SOLVED Windows 7 doesn't see my storage drive

[Alaric]

I'm in the process of reinstalling W7 Pro. I have a WD Blue 4 TB HDD in addition to my 500 GB Samsung 850 Evo C:\ drive. The BIOS doesn't see the WD drive, and it doesn't show up in My Computer. It shows in the Device Manager, Disc Management console, and Intel Rapid Storage app. Disc Management and the Intel app show it as a healthy, available drive. Device Manager shows no problems with it. All mobo drivers are installed. Disc Management context menu only gives me the option to delete the volume. Any ideas?

edit: Both drives show as SCSi in Devices and Printers. How does my C:\ drive show as a removable SCSi drive and show in Explorer as my boot drive???

 

[LutaWicasa]

Which drive specifically?

 

[Alaric]

Windows hasn't assigned a drive letter and won't let me do it so far. Disk Management sees a 4 TB basic HDD Healthy (primary partition), but I can't get access to it nor will it show up under Computer in Windows.

Disk Management calls it Disk 0. Disk 1 is my SSD boot drive.

 

[LutaWicasa]

No....
WD40EZRZ?
WD40E31X?

 

[Alaric]

In the Properties tag SCSI\Disk_WD_____WD40EZRZ-00WN9B080.0

The Intel storage app reads the model #, serial #, and firmware version.

 

[LutaWicasa]

OK...do the basic 101 of physically remove and replace?
Try a different sata cable?
Try a different sata port?

 

[Alaric]

It was as installed a couple hours ago with W10 and all was fine. The only change was installing W7 in place of W10. Same drives, same SATA ports, cables, etc.. I'll try unplugging it after shutdown, restarting and shutting down again to reinstall it right after I get my graphics drivers installed.

 

[LutaWicasa]

On the win7 install...all updates etc installed?
Couldn't hurt to physically disconnect and re-connect.....

 

[Alaric]

I have updates, and all kinds of stuff already downloaded and waiting-on the missing HDD. LOL I'm going to install the graphics drivers right now, and do the HDD Shuffle. Woo Hoo!

 

[LutaWicasa]

This gonna be a dual boot sys?
You could boot to win 10, copy win 7 updates etc to yer OS drive, reboot to 7.

BTW....when ya first installed this drive, it wasn't seen in bios?....or ya never looked/noticed until the 7 install....

 

[Alaric]

It didn't work. No dual boot, I fired W10. I think the BIOS issue was I couldn't find a list of drives, and I just looked at the boot options. The WD doesn't have a MBR so the mobo may not have listed it there. Everything is the same as before I reconnected it. I have no idea what the issue is. It's a head scratcher.

 

[LutaWicasa]

Instead of boot options look in something like sata set up, should see it there.

Read some old things online about win7 having issues with newer large drives that was solved with win updates.
No way to get those updates from the WD to the Sammie?

 

[Alaric]

Nope. I'll have to download them again. Now that you mention it, I recall hearing about that same issue. *sigh* I'll get that going now.

 

[Mr.Scott]

Back to the basics man. W7 on the SSD with no other drives installed. Wipe the spinner and install after your OS is installed.

 

[Alaric]

Can't wipe the spinner. Too much stuff I need. Most of it is copied to another HDD but that one is in a rig on the other side of town.

 

[LutaWicasa]

Remove the WD from the mix for now altogether. Let's first get 7 fully installed/updated and see where ya stand.

 

[Mr.Scott]

Can't wipe the spinner. Too much stuff I need. Most of it is copied to another HDD but that one is in a rig on the other side of town.

That's gonna suck then.
You can try installing the spinner anyway after your OS install, but I don't think it will be identified.

- - - Updated - - -

Remove the WD from the mix for now altogether. Let's first get 7 fully installed/updated and see where ya stand.

Exactly.

 

[Alaric]

Remove the WD from the mix for now altogether. Let's first get 7 fully installed/updated and see where ya stand.

Yup. That's what I'm doing now. W7 doesn't even recognize my TV tuner yet, so there are probably a few updates missing. Yikes.

 

[trents]

It was as installed a couple hours ago with W10 and all was fine. The only change was installing W7 in place of W10. Same drives, same SATA ports, cables, etc.. I'll try unplugging it after shutdown, restarting and shutting down again to reinstall it right after I get my graphics drivers installed.

Was the disk using GPT/GUID partitioning scheme when you had it in Windows 10?

 

[LutaWicasa]

Was the disk using GPT/GUID partitioning scheme when you had it in Windows 10?

Judging from the quote below...it is GPT

The WD doesn't have a MBR so the mobo may not have listed it there.