Windows is not detecting SATA drives

[o0O0o.o0O0o]

hi ,


I have my two SATA drives attached to the computer . When i start windows, its not detecting them.

When i enter in BIOS it shows the drives there and when i start UBUNTU drives are there as well.

Do i have to install drivers for SATA drives in XP or there is some other setting i have to do

[oracleguy]

Yes you have to install the drivers for the SATA controller otherwise Windows will not see them.

[o0O0o.o0O0o]

Are these SATA controller drivers specific to computer , How to download them .I don't know which company or manufacturer i have for these

[bazz]

This link may offer some help.

http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic11065.html

I had a similar problem recently. BIOS showed the two drives but windows couldn't see them. I discovered that my BIOS was set to run RAID and so, I disabled that and it worked ok. maybe not the same issue as yours but maybe the link will help.

bazz

[o0O0o.o0O0o]

How can i check that my bIOS is set to run RAID . and what does that actually mean?

My BIOS is showing

Primary master: not installed
Secondary master: not installed

as well . why is that?

[oracleguy]

If this is a manufactured computer (e.g. Dell, HP, etc.) go onto their website and look at the drivers available for download for the model you have, one of them will be for the hard drive controller.

If this is a custom built computer, go to the website for whoever made the motherboard and look up the drivers for that motherboard model.

[o0O0o.o0O0o]

i have the mother board cd , which says marvell raid controller drivers. But i installed them but my drive didn't appear

[effpeetee]

Does this help.

Got it from Google.

Finally I did it and I feel happy to inform u that its very easy...
If the external USB HDD is showing in ur device manager but not in ur my computer
OR
If its internal showing in ur device manager but not in ur my computer
N.B. The following steps are only for those who are getting the above problems

STEPS:-
1. Right click in "My Computer"
2. Go to "Manage"
3. Go to "Storage"
4. Go to "Disk Management"
5. There, in the right hand side column u will see ur existing drive. Now at the end u can see ur newly inputted
HDD with a red sign over it and if its the 2nd drive it will show u "DISK1" and if its the 3rd it will show u "DISK2".
What ever be the name just "right click over the name with the red sign over it " (in the left of the column)
And click "INITIALIZE DISK"
6. Then on the right hand side of the column u can see a shaded area having lines like this ////// and something
written over it. "Right click" on this part again and click "Change Drive Letter or Paths".
7. U will be provided with an installation process by windows follow it .Make the drive a basic drive with NTFS or
FAT 32 file system as u wish.
8. Eject the External Hdd or Restart the machine if its internal.
9. Plug it again (in case of external)
10.UR DONE.

PLZ LEAVE SOME THANKS ON MY ORKUT PROFILE IF U FIND THIS USEFUL....

http://www.orkut.co.in/Profile.aspx?uid=10086415612789504970

Frank

[oracleguy]

i have the mother board cd , which says marvell raid controller drivers. But i installed them but my drive didn't appear

Do the drives show up in the Disk Management MMC snap-in?

[strokemymouse]

I have heard of this problem, the sata drives not being recognized at boot. Thats because SATA unlike IDE requires drivers to be recognized. Because SATA is a fairly new thing not all the motherboards have the SATA drivers installed already. IDE has been around for a while so its supported by all motherboards.

[oracleguy]

I have heard of this problem, the sata drives not being recognized at boot. Thats because SATA unlike IDE requires drivers to be recognized. Because SATA is a fairly new thing not all the motherboards have the SATA drivers installed already. IDE has been around for a while so its supported by all motherboards.

That makes sense if you replace the word "motherboard" with "operating system".

[ramm19]

o0O0o.o0O0o... is the SATA controller built-in your motherboard? or is it a add-on card?

If it's built in your mobo (all new mobos do), the SATA drivers are more likely paired with the mobo's chipset drivers.

And if it's an add-on card, for older systems, you need to download the specific driver for the specific controller card.

[o0O0o.o0O0o]

My SATA controller is in the mother board. I haven't checked Disk Management yet . I will check it when go home today . thanks for your help

[strokemymouse]

is isnt related much with the OS, because as far as the pc's boot is concerned there is no OS until it boots into the loading screen. Its way before that the harddrives are found. So the OS isnt a big issue here :) So, im partially correct in saying motherboard.

[oracleguy]

is isnt related much with the OS, because as far as the pc's boot is concerned there is no OS until it boots into the loading screen. Its way before that the harddrives are found. So the OS isnt a big issue here :) So, im partially correct in saying motherboard.

No. The motherboard knows how to find the drives on the hard drive controller. If the drives didn't show up in the BIOS, then yes it'd be a motherboard issue. However the OP has said they do show up there and Linux can see them.

The reason his Linux install can see it is that it is newer than XP and has the drivers for the SATA controller already right out of the box. XP however does not which means he needs to install the drivers for it so the OS (XP in this case) can use the hard drive controller and then see the drives on it.

[strokemymouse]

well, if theres this many problems. I'm sticking to IDE :)

[ramm19]

well, if theres this many problems. I'm sticking to IDE

I never had such problems with SATA drives and xp (just with some raid setups and xp), SATA drives are much faster...

[ramm19]

to the OP, what's the brand a model of your mobo?

[o0O0o.o0O0o]

Thanks guys , i got the drives back from Disk management system.
I have three disk drives . I am not sure where i have to make the two other drives as primary or extended or logical.

Will there be any problem if i make them primary

[bazz]

When I got my new HDD last month, I was told that it doesn;t matter with SATA. They don't need to be set as primary or slave or anything.

bazz

[oracleguy]

Thanks guys , i got the drives back from Disk management system.
I have three disk drives . I am not sure where i have to make the two other drives as primary or extended or logical.

Will there be any problem if i make them primary

If there is only going to be one partition on the drive, you can make that partition the primary partition. (This has nothing to do with the master/slave setting on IDE drives btw)

[o0O0o.o0O0o]

What is the boot order for the SATA hard drives .
Initially i had OS installed on the two harddrives , However the hard drive whose OS was corrupt was booting first and other HD where i had my windows was not booting.

I had to install Linux to get rid of that.

Can we chnage the booting sequence of HD. I tried changing the drive order from BIOS but nothing happens