the windows install by pressing F6 at the very very beginning of the windows install.