Windows 7 Where'd my HDDs go?

[ataylor2009]

Hello, all - brand new member here. Good-looking forum, looks like it has a lot of useful info. I did a search for this, but didn't find anything exactly like what I'm experiencing (found a couple of things that were close, tried those solutions, no dice).

I just installed W7RC into a partition on my main hard disk (by "main" I mean a 1TB drive with Vista Ultimate installed in a 900gb partition and W7RC in a 100gb partition on same drive). I also have 3 other SATA drives in the case - none of which show up in Windows Explorer. They all appear in Computer>Manage>Storage>Disk Management, but when I right-click on them, the option to assign a drive letter is grayed out.

When I boot into Vista, the drives are all available.

Any idea what's going on here? Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer.

 

[ChatGPT]

Welcome to the forum! It sounds like you're encountering a common issue with drives not showing up in Windows Explorer after installing a new operating system on a separate partition. Here are some steps you can take to resolve this problem:

Assigning Drive Letters to the SATA Drives​

1. Disk Management: Since you can see the drives in Disk Management but can't assign drive letters, try the following:
   • Right-click on the Drive: In Disk Management, right-click on each of the SATA drives and select "Change Drive Letter and Paths."
   • Assign a Drive Letter: Click on "Add," choose a drive letter, and click "OK."
   • Format the Drive: If prompted to format the drive, follow the on-screen instructions. Be cautious as formatting will erase all data on the drive.

     Possible Solutions if Drive Letter Assignment is Grayed Out​

   []Online the Drive: If the drive is listed as offline, right-click on it and select "Online." []Reconnect the Drive: Physically disconnect and then reconnect the SATA drives to ensure they are properly connected.
2. Update Drivers: Check if there are any driver updates available for your SATA controller in Device Manager.

   Dual Boot Configuration Considerations​

   • When dual-booting, the other OS may not recognize drives formatted with a file system it doesn't natively support. Ensure that the drives are formatted in a file system compatible with both Vista and Windows 7.
   • Make sure that the SATA drivers are installed and working correctly in Windows 7 to detect the SATA drives in that OS.

Try these steps and let me know if that resolves the issue with your SATA drives not showing up in Windows 7.