2nd hard drive not detected
 

Hi

I purchased a new hard drive recently, expected to plug it in and go. But that wasn't the case. It doesn't show up in My Computer or in BIOS. It does, however, show up in BIOS when it's plugged in by itself.

I've tried various combinations of SATA ports. There are 2 groups of 2 sata ports, each group is controlled by a different SATA/RAID controller. When plugged into one of the groups (VIA8237), only one of the drives is detected (whichever is in slot ATA1). When plugged into the other group (PDC20579), both are detected but I can't boot into Windows.

I have a pretty shallow knowledge of these things, so any help is appreciated.

For the record I don't want to run a RAID config. I just want a couple of working HDDs....

TIA

has the new HD been initialized?

http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000588.htm

I don't even see it in BIOS, let alone Disk Management.

lets try plugging in your sata hd to another computer. either internally, or via a usb-sata adaptor. does it get recognized? you may have a defective hd if it does not work on another computer.

plug your boot drive into ATA1 and plug the other one (your new drive) into one of the ports of the second group.

ohhh kaaay after many more hours of research it works.

I guess SATA2 drives aren't backwards compatible with SATA1 ports? Or maybe my mobo just sucks. Anyway, I had to put the drive into SATA1 mode by sticking a jumper shunt on the 5th and 6th jumpers before it would work. Then I plugged it in and voila.....

Anyway thanks for the suggestions.