Windows 7 (x64) doesn't recognize all HDDs

[chipit24]

Hello,

I have a weird problem with my computer. I have 6 HDDs, all connected to SATA ports on my motherboard. One of the HDDs is an SSD with the Windows OS installed (Win7 x64). The other HDDs are all used for storage and are each >1TB in size. One of my 'storage' drives also has Windows on it, but I do not boot from it.

The motherboard I am using is the ASUS P9X79 Pro (https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/P9X79_PRO). I have installed the latest LAN, chipset, and SATA drivers from their website. I have even updated the BIOS to the latest version.

Now, when I boot up, Windows only recognizes two of my 6 drives. The SSD (which is what it boots into, of course) and the other SATA drive which contains my unused Windows OS.

I went into BIOS and it recognizes all the drives connected to the SATA ports. It even recognizes the two DVD drives I have connected (Windows doesn't even recognize my two DVD drives).

Under SATA configuration in my BIOS, I set the SATA mode form Disabled to AHCI mode. My boot order is specified as Windows Boot Manager > My SSD drive > My DVD drive. For HDD boot priority I disabled everything except my SSD. When I reboot my computer, it boots into the other HDD what has Windows installed! If I physically disconnect this HDD, it has no choice but to boot to the SSD, in which case it gives me an error telling me to insert a proper boot device.

I have tried countless BIOS configurations and no matter what, I cannot get this system to consistently boot from the SSD with all my other drives showing up in the OS.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

 

[johnb35]

If the bios sees the drive but not windows then go into disk management and see if you just need to assign drive letters to each drive. Most likely thats it.

 

[chipit24]

Thanks for your suggestion johnb35.

So the problem seems a bit more complicated. When I set the SATA mode to AHCI, all drives are detected in the BIOS, but the system is unable to boot to the SSD. When I disable the SATA mode, the system is able to boot to the SSD, but then the other drives are not detected in Windows or the BIOS.

Here is some more information about my system:

CPU:


Motherboard:


What is displayed in disk management when I boot to the SSD with SATA mode disabled in BIOS:

(as you can see, it actually detects one of the other drives, but not all of them).

 

[Okedokey]

Ideally you should back up all data and reinstall Windows with ACHI enabled on the boot drive.

If this is either not possible or not practical, you can try to do it this way, however make sure you know that modifying the registry comes with risk - so im assuming you have a backup.

1. Exit all programs.
2. Click Start, type regedit in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.
3. If you receive the User Account Control dialog box, click Continue.
4. Locate and then click the following registry subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Msahci
   
5. In the right pane, right-click Start in the Name column, and then click Modify.
   
6. In the Value data box, type 0, and then click OK.
7. On the File menu, click Exit to close Registry Editor.
8. After this you’ll have to restart your computer, go to BIOS and enable AHCI. When you log in to Windows again, you’ll notice the installation of drivers for AHCI. Another restart will be required to finish the driver installation.

Best solution, reinstall Windows with the ACHI mode enabled in the BIOS.

 

[chipit24]

The thing is, I installed Windows 7 on the SSD and made no changes to the BIOS. This problem came out of nowhere. The system would randomly boot up and allow me to see and use all connected SATA devices, but usually it just boots up and only allows me to use and see my SSD and one other SATA HDD.

When I went into the registry, Start already had a value of 0. What else can I try?

UPDATE: I disconnected everything from my computer except my DVD drives and SSD. I set the SATA mode in my BIOS to AHCI, and I rebooted to my Windows 7 install DVD. I installed Windows 7 onto my SSD and set up all the drivers and software. I then connected my other SATA HDDs once this was all set up, and Windows was able to recognize them. Two of my HDDs are showing up as RAW - however, that is now a separate problem and I'm using TestDisk to fix those drive.