Member Avatar for AzDraon

Ok, me and my dad are trying to setup a SATA to my computer. We are using a IDE as the master, I know I should probably use the SATA as my master but listen to the whole story first. We tried to connect it to my SATA1 connector in the motherboard and it does not detect it within the BIO's. Neither does it detect it if its in the SATA2 connector. On the motherboard it gives us SATA1 and SATA2, but within the BIO's it gives us SATA0 and SATA1. I asume 1 = 0 and 2 = 1 but I am not positive. Anyway, we went through the BIO's for a good 1 and a half, but couldnt even get the motherboard to even detect it. I know its on because I can hear it start up when we connect the powercord. I have a 100gb Maxton Diamond series HDD, and a 848P-A motherboard (dont know if this helps or not). Any suggestions on getting my BIO's to even detect the HDD will be greatly appreciated.

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A compact troubleshooting checklist and clarifying notes based on the thread and the replies from and . The drive spinning up only proves it has power — it doesn’t prove the data link, controller, BIOS setting or partition table are OK. Work top-to-bottom and stop when the problem is isolated.

Quick hardware & BIOS checks (power off before swapping cables or drives):

  • Disconnect other drives temporarily so you’re testing one device at a time.
  • Swap the SATA data cable and use a different motherboard SATA port. Try the drive on another PC or with a SATA→USB adapter to rule out the drive itself.
  • Verify the SATA power connector is fully seated (SATA uses a 15‑pin connector, not Molex).
  • In BIOS, confirm the onboard SATA controller is enabled and set to detect (Auto). Note the SATA mode (IDE/AHCI/RAID) — do not change mode on a system with an OS installed unless you know how to reinstall or enable the correct drivers.
  • If BIOS port numbers look odd, map them by plugging a known-good drive into each physical connector and watching which BIOS entry changes. Consider a BIOS update if the vendor lists SATA fixes.

If BIOS sees the disk but Windows doesn’t show it in Explorer:

  • Open Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc) — Device Manager shows hardware, Disk Management is where disks must be initialized, partitioned and assigned a drive letter. Initialize -> create partition -> format (this erases data).
  • If Disk Management shows the disk as Offline/Foreign, bring it online or import the foreign dynamic disk as appropriate.
  • If the disk appears in Device Manager but not in Disk Management, install/update the motherboard/SATA controller driver (check the controller entry under IDE/Storage controllers).

If the drive remains undetected or behaves oddly:

  • Run a vendor diagnostic (manufacturer’s bootable or Windows utility) to check SMART and drive health.
  • If the drive is flaky on multiple systems, it’s likely failing and should be RMA’d or replaced.

Cautions: back up data before initializing/formatting; ground yourself when handling components; changing SATA mode on a boot drive can make Windows unbootable without driver changes. Following these steps will quickly tell whether the fault is cable/port/controller/OS configuration or the drive itself.

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Member Avatar for moderate_rock48

I have almost the same problem, except both of my hdd are SATA. I cant find the second hdd in "My Computer" but when I go to the device manager it shows both of them. I bet it will show the SATA hdd on your device manager, but thats all I know, I would like to know what is up as well.

Member Avatar for AzDraon

I have almost the same problem, except both of my hdd are SATA. I cant find the second hdd in "My Computer" but when I go to the device manager it shows both of them. I bet it will show the SATA hdd on your device manager, but thats all I know, I would like to know what is up as well.

Well my proablem turned out to be that the HDD was bad, not necesarily that it was SATA. When I returned it they gave me a IDE, which I have no problem with because I am just more comfortable handling it. When you are in your Device Managers, did you open up your listed HDD and name/format the drive? Because thats what usually you have to do before you can view it.

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