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Unable to install secondary SATA drive. Recognized but no drive letter
System specifications:
Dell Dimension 9200 (DXP061 according to System info in Control Panel)
Intel QuadCore Q6600 @ 2.4 GHz
3.0GB RAM
320 GB HDD
Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 32bit
I have installed a secondary HDD (Hitachi Deskstar P7K500, 500Gb) into the case and attached the SATA cable to SATA 4. I want to use this for additional storage and not as a RAID system.
The system boots up fine, the new HDD is recognized during the boot, but does not appear in Vista. However it does show up in Device Manager and states it is working properly.
Upon review the system was built by Dell with the original HDD as RAID, which is fine if there is only 1 HDD. I hoped changing this in the BIOS would help in recognizing the drive, however, after doing so I am unable to boot up the system. Switching back to RAID allows me to boot but still, the new drive does not appear.
Am I missing a step in the install? If so, please explain.
Thanks.
K.
jackshack
6.4K Posts
1
August 28th, 2009 11:00
I wouldn't expect the disk to show up in Vista until it has been initialized; that is, partitioned and formatted. Until that happens, Vista won't assign a letter to it. Check this out: How to Create and Format a Hard Disk Partition.
Having the RAID BIOS manage the drives causes no trouble and won't insist on you having a RAID. The drives will simply be listed as Non Member Drives, and it gives you a plus in that this will make use of the AHCI.
KTMoney
2 Posts
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August 28th, 2009 11:00
Thank you. I knew there was a step missing and I couldnt find the Computer Management area for the life of me... until I looked in the Administrative Tools. The drive has been initialized and is formatting now.
Thanks again!
K.
jackshack
6.4K Posts
0
August 28th, 2009 11:00
You are very welcome. Best of luck to you.