Hard drive has disappeared from 'My Computer'

Hi all
One of my hard drives has disappeared from ‘My Computer’
I have three drives; C:, F:, and I:
F: has disappeared.
It appears in Device Manager and in the BIOS, but not in Disk Management
My OS is Win XP Home SP3 32bit
I’ve installed all updates and latest drivers, including Windows, BIOS, video, and motherboard.
I’ve used system restore to go back to two different points, but nothing has worked.
I tried the hard drive in another SATA port as well, still the same.
I removed the ‘missing’ hard drive and attached to another computer. I had to assign a drive letter to it but apart from that it worked perfectly. All the data is there and nothing seems wrong.
What can I try to resolve this?

All the best

 

Since it shows in Device Manager try Partition Wizard just to see if it shows in the program. If it does then it seems it would be a setting in Disk Management that is the problem. (In Disk Management the Drive itself is not showing--where it would be labeled something like Disk 2?)

 

Hi

Here are pictures of Disk Management, Device Manager, and My Computer if it helps.

 

I'm not sure. Right-clicking on it in Device Manager says it is working properly?

 

Yes. Take a look.

Also attached is an Acronis True Image home image from the add a hard disk function. It showing my 1TB hard disk as a 2TB one !!!

While scanning the hard disks Acronis reported a read error on this hard disk. I cancelled the error and then it seemed and then it reported it as a 2Tb drive with two partitions 1Tb which was unallocated. It definitely is only a 1Tb drive.

Help!

 

I see that Acronis lists a dynamic volume of 2TB. I'm wondering if somehow that disk got set to dynamic? But where is it in Disk Management? That is the question?

I would say download Partition Wizard and see what it says your setup looks like. Hopefully it will show both disks in one picture.

Edit: Actually scratch PW and get Easeus partition Manager. It works better with dynamic discs.

 

Hi

Ok, downloaded and installed Easeus on my pc and a second one.

Here are screens from both computers:

While I had the hard drive attached to the second PC I performed a scandisk on it. I also did a test using Easeus an there were no errors found. I can access all the data on the drive on the second PC.

What next?

 

To be honest, I am really not sure what is going on there. All the disks are set to basic which is good.

I can't understand why a 1TB disk would show as 2TB.

Try from a cmd prompt:
Type diskpart then <enter>
Type list disk then <enter>
Does the 1tb drive show there?
Just type exit to get quit.

I wondering what would happen if you assigned a drive letter to the 900gb partition in Easeus but am unsure if that is wise.

I'll take a look at easeus to see the options.

 

No it isn't listed

 

I'm really stumped on this one. The partition table must be good if it is recognized by the other computer properly.

Maybe try starting the XP computer without the disk would clear out some setting. Then putting back and seeing if something changes.

***
I see you lurking satrow Any ideas?

Two programs Easeus and Acronis True Image see a two tetrabyte disk.
Disk management sees no disk.
Device manager and BIOS see the disk.

 

One thought is BIOS reporting the correct size?

 

Hello,
You might want to see if this helps. In an Admin account.

Right click the drive in device manager, select properties and then click the Volumes tab. Click the populate button if it is not grayed out. Status should show Online. What capacity is shown here? Then go to a command prompt.

Type diskpart <enter>
Type rescan <enter>
Type list disk <enter>

Does it now show up? If not then try this.

Uninstall the drive in device manager and then reinstall by right clicking disk drives and selecting "scan for hardware changes" or select Action in the menu bar and then select "scan for hardware changes" . When uninstalling the drive, I would not uninstall any drivers if XP asks. After it is installed again, right click the drive in device manager, select properties and the click the Volumes tab. Select populate if it is not grayed out. Status should be online. Go to Disk Management and if you do not see the drive, click Action in the file menu and select rescan for drives.If it still is not listed, restart your computer and scan for new drives again.

Good luck.

 

I thought the MBR contained the drive/partition info, start and end points etc., and therefore the total size - I may be wrong ...

I'd look at it using MBRWork before planning the next step.

 

BIOS does report the correct size by the way
Hi tried all this with no result
Here are the pictures