First of all, you need to define what is HDD. A hard drive (called a "hard drive" in slang) is a device for storing data. In fact, all information on a computer is stored on it (with a few exceptions).
Recorded on the hard drive operating system and all the data to which she has access.
Accordingly, when the system does not detect any of these devices, all files written to it become inaccessible. The causes of the problems and how to overcome them will be described below.
An external hard drive can also be affected by the “diseases” listed below.
Diagnostic Measures
If the computer does not see the disk, you need to decide on the "culprits". That is, find out if the problem lies in the device itself or in the system. To do this, you will have to connect the hard drive to another computer.
If it recognizes the device, then the problem is in the system, if not, then the hard drive itself is faulty. Further work over it is better to entrust the masters. Or use a warranty replacement or repair.
If the problem is in the "native" hard disk, that is, there are several ways to eliminate it on your own. The few things you can do yourself will help you avoid spending on professional services.
Some Helpful Tips
- You can enter the BIOS settings by pressing the F2 or Del keys until the system boots up;
- It's better to remember well correct connection cables with SATA outputs;
- It is better to wrap the hard drive removed from the system unit in an antistatic agent;
- The lower part of the device, which is with boards, is also better to always put on antistatic.
Main problems and solutions
There are a number of problems with the hard drive that you can overcome with your own hands. Conflict software or outgoing contacts can be corrected without contacting specialists.
Outgoing contacts
The problem may lie in the banal lack of contact. To fix it, you will need to remove the cover of the system unit and try reconnecting the cables. If the result is not followed, then you can use other, parallel cables.
Wrong settings BIOS
In the case when even the BIOS does not detect the hard drive, you need to look at the system date. Its incorrectness indicates a configuration failure. Resetting the settings will help fix the situation. To do this, you will need to remove the battery motherboard, wait 10-30 minutes and install back.
After these simple steps, the hard drive should be defined as a physical device.
The problem may be in the order boot devices. In this case, you do not need to completely reset the BIOS settings. It is enough to find the menu item, in the name of which there is the word "Boot".
It will list the priority of devices to boot. In this list, you need to move the HDD to the first line.
Not enough food
If the device periodically disappears and appears, then you need to listen to it.
The characteristic buzzing sounds of changing cycles of work indicate a lack of power. Then you have to buy more powerful block power or turn off some less important device.
Device conflict
Two hard drives one brand in the system can cause conflicts. To avoid them, you need to check and configure each one in turn with a separate connection to the system.
Bus version
Versions of Windows prior to Vista may not support the SATA(SATA II) interface.
The easiest way in this case is to change the operating system to a newer one. If this is not possible, then you still have to reinstall the OS, but with integrated drivers for SATA interfaces.
OS problem
If the BIOS detects the device, but Windows does not see the hard drive, then you will need to manual setting Windows tools. To do this, proceed as follows:
1. Open the "Control Panel" in the drop-down panel "Start";
2. Double-click on the "Administration" item;
3. In the window that opens, the item "Computer Management";
4. In the list on the left, the item "Disk Management".
All connected disk devices will be displayed in the lower center part of the Computer Management window. One of them will be without a volume label (letters, C:, D:, etc.). Right-clicking on the tile for this drive will open a drop-down menu that contains the line "Change Drive Letter".
Clicking on this item will bring up a window where you can assign a volume label, in the A-Z range. After that, you should restart your computer.
Note! The cause of the malfunction may also lie in inappropriate file system. For normal operation it must be NTFS. Information about the volume's file system can be found in the corresponding tile in the Disk Management window. If it says different from NTFS system you will have to reformat the disk.
None of the methods helped to revive the "patient"? Then you can not do without the help of specialists. The problems are much more serious and only the masters can save the hard drive.
The computer does not see the hard drive. What to do?
Why the computer does not see the hard drive and how to solve this problem? This video is dedicated to answering these questions.
Do the following in order. If the first fails, move on to the second, and so on.
What to do if the Windows computer does not see the hard drive
Drive not showing up in BIOS
1. If you have just connected a hard drive, check if you did it correctly. Find official instructions to your motherboard and hard drive and follow all manufacturer's recommendations.
