Trouble with SATA

[Imhotep9]

Hello all,

First of all, my system is as follows:

Mobo: MSI K8N Neo4/SLI
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3000+
HD: Western Digital SATA 150 80GB

That should be sufficient for my problem. I've been running it with this HD for about a year now, with absolutely no problems. Today I added a second identical HD by plugging it into the SATA2 port on the mobo (original HD is plugged into SATA1). Upon opening Windows Explorer, I find that the drive isn't listed along with C and D yet. Basically, I can't access it.

This problem is beyond my computer knowledge, but here is what I have tried so far:

1. Went to 'add hardware' in the control panel to have Windows auto detect the new HD. It did so, and says that it is working properly. Not covinced (because I can't see it or access it), I tried something else.

2. I unplugged the HD from SATA2 and into SATA3 instead. The computer booted up, but then got stuck trying to detect all of the IDE devices. I ruled this one out, and then replaced the SATA connector into the SATA2 port.

Is this something that needs to be corrected in BIOS? I don't want to RAID the two drives, at least not as far as my understanding of RAID is concerned. I don't want them mirrored, all I want is to have two completely seperate HD to store data on.

Thanks for your help!
Curt

 

[PRPhx]

Try this:
RIGHT click on My Computer.
Click Manage.
Under Storage, click Disk Management.

Does the drive show up? If it does, you will need to format it. IF the BIOS shows it present, then I would (99%) assume that the new drive is working. Before you can use the new drive, you must format it.

 

[wahnula]

You might have to add it in the BIOS, basically creating a new, one-disk array. During boot, your RAID controller should say something like "Press F5 for RAID setup" or the like. Enter RAID BIOS, "Create new array" and choose the new drive. How will you know which is which? First, you should boot, enter RAID BIOS with only the current drive attached, and write down the ID of the current drive. This is how I need to add a new SATA drive to my machine. Best of luck!!!

Tony

 

[wahnula]

Oops...forgot to add that you will then need to do what PRPhx posted...