Internal hard drive shows up in BIOS but not anywhere in Windows - WD Black 6TB

[feglk]

I’ve been mining the internet for answers but no luck yet!

I have a fresh, RMA warranty replacement WD Black 6tb but still all the same issues as before.

The drive appears in BIOS, but not anywhere else. Essentially, the drive may as well not be plugged in once windows boots up, as it isn’t getting recognised anywhere - Disk management, device manager, The drive doesn’t appear in WD Data lifeguard diagnostics…

From what I’ve read, my current hunch is that it is an issue with powering up (Either the drive isn’t getting fed enough power, or it doesn’t have the time to spin up properly when the system boots). But I’m not sure what to do from here! I can’t find anything helpful, but this may be because of a lack of knowledge in the correct terms to google…

Specs
Operating System
Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
CPU
Intel Core i7 4790 @ 3.60GHz
Haswell 22nm Technology
RAM
32.0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 799MHz (10-10-10-30)
Motherboard
ASRock Z97X Killer (CPUSocket)
Graphics
BenQ EW2440L (1920x1080@60Hz)
Philips 234EL (1920x1080@60Hz)
2047MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 (ASUStek Computer Inc)
2047MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 (ASUStek Computer Inc)
ForceWare version: 391.01
SLI Enabled
Storage
238GB SanDisk SD8SB8U256G1122 (SATA (SSD))
931GB Western Digital WDC WD10EARS-00Y5B1 (SATA )
1863GB Seagate ST2000LX001-1RG174 (SATA )
PSU
Antec vp700p

[jmarket]

Hi there @feglk and welcome to PCHF

Have you gone into Windows and set the drive as online?

The trick is to go into Disk Management, find the drive, and format it and give it a partition and drive letter. After that, you should be ok I’ve had to do that many of times in my career, and still do.

[feglk]

Hey jmarket! Thanks for the welcome and reply

It doesn’t appear in disk management, so I’m unable to initialise the drive - any method I’ve tried of finding the drive once windows has booted up doesn’t find the drive. The only recognition from the PC that the drive even exists that I have found so far is in the BIOS

[Bruce]

Disk Management won’t find it unless it is Initialised - a process that is actually initiated by going into Disk Manangement.
the fact you go into it, it detects an uninitialised disk and prompts you do do it.
if you aren’t getting this prompt, I would check for a BIOS update for your motherboard (which is over 4 years old) to make sure it can detect 6TB drives.

[georgeks]

Start cmd (as administrator)
Type

diskpart
list disk
select disk (e.g. 2)
clean
create partition primary
format fs=ntfs quick
active
assign
exit

[feglk]

Hey everyone!

The BIOS is now fully up to date. Still no luck

I tried going through the commands but listdisk only shows up the other 3 hard drives, not the 6tb…

The full details of the drive I want to install (In case anything is relevant) WD black, 6TB, 256mb cache. Link here 1 TB WD_BLACK 3.5-Inch Gaming Hard Drive | Western Digital

[Rustys]

Do you have another system that you can put the 6 TB drive into and see if it sees it in Windows?

You state that there are three drives what happens if you remove all but the one that has windows on it does windows see the 6 TB then?
Including the DVD drive.

[feglk]

Unplugged other drives - still not appearing.

I don’t have another system I can try the drive in (I’ll ask a friend if I can try it in theirs though). I don’t think the drive itself is the issue as it is a fresh-from-wd warranty replacement.

[Rustys]

Lets try this:

Look in Device Manager and not in Disk Management most likely because it is set up as a storage pool. If this is your issue, it’s an easy fix by going to “Storage Spaces” and delete your storage pool.

Storage Spaces is located inside Control Panel
To get to the Control Panel
Click Start and scroll to Windows System and select Control Panel
Storage Spaces
If you do not see Storage Space on the Top Right there is a View By click on Category and select Large

Then check to see if the hard drive is then showing up in Disk Management.

[feglk]

Lets try this:

Look in Device Manager and not in Disk Management most likely because it is set up as a storage pool. If this is your issue, it’s an easy fix by going to “Storage Spaces” and delete your storage pool.

Storage Spaces is located inside Control Panel
To get to the Control Panel
Click Start and scroll to Windows System and select Control Panel
Storage Spaces
If you do not see Storage Space on the Top Right there is a View By click on Category and select Large

Then check to see if the hard drive is then showing up in Disk Management.

Sadly no luck with that! Nothing in Device manager, and nothing inside storage spaces.

[Rustys]

Have you contacted Western Digital?

You can try booting the system into [COLOR=rgb(243, 121, 52)]Safe Made and see if the system sees the drive then if not the drive may be a DUD.

Also while in Device Manager click on View then Show Hidden Devices see if the Drive shows then.

What were the results of trying it in another system. If you were able to do this.

I don’t have another system I can try the drive in (I’ll ask a friend if I can try it in theirs though). I don’t think the drive itself is the issue as it is a fresh-from-wd warranty replacement.

@Bruce and @georgeks[/COLOR]

[Bruce]

It’s rare, but I have gotten a replacement drive that was also dead on arrival.
In my experience, the ones they use for RMA’s are the returned ones that have been ‘fixed’.

[feglk]

I haven’t had a chance to try in another system yet, will update if I do. No luck with safe mode sadly

[Rustys]

You could get a USB converter and connect the HDD like an external drive to see if it works.

[COLOR=rgb(243, 121, 52)] Amazon.com[/COLOR]

[Rustys]

Did you ever contact the Mother Board manufacturer like the WD Community suggested?
What was the out come?