2. If you are trying to install Windows XP or more old version and the system reports that there is no hard drive, make sure that the hard drive mode compatible with this OS is enabled in the BIOS - IDE. To do this, find the SATA operation setting in the BIOS (SATA Mode, SATA Configuration or with a similar name). Set the value to IDE, save changes and restart your computer.
3. If possible, test the hard disk drive by connecting it to another PC. It will work - look for malfunctions in the motherboard or other components of your computer. If not, you can take the hard drive to a service center.
Drive not showing up in Windows
1. Make sure the hard drive is turned on BIOS settings. To do this, restart the computer and, as soon as the machine starts to turn on, press the F2 or DEL key (the desired key is usually highlighted on the screen) until you get into the BIOS.
Then find the disk management section (Storage Configuration, Drive or with a similar name) and make sure that the desired hard drive is activated. Opposite it should be the inscription Active, On or something similar. Save changes and restart your PC.
2. Check if Windows has properly prepared the drive for use. Open a window first command line (windows keys+ R), then enter in it diskmgmt.msc and press Enter. Read all system warnings carefully so that you do not accidentally format the drive or change the data written to it.
If you see a disk without a volume label in the Disk Management menu, this may be the cause of the conflict. Then click on disk right click and assign a letter to it using the appropriate option in the context menu. Then restart your computer.
If in the same menu you see a new disk with the caption "Not initialized", right-click on it, select "Initialize disk" and follow the prompts of Windows. After initialization, click on the disk again to call context menu, select "Create a simple volume" and follow the instructions of the system. Restart your PC when finished.
3. Download latest drivers for the hard drive from the manufacturer's website and install them.
4. Check your computer for malware with an antivirus.
5. Try it after saving all important data.
If none of the above help, contact the service center for help.
What to do if the Mac does not see the hard drive
Mac won't boot
If you have a modern Mac, then it will most likely have one drive. And it is obvious that if there are problems with it, the computer simply will not boot. In this case, you need to diagnose help from Apple Hardware Test using online mode.
Connect your Mac to a power source and turn off everything external devices except for the keyboard, mouse, monitor, and Ethernet cable. Turn off your Mac by holding the Power button for a few seconds.
Turn on your Mac while holding down the Option + D keys. After running the Apple Hardware Test, run component diagnostics by following the wizard's prompts.
If disk errors are detected during testing, you will have to contact the service. It will be possible to carry out repairs on your own only on older models with HDD by replacing the disk.
Drive not showing up in Finder
1. If your Mac has several disks and the problem is not with the boot disk, but with the auxiliary one, then the computer will boot, but the disk will not be available. In this case, you need to check if it is displayed in the "Disk Utility".
To do this, open the application from the Applications folder → Utilities or via Spotlight and check if the drive is visible. If yes, then you can try to format it (keep in mind that this will delete all data).
2. If the drive does not appear in Disk Utility, check if it appears in System Information.
Open the utility via the Apple menu → System Information and then click the System Report button. Go to the "Storage" tab or SATA interfaces/ SATA Express. Check if available desired disk there.
futurecdn.net If the drive does not appear, you can diagnose using Apple Hardware Test as described above, and if errors are found with the drive, contact the service for repair.
Good afternoon.
Many users at least once thought about purchasing a new hard drive. And, probably, the dream came true - since you are reading this article ...
In fact, if you connect new hard disk into the system unit - you are unlikely to see it when you turn on the computer and boot Windows. Why? Because it is not formatted, and such disks and windows partitions does not show in "my computer". Let's look at a way to restore visibility...
What to do if the hard drive is not displayed in Windows - step by step
1) We go to the control panel, you can immediately enter the word "administration" in the search form. Actually, the first link that appears is what we need. Let's move on.
3) In the computer management window that opens, we are most interested in the "disk management" tab (located at the very bottom, on the left in the column).
For those who will not see a hard drive here, the end of this article is dedicated. I recommend to take a look.
