Problem with SSD and Sata Drive under Windows 7 (64 Bit)

Hi,

I have run into a problem when upgrading my current machine to use an SSD as the main boot device. I restored a backup of my original Sata drive on to the SSD and I am able to boot from it ok.

My problem is that when I connect the original Sata HD to the machine it appears in the BIOS but not under windows. I have 2 partitions on the original Sata HD and had expected them to appear as partitions D and E in the new setup.

However if I make the original Sata HD the first boot disk then the SSD appears as partition E under windows.

My configuration is

MB - Gigabyte P31-E53G
CPU - Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 with 4 Gb Ram
SSD - Samsung SSD 830 128 Gb
Sata HD - Western Digital Caviar Black 1Tb
OS - Windows 7 64 Bit with all updates applied.

The motherboard has 4 Sata connectors and in the BIOS these appear as Ch 0 Master/Slave and Ch 1 Master/Slave.

I have tried connecting the Sata HD as the Master on Ch 0 and on Ch 1 with the SSD the Master on Ch 1 when the Sata was on Ch 0 and vice versa. However no matter which way round I try the Sata HD never appears under windows if I boot from the SSD.

My question therefore is what else can I try to get the two partitions on the Sata HD to appear when I boot from the SSD?

Thanks in advance
M.

The motherboard has 4 Sata connectors and in the BIOS these appear as Ch 0 Master/Slave and Ch 1 Master/Slave.

Hi 2Mr and welcome.

Are you sure about those BIOS setttings? I ask because SATA drives do not use Master and Slave. This is because SATA drives each have dedicated cables to the motherboard's drive interface connection. Only EIDE (PATA) drives, which connect 2 per cable, use Master and Slave settings.

Originally Posted by Digerati

Are you sure about those BIOS setttings? I ask because SATA drives do not use Master and Slave. This is because SATA drives each have dedicated cables to the motherboard's drive interface connection. Only EIDE (PATA) drives, which connect 2 per cable, use Master and Slave settings.

Yes, that is the way the BIOS displays the sata connectors, I understand that Master/Slave is not really relevant with SATA and I am beginning to suspect that the root of my problem may lie in shortcomings with the Motherboard.

Cheers
M

I am beginning to suspect that the root of my problem may lie in shortcomings with the Motherboard.

Could be. It could be showing its age. Have you checked to see if there are any BIOS or motherboard upgrades on the board's download page. Gigabyte has been my preferred board maker for years, and I've not encountered this issue. If your board has more than two SATA connections, I would try another.

Originally Posted by Digerati

Could be. It could be showing its age. Have you checked to see if there are any BIOS or motherboard upgrades on the board's download page. Gigabyte has been my preferred board maker for years, and I've not encountered this issue. If your board has more than two SATA connections, I would try another.

Thanks for your reply.The boards has the latest BIOS installed as well as the latest available utility software. There are 4 Sata connections on the board and I have tried all combinations to see if it makes any difference but it doesn't.

Cheers
M.

Update: Hi folks just to let you know I seem to have stumbled across a solution to the problem. I wanted to eliminate the WD Sata drive as the source of the problem so I go my hands on another Sata drive (A Maxtor) and tried to boot the system from the SSD with the Maxtor as a secondary drive.

During the boot process the OS installed a driver for the Maxtor and it appeared in the device manager but not on Computer display i.e. the partitions on the Maxtor were not visible.

I then disconnected the Maxtor and reconnected the WD