The brainchild of Microsoft Corporation - Windows - is incredibly popular, but even in it sometimes there are certain malfunctions. One of these problems can be called a situation where Windows 7 does not see hDD. How to resolve this complexity, we will discuss today.
New name
Windows 7 does not see the hard drive for several reasons, we will consider them in order. First you need to perform a series of the following actions. Right-click on the "My Computer" icon, which is located on your desktop, and in the resulting context menu select "Management". A window called “Computer Management” will appear, in it you must select the column “Disk Management”. We call up the menu again by right-clicking on the second item in the open window. Next, in the menu that appears, we turn to the item “Change drive letter”. Sometimes it can also help if Windows 7 does not see second hard disk. Next, rename the hard drive, changing the letter for the title.
Windows 7 does not see the hard drive when reinstalling
Under normal conditions with stable operation personal computer to go 
on Windows 7 with XP, we just need to transfer My Documents, as well as the settings of previously installed programs, adding all this to the contents of the Windows 7 system folder, and then enjoy the new system. However, from time to time there is a problem with the definition hard drives after reinstalling the system. There are several reasons for this situation, as well as ways to resolve it. Next, we proceed to their consideration.
Windows 7 does not see the hard drive, and the motherboard is to blame
The conflict probably comes from motherboard. This happens regardless of which version of the operating system you are using. In this case, you need to download the drivers for the computer motherboard and add them to the contents of the root folder of the operating system using the drive. We insert the disk with the necessary software for the motherboard into your reader. At the same time, during the procedure of rebooting the computer, you may need to press the F6 key. In some cases, Windows 7 does not see external hard drive, however, this may be due to problems with the drive itself.
Work with BIOS
In the BIOS settings, we find the parameter responsible for the operation of AHCI, disabling this setting, we can achieve the definition hard drive. For this purpose, before loading the operating system, we call the BIOS by pressing the "F2" or "delete" key. Using the operating system settings, you must disable AHCI mode. If the options described above did not solve the problem, we will integrate the SATA driver into the distribution package of your operating system. To determine the exact choice of the necessary updates and drivers, the official website of the manufacturer will help us. At the same time, we can determine the type of installed motherboard using the documentation that has been preserved after purchasing the components for a personal computer or in the “Properties” section by right-clicking on the “My Computer” icon. A more common problem that users of a personal computer may encounter is the inability to determine the hard drive during installation of the operating system. To begin with, when reinstalling or first installing the operating system, various problems can arise, among which are identical to those described above.
Based on this, in this situation, you should also try to disable the AHCI option by going to BIOS, or integrate the motherboard drivers by adding them to the distribution package on your personal computer. If the system still does not detect the disk, you need to check whether the connector of your HDD is connected correctly. Whatever used windows versions You need to know that the special device with which the hard drive is connected to your motherboard has two main connectors, one blue, the second black. The blue connector works with external reading devices, which include a CD-ROM drive, as well as a personal computer hard drive. It is necessary to connect the hard drive to the blue connector, since black often works unstably. If everything that’s done doesn’t help, the driver was probably picked up incorrectly.
To save important information, users use external media. Usually this is a flash card where the necessary data is stored. The disadvantage of this option is the limited memory that the medium has. Therefore, many users prefer to use the second. However, another problem arises here: Windows does not see the second hard drive. Faced with such a situation, do not rush to carry the computer for repair or refuse such a convenient way of storing information. The problem is completely solvable on its own, you just need to help the system find the second hard drive. And we will tell you how to make the hard drive visible.
It happens that the system does not see the 2nd hard drive, let's figure out what to do in this situationThe main reasons and possible solutions
The situation when the computer does not see the second hard drive usually occurs after reinstalling or updating the system. The reason may lie in software crash or mechanical damage. We will analyze the situation with specific examples.
- If 7 is not visible, the connection port channel in the BIOS may be inactive. To check, go to the BIOS and check the status of the ports. The activation mode for SATA and USB is indicated by ENABLE.
- The hard disk is not distributed, therefore invisible to the operating system. To perform this action, download the Acronis Disc Director program. If you do not want to install third-party software on your computer, you can designate the partitions when install windows. When partitioning, do not mix up the discs.
- System error. Problem caused motherboard, to fix it, you need to update the drivers.
- BIOS does not see the new hard drive due to technical problems with the connection. The reasons lie in the connecting cable or contacts. In this case, the disk does not work, this is determined by the absence of characteristic noise during unwinding. If the hard drive is spinning, but an extraneous noise or knock is heard, the media is damaged. The solution in these cases will be the replacement of the damaged element.
- The BIOS sees the hard drive, but the system does not. If the operating system not found message appears on the monitor when the system boots, it means that the problem lies in the incorrectly prioritized loading of the media. To troubleshoot, you need to reconfigure the download.
- Windows 7 does not see SSD drive when overloading the system. The reasons are a large number connected to the ports of external devices. To eliminate it, you need to disconnect all unnecessary from the computer and connect external HDD after booting the system.
Having figured out the reasons why the computer does not see the second hard drive, consider other options for solving the problem.
How to "register" a second disk in the system?
If the computer stops seeing the hard drive, the built-in application responsible for managing media will help. This utility is present in Microsoft products from the "seven" and older. You can get to the desired section by pressing the R + Win keys at the same time. This command will open a dialog where the command Discmgmt.msc is entered. After entering, press the action key (Enter).
As a result, the control section will open digital media. In the window that opens, pay attention to the following points.
- Lack of media information. This indicates that disk initialization is needed.
- Media sectors marked as unallocated.
- The complete lack of data on the hard drive, but there is a section of RAW. This suggests that the media is not assigned a letter designation, respectively, the conductor does not see it.
If the external HDD is not initialized, perform the following procedure:
- We right-click on the non-displayable medium. A menu will appear where you need to select the initialization section of the hard drive. The system will offer to structure partitions, and will offer two options: MBR / GPT. Please note that the "seven" may deprive the user of the right to choose. Accordingly, the above options for structuring will not appear.
Important! The choice of partition structure depends on the operating system and hardware capabilities. The GPT option is suitable for Windows 8/10, provided it is installed on a modern hardware. The MBR version is used for the "seven" or subsequent software versions installed on older computers. If you are unsure of the capabilities of the computer, choose MBR.
After the initialization process, workspace media will be displayed as unallocated. To fix the situation, right-click on the unallocated section, in the menu that appears, select the creation item simple volume.Then, following the instructions of the setup wizard, a drive is assigned a letter and a file distribution system is selected. Here we recommend giving preference to the NTFS system.
Please note that sections external drive can occupy all the free space of the media. In this case, you need to choose the size of the partitions yourself. To do this, you need to specify an arbitrary partition size, provided that it is less than the total memory. The repetition of actions depends on the number of sectors required.
After performing these steps, the problem when the second hard disk is not displayed will be solved.
Use the command line
If the system does not see the second hard drive, you can solve the problem with command line. This method is suitable if the physical disk does not have dynamic partition extensions.
Advice! If you have little idea of \u200b\u200bhow a computer works, the command line is not for you. So radical interference in operating system may cause a system failure.
Open the command line (R + Win). In the window that appears, the following commands are entered: discpart and list disc. Note that the commands are entered sequentially in the order shown here. The first command is applied when the hard drive is not displayed in the BIOS. The second - if one or more sections are displayed as unallocated. We remember the lettering of the medium that is not displayed in the system. Then enter the optional select disc A. Note that the symbol A stands for “invisible” media. In our case, this letter is replaced by the literal value that you assigned to the external drive.
- Clean Specified command will delete all the information available on the hard drive.
- Create partition primary. The command sets the size of the partitions, if you need a breakdown of the media by sector.
- Format FS \u003d NTFS quick. Enter if fast formatting of removable media is required.
- Assign letter \u003d A. This command assigns a letter index to an external hard drive. Instead of the letter A, indicate any character to indicate media.
- Exit. Shutdown in a command window with saving results.
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It is worth noting that when the disk disappeared after installing Windows, that is, the media was used earlier, and there was important information on it, you do not need to use the above commands. This is guaranteed to lead to data loss. In this case, we recommend renaming the media and using partition recovery utilities. The methods given here are not the only ones, but they can be used at home, without even having special skills and knowledge.
If after reinstalling windows 7 or 8.1, and also after upgrading them to Windows 10, your computer does not see the second hard disk or the second logical partition on the disk (disk D, conditionally), in this instruction you will find two simple solutions problems, as well as a video guide to fix it. Also, the described methods should help if you installed a second hard drive or SSD, it is visible in the BIOS (UEFI), but not visible in Windows Explorer.
How to "enable" a second hard drive or SSD in Windows
All we need to fix a problem with a disk that is not visible is the built-in Disk Management utility, which is present in Windows 7, 8.1, and Windows 10.
To start it, click windows keys + R on the keyboard (where Windows is the key with the corresponding logo), and in the “Run” window that appears, type diskmgmt.msc then press Enter.
After a short initialization, the disk management window will open. In it, you should pay attention to the following things at the bottom of the window: are there any disks in the information about which the following information is present.
- "No data. Not initialized ”(in case you don’t see physical HDD or SSD).
- Are there areas on the hard drive in which it says "Not allocated" (if you do not see the partition on the same physical drive).
- If there is neither one nor the other, but instead you see a RAW partition (on a physical disk or logical partition), as well as an NTFS or FAT32 partition, which does not appear in the explorer and does not have a drive letter, just right-click on it under such a section and select either “Format” (for RAW) or “Assign a drive letter” (for an already formatted partition).
In the first case, right-click on the name of the disk and select the menu item “Initialize Disk”. In the window that appears after this, you must select the partition structure - GPT (GUID) or MBR (in Windows 7 this choice may not appear).
Upon completion of the initialization of the disk, you will get the "Not distributed" area on it - i.e. the second of the two cases described above.
The next step for the first case and the only one for the second is to right-click on the unallocated area, select the menu item "Create a simple volume".
After that, you just have to follow the instructions of the volume creation wizard: assign a letter, select file system (if in doubt, NTFS) and size.
Regarding size - default new disc or section will occupy all free place. If you need to create several partitions on one disk, specify the size manually (less than the available free space), and then do the same with the remaining unallocated space.
Upon completion of all these steps, a second disk will appear in Windows Explorer and will be suitable for use.
Video instruction
Below is a small video guide, where all the steps that allow you to add a second disk to the system (turn it on in Windows Explorer) described above are shown clearly and with some additional explanations.
Making the second disk visible using the command line
Attention: the following way to fix the situation with the missing second disk using the command line is given for informational purposes only. If the above methods did not help you, but you do not understand the essence of the commands below, it is better not to use them.
I also note that these steps are unchanged applicable for basic (non-dynamic or RAID disks) without extended partitions.
Run the command line as administrator, and then enter the following commands in order:
- diskpart
- list disk
Remember the number of the disk that is not visible, or the number of the disk (hereinafter referred to as N), the partition on which is not displayed in Explorer. Enter command select disk N and press Enter.
In the first case, when the second physical disk is not visible, use the following commands (note: the data will be deleted. If the disk is no longer displayed, but there was data on it, do not do the described, maybe just assign a drive letter or use programs to recover lost partitions ):
- clean (cleans the disk. Data will be lost.)
- create partition primary (here you can also set the parameter size \u003d S, setting the partition size in megabytes, if you want to make several partitions).
- format fs \u003d ntfs quick
- assign letter \u003d D (assign the letter D).
In the second case (there is an unallocated area on one hard disk that is not visible in the explorer) we use all the same commands, except for clean (disk cleaning), as a result, the operation to create the partition will be performed on the unallocated location of the selected physical disk.
Note: in the methods using the command line, I described only two basic, most likely options, but others are possible, so do this only if you understand and are confident in your actions, and also take care of the safety of the data. You can read more about working with partitions using Diskpart at official page Microsoft Create a partition or logical drive.
One of the rare, but very unpleasant problems when installing the operating system is the inability to determine the hard disk by the installation program. Often, if, users simply do not know what to do next and where to look for the roots of this problem. Usually the question arises - Can do that? We want to say right away that everything is not always so serious and as a rule this situation is completely solvable, and with minimal computer skills you can cope with it on your own. So, why doesn’t you see the hard drive when installing Windows 7?
No hard drive connection
The first reason may be that the hard drive is not connected to the computer. Perhaps, before installation, the user for some reason turned off the power to the hard drive and simply forgot to reconnect it, or the plug did not fully enter the connector. This version, of course, is banal, but you should never discount the human factor. Therefore, first of all, it is worth checking the correctness and reliability of connecting cables coming from the motherboard and power supply to the hard drive.
Hard Drive Failure
The second reason is the failure of the drive. You can confirm or refute this option if you go to Computer BIOS (by pressing Del, F1, F2 or other keys - it depends on the specific motherboard) and see if the hard drive is detected there. If the drive you are looking for is not in the list of connected drives, then it most likely does not work. If in the BIOS, but the Windows setup program does not see it, then you need to move on to other methods of solving the problem.
Hardware conflict
The third reason is a hardware conflict on the motherboard side. In this case when installing Windows 7 does not see the hard drive and asks for a driver. To fix this error, you need to download SATA / RAID drivers for the motherboard on another computer (accordingly, having learned the exact name of its model) and write them to the media where it is located windows distribution. After that, in the installation window of the operating system, when the window for selecting the hard drive appears (where, of course, it will not be displayed), you must click the link Download and specify the path to the SATA / RAID driver.
The driver will install, after which the installation program will be able to identify the hard drive.
The same problem can be fixed in a slightly different way: write the driver to a floppy disk or USB flash drive, insert the drive into the appropriate drive and press the F6 key during the installation of the operating system. After that, the installation program will see the hard drive without any problems.
You can also use an unofficial build of Windows with integrated drivers and applications. Such an assembly will download all the necessary drivers on its own and recognize the hard drive when installing the OS.
AHCI Connection
The fourth reason - the hard drive is connected in AHCI mode. Because of this, in some cases, the computer does not see the hard drive when installing Windows 7. To fix this situation, you need to go into the BIOS (by pressing Del, F1, F2 or another key) and go to the section responsible for managing drives. There you need to find a menu that allows you to change the connection modes of the hard drive - it can be, for example, Configure SATA As, SATA Mode, AHCI Mode and so on. Here you should switch the mode from AHCI to another available one, and then restart the computer.
If everything is done correctly, the installation program will determine the hard drive and will be able to install the operating system. The problem the user is facing if when installing Windows 7 does not see the hard drive, in most cases, enough easy solvable. Having corrected it by the methods described above, you can proceed with the further installation of the operating system.
By the way, if you want to install the system not from the disk, but from USB drive, we suggest reading the article. This article covers 3 top programs for these purposes, and also demonstrated the process of creating a bootable flash drive.