4) After that, you should see all the drives connected to the computer. Most likely, your drive will be found and marked as unallocated (ie, simply not formatted). An example of such an area is in the screenshot below.
5) To correct this misunderstanding, right-click on the disk or disk partition that is not allocated (or not partitioned; it depends on your version of Windows translation into Russian) and select the format command.
Attention! All data on the disk being formatted will be deleted. Make sure that the system is not mistaken and shows you really the disk on which you do not have the necessary information.
In my example, I will try to format an external hard drive to make it clearer.
The system will ask again whether it is accurate to format.
And after that it will ask you to enter the settings: file system, disk name.
6) After formatting the disk, it should appear in the "my computer" section, as well as in the explorer. Now you can copy and delete information on it. Check functionality.
What to do if the hard drive is not displayed in the "computer management" section?
In this case, there may be several reasons. Let's consider each of them.
1) No hard drive connected
Unfortunately, the most common mistake. It is possible that you forgot to connect one of the connectors to the hard drive, or they simply do not make good contact with the outputs on the drive case - i.e. Roughly speaking, there is no contact. Perhaps you need to change the cables, the question is not expensive in terms of price, just troublesome.
To verify this, enter the BIOS (press F2 or Delete when booting the computer, depending on the PC model) and see if your hard drive is detected there. For example, the screenshot below shows that BIOS correctly detects the hard drive, which means it is connected to the computer.
If Windows does not see it, but BIOS sees it (which it has never seen), then use programs such as Partition Magic or Acronis disk director. They see all the drives connected to the system and allow you to perform many operations with them: merging partitions, formatting, resizing partitions, etc. And without losing information!
2) The hard drive is too new for your PC and BIOS
If your computer is already old enough, then it is possible that the system simply cannot see the hard drive and recognize it in order to work with it correctly. In this case, it remains only to hope that the developers have released a new version of BIOS. If you update the BIOS, your hard drive may become visible and you can use it.
Do not throw out the HDD ahead of time. This problem can occur for various reasons. For example, due to outdated driver or misconfigured volumes. Such errors are easy to fix.
If you are sure that the drive is working properly and it is not a hardware failure, try the following:
- Connect the hard drive to another USB port.
- Sometimes the explorer "does not see" the hard drive due to malware. Check if the media contains viruses. But how to do it, because the device is not displayed? Connect it to another computer (for example, at a friend's or at work).
- Format your hard drive. If it contains important data, first copy it to another location.
Driver
If it didn’t work, and the explorer still “does not see” the hard drive, it may be a driver problem. See if a new device is detected when connected. The system should set for it suitable software. You can also do it manually.
Did not help? Try to find the program yourself.
Driver search
You can use utilities to auto-search for drivers. Eg, " driver booster" or " Driver Updater". They determine the type of equipment, look for software for it, download and install it. And there is no risk that the wrong or faulty program will be installed.
Disk Management
All the drivers are in place and the devices are connected correctly, but the external hard drive is "not visible" in the explorer? It may not have been assigned a volume label. Or it coincides with the existing one. This is the Latin "letter", which is needed for identification in the file system. The hard drive must have a name. For example, there is " local disk C" reserved by the system. Directories in it have their addresses (C:\Any_folder).
To label a drive:
Other utilities
- Download the "Automatically Diagnose USB Problems" utility from support.microsoft.com. To do this, enter its name in the search bar.
- Run this program.
- In the window that opens, click "Next".
- The service will offer to remove the device being checked. Check it and click on "Next" again.
- The utility will display a list of errors related to USB devices. She will correct some of them. If you see what the problem is, it is easier to solve it.
USBOblivion
After windows updates there may be entries in the registry that refer to previous drive connections. Because of these "extra" data, the system cannot obtain up-to-date information about the hard drive. This is where the USBOblivion program comes in handy. It's free.
- Find it online, download and run.
- Check the "Perform cleanup" and "Save undo file" options.
- Pull out all USB devices.
- In the utility, click on the "Clean" button.
- Restart your PC.
- Connect all gadgets.
If the hard drive does not appear in Explorer, it does not mean that it is broken. Update the drivers and assign a volume label to the hard drive. Or download the USB Troubleshooter.
A hard disk drive (HDD) is the storage device or primary storage device in most PCs. A large number of people are faced with the fact that the computer (laptop) does not see the hard drive. What to do in this case?
In computer slang, it is called a hard drive, and it can be external and internal. On a device that works on the principle of magnetic recording, not only user information is stored, but also the operating system that operates with service data.
How to solve the problem of "invisibility" of the hard drive? Let's take a look at what a hard drive is and how to make it so that the PC detects it.
If problems occur in work hard disc, the computer does not display all of the recorded information. The PC may not see the hard drive for many reasons. We will try to describe all the causes of malfunctions and available methods for their elimination.
All these reasons apply to both internal and external hard drives, and the “treatment” in both cases will be the same.
Diagnostic Measures
If such a problem occurs, diagnostics should be carried out initially. Its purpose is to identify the source of the problem. After all, the problem may not be in the hard drive, but in the operating system. To find out, the hard drive is connected to another PC.
If the computer boots up, it means that it is not the hard drive that is “sick”, but the operating system itself. And if not, the problem, respectively, lies in the malfunction of the hard drive. In this case, it is best to take the device to a workshop for repair or exchange it for a new one if the warranty is valid.
In the first case, when the problem lies in the operating system, you can fix it yourself. There are several methods on how to do it yourself, without financial expenses.
- 1. While the operating system is loading, click Del/F2 several times. If everything is successful, you will see the BIOS settings.
- 2. If you have disconnected the internal hard drive from the computer, wrap it in antistatic to prevent damage due to electrostatic discharge.
- 3. Before all the manipulations with the hard drive, study well how to connect it.
- 4. Antistatic is also useful for the bottom of the hard drive (where the boards are).
Main problems and solutions
There are problems regarding hard drives, which you can fix with your own hands. For example, if the contacts have gone, it is not necessary to contact the repair shop.Outgoing contacts
If the contact has come off, the computer will not see the hard drive. To correct the problem, reconnect all cables to the system unit. Check all connections carefully, and then, perhaps, the problem will be solved.Incorrect BIOS settings
Even if the BIOS (basic input / output system) does not see the hard drive, the problem may lie in the system date. If the operating system crashed, the date could have been changed and your computer "moved" into the past. Reset the system date settings by removing the battery on the motherboard for 20-35 minutes, and then installing it back.
If the problem lay precisely in the erroneous date settings, the computer will detect the hard drive as a physical storage medium.
There is another problem, which lies in the fact that the devices are not loaded in the correct order. In the BIOS, find "Boot" and make the HDD a priority device that will boot first.
Not enough food
If the hard drive makes suspicious sounds and from time to time it disappears, then it “reads” again, the problem is hidden in a lack of power, so the PC periodically does not see the hard drive (HDD). There are two ways to fix the problem: the first is to buy a good power supply, the second is to remove some device from the boot.Device conflict
If two hard drives of the same model are installed on your computer at once, they may conflict with each other. In this case, the following will help you:- 1. Run diagnostics on both devices for troubleshooting.
- 2. Connect both hard drives to the operating system separately.
Bus version
Older versions of Windows OS may not support SATA.The smartest thing to do is upgrade to new version OS. If for some reason you cannot do this, you need to reinstall the operating system and integrate drivers that are supported by SATA.
Problem with operating system settings
If everything is fine in BIOS, and the operating system does not recognize the device, it must be configured manually using the OS capabilities. Do the following:Step One Enter the "Control Panel" from the "Start" menu and click on the "Administrative Tools" section.
Step Two Click on "Computer Management".
Step Three Click on Disk Management. Here you will see all the drives that are connected to the computer. One of the devices will not have a letter. Right-click on the unnamed device and open "Change drive letter" and assign your volume letter label.
After that, you need to reboot the system.
If all these methods did not help and the computer (laptop) still does not see the hard disk (HDD), then most likely you need to bring it in for repair. You are unlikely to be able to detect a malfunction on your own, but a computer scientist can do it quickly. And there are cases when only professional help is recommended.
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