Member Avatar for cm0229

Hello,

I installed a Serial ATA Card, the pc see the card, but WIndows 2000 explorer doesn't. How do I format the 2 Serial Ata hard drives?

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Short summary: already has the ALi M5283 card and says Windows 2000 “sees” the card but Explorer doesn’t show the two SATA disks. and were right to point you at drivers and Disk Management — the usual cause is that Windows hasn’t been asked to create partitions and assign letters, or the controller/driver is presenting the disks in a way Explorer won’t list yet.

Practical steps to try first:

  • Open Computer Management (right‑click My Computer → Manage) and go to Storage → Disk Management. Look for new disks (they may show as Unknown, Unallocated, or Foreign). If you see unallocated space, right‑click it and create a Primary partition, then format it (NTFS recommended) and assign a drive letter. Use Action → Rescan Disks if a newly attached drive does not appear immediately.
  • If a disk shows as “Foreign” you can Import Foreign Disks from the same right‑click menu (this applies to dynamic disks).
  • If nothing appears in Disk Management but the card shows in Device Manager, check under “Disk drives,” “Storage controllers,” and “Other devices” for errors (yellow bang). Update or reinstall the ALi driver from the vendor CD, then reboot.

If Disk Management still never sees the drives:

  • Power down and verify SATA data and power cables; reseat the card and drives. Try one drive at a time.
  • Ensure the card’s onboard BIOS/option ROM (if it has one) is enabled so the system and Windows can enumerate attached disks.
  • Test a drive on another controller/system to confirm the drive itself is healthy.

Extra notes and cautions: formatting/partitioning erases data — back anything up first. If either drive is larger than ~137 GB, Windows 2000 needs 48‑bit LBA support in both the OS (SPs/updates) and the controller driver; check for an updated Windows 2000 driver from the card vendor. If these steps fail, mention exact Disk Management/Device Manager messages and or can help interpret them.

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Member Avatar for i686-linux

Did you install any drivers that were provided with the card? Does device manager show any issues with the loaded drivers. (If you did install them) Also, please be more specific when naming a topic in the forums here. A title such as "Windows 2k Serial ATA Issues" would probably be more useful. :)

Member Avatar for TallCool1

I installed a Serial ATA Card, the pc see the card, but WIndows 2000 explorer doesn't. How do I format the 2 Serial Ata hard drives?

When naming a thread, please try to use a name that's more descriptive. I see what happened, but please be more careful next time.

I agree that it's a driver issue. A CD came with the card. Until you install the drivers, Win 2k will have no idea what to do with it.

Member Avatar for cm0229

When naming a thread, please try to use a name that's more descriptive. I see what happened, but please be more careful next time.

I agree that it's a driver issue. A CD came with the card. Until you install the drivers, Win 2k will have no idea what to do with it.

Hi Michael,

Yes, I did install the drivers and Win2000 does c it.
I still can get the drives formatted.
The card is ALi M5283, I purchased it 3 4 days ago.
Any advise is very appreciated

Thanks!!!!!!!!!

Member Avatar for cm0229

Did you install any drivers that were provided with the card? Does device manager show any issues with the loaded drivers. (If you did install them) Also, please be more specific when naming a topic in the forums here. A title such as "Windows 2k Serial ATA Issues" would probably be more useful. :)

Yes, I did install the drivers and Win2000 does c it.
I still can get the drives formatted.
The card is ALi M5283, I purchased it 3 4 days ago.
Any advise is very appreciated
THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Member Avatar for i686-linux

Right-click on My Computer -> Manage -> Storage -> Disk Management, and from there you should be able to format them.

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