DELL OptiPlex9020 will not recognize 8TB SATA HDD

Question

I have the following:

-Dell OptiPlex 9020 running windows 10 with 4 SATA ports (0, 1, 2, 3)

-StarTech hot-swap bay fit into the spot for the optical drive

-2 brand new 8TB seagate barracuda 3.5" SATA HDDs

-2 brand new WD 1TB SATA 2.5" SSDs.

Previously, in BIOS, OP9020 had a SATA configuration of "RAID ON" (I did not set this, nor do I want/need a RAID array). The drives were only recognized when I had them connected through the hot-swap tray and booted in BIOS. Once booted in BIOS, I could boot normally and format them (formatted GUID and exFAT). However, once I formatted them, took them out of the bay, and tried to reinsert, they were not recognized via SATA connection (HDDs would spin up, but nothing appeared in file finder or in disk management utility). However, the drives are all recognized if I put them in a SATA dock that plugs into the computer via USB. Likewise, they mount using the SATA dock to USB on another computer as well.

Things that I have tried:

1. Called seagate to trouble shoot. They seem to think it is an issue with the hot-swappable bay and the RAID ON configuration. So I tried a direct SATA data / power cable to drive connection (circumventing the hot-swap bay) and this did not work either.

2. Used cmd admin to boot in safe mode, restart in BIOS and change SATA configuration to AHCI, but the drives still won't mount using direct SATA connection.

The boot drives (one WD 500GB SSD and one 1TB HDD drive) both mount just fine. Could it be an issue with SATA2 and SATA3 ports on the motherboard??? But they worked once to format the drives, and just haven't worked again.

The SATA data cables are brand new and the drives are clearly getting power as they spin up...just won't mount. What am I missing?? What else can I try?? Why do they mount via the SATA dock-USB but not through the SATA connection? Thank you so much!

savvy2 · Accepted Answer

ok it is 64bit thanks for saying that now.

RST first turned off in BIOS, first, set to AHCI now, RST disabled, Intel ended support on your q87
the pray OS boots. (legacy mode great, ) PC boots drive in MBR mode. sure and great.
now if the OS boots after above flipping BIOS setting, above, then great. (if not reverse above)
The PC connected via Ethernet now, wired, will auto PnP update that south bridge change above. sure.
if not then force it in device manager, IDE - right click update driver now.
fixed. now the new drives must show up in DISK MANAGER< if they are fully erased that is.
new drives are erased so, good to go there. (un-allocated space 8tb (example)
format them now, and last set a drive letter, if not done after format automatically.

my PC built here fresh OS w10-64bit with RST turned off day one, built. only because intel raid stinks and is now in double stink mode, zero support. below H110 chipset.(you and me)

tell me how it goes love to hear if RST can be flipped easy after the fact....

there may be a registry hack too, that kills dead, RST, mode. IDK, but would be risky,

trick 1 is if w10 runs post BIOS change, is to do the w10 to w10 inline update, and click keep my personal files.

if need be. some oddness after the flip...

savvy2 · Answer

wow they work on mine, w10-64bit why leave off the OS 32/64 fact>? got this? got 64bit or not, please tell that always.

Q87 chipset but sure, the loved haswell gen4 cpul. sure.

Q87 has Zero RST support !, at all (intel.com , blame them only)

I do not know how to undo that mess, just fresh load of w10-64b and have the RST turned off IN BIOS FIRST.

theory ,next.

If lucky( flip your RST bit in bios (ahci) then boot PC and see if it does,? and then in windows device manager click the SATA chip to update driver) IDE line ,Standard SATA AHCI Controller

that fresh OS load, causes MS PnP servers to load the correct non RAID SATA driver to the OS. every time.!!!!

Next up:

is your boot drive setup for UEFI secure boot? IDK not told. easy to find that.

If you have 64bit OS (it love to do GPT formats by default)

and you put in a 8TB drive ( I have 3+6TB in mine side by side ) both formatted GPT, NTFS.

if not?, they fail, over 2 TB large and formatted, MBR will not allow that, (cluster sizes not fiddled sure)

look in DISK manager, first, not anywhere else. you did but is missing, this is a big problem here, RST errors.

see those drives now?, under 64bit OS?? shows as no drive letter, and unformatted and....

DISK 2 un allocated space, so with 64bit, OS you format it and it sets GPT by default due to MBR not allowed here. format it now. if seen and RST disabled.

Adding any non boot huge HDD is easy, W10 -64bit, I will never comment on less OS ever again...

64bit takes a fresh load of w10 to get that. 32to 64bit not allowed as upgrade.

savvy2 · Answer

'nothing appeared in file finder (how could it erased?) or in disk management   wrong OS ! not 64bit,  or very old buggy 2015 version of windows.? 32bit does not support  booting that drive ever.. 2nd drive yes,  w10. 32 or 64bit support GPT. as 2nd drive. I have not used any  32bit OS here, not for 5 long years, but if you do, (why) then there are limits or just odd tricks to do....   GPT on 2nd drive, but may be needed to force it.   I have  6TB external 4th drive, via USB-C cable that works GPT full sized so yah works. (w10-64bit) w10-64 bit kernel is vastly more secure than 32bit so 32bit is dead now, OS wise..  RIP 32bit OS for ever. but if 32bit you may need to do tap dancing to get Diskmanager to see the DRIVE< I use killdisk.exe(free) to make dang sure there is no structures there, at all,  and Disk manager sees the drive, FOR SURE BOTH W10-32BIT AND 64BIT CAN SEE AND KNOW IT IS GPT, NO PROBLEMS THERE. but a new drive has no formats of any kind. so 32bit must like seeing that huge  empty drive, some versions old may have trouble, here. are you running w10 versions 1909 or higher if not why not?

savvy2 · Answer

for sure fix RST  first. the non RST driver does work. for sure. no questions there. how to get there IDK other than fresh OS load 64bit.

HeyElle · Answer

wow they work on mine, w10-64bit why leave off the OS>? got this? why post lacking such a KEY FACT?

A: Windows 10 Pro: 64-bit OS, x64-based processor

Processor: Intel i7-4770 CPU @ 3.4GHz

Just to be clear - you are recommending I turn RST off in BIOS first, then conduct a fresh install of Windows10-64bit OS?

is your boot drive setup for UEFI safe boot? IDK not told. easy to find that.

Under system information: BIOS Mode == "Legacy" so it is not set up for UEFI safe boot

If you have 64bit OS

and you put in a 8TB drive ( I have 3+6TB in mine side by side ) both formatted GPT, NTFS.

if not they fail, over 2 TB large, MBR will not allow that, (cluster sizes not fiddled sure)

HeyElle · Answer

RST first turned off in BIOS, first, set to AHCI now, RST disabled, Intel ended support on your q87 I used this general process to change RAID ON to AHCI in BIOS  the pray OS boots. (legacy mode great, ) PC boots drive in MBR mode. sure and great. Yes, the OS booted after I changed now if the OS boots after above flipping BIOS setting, above, then great. (if not reverse above) The PC connected via Ethernet now, wired,  will auto PnP update that south bridge change above. sure. if not then force it in device manager, IDE - right click update driver now. Did not have to force driver update Current driver under IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers is Standard SATA AHCI Controller   Before I could get the erased HDDs to mount, I had to complete a clean reinstall / erase and reformat of the OS and boot drive. fixed. now the new drives must show up in DISK MANAGER< if they are fully erased that is new drives are erased so, good to go there. (un-allocated space 8tb (example) format them now, and last set a drive letter, if not done after format automatically.   This worked generally, but I did have to conduct a clean reinstall of the OS, erasing the boot drive and reformatting.  Now things seem to be operating normally.  Thanks for the help!

Yo man · Answer

I just bought a dell 9020 mini tower and I want to remove the 1tb HDD that it came with and install the OS directly onto a 4TB HDD. I'm fairly confused and new to this.. So I go into ' BIOS' with the F2 button and then what do I do? @HeyElle  It didn't come with an OS so I will have to install the OS fresh. Any feedback would be helpful.

D.F.2025 · Answer

In case if someone still needs this information/confirmation, below is my case:

My DELL OptiPlex 9020 MT is running Windows 10 booting from NVMe SSD over PCIe, its BIOS can recognize 2 Seagate 8TB SATA HDD without any issue. Windows 10 can successfully discover the 2 8TB SATA HDDs. The Intel based BIOS RAID can successfully create a mirrored volume, and the volume can be discovered and mounted by Windows 10 successfully. The mirrored volume created by the Intel based BIOS RAID was tested better than the mirrored volume created by Windows 10, since the later one has to be rebuild after an power outage, while the former one does not have this issue. Since I have multiple OptiPlex 9020 MT, so I do not worry about motherboard failure issue.

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DELL OptiPlex9020 will not recognize 8TB SATA HDD

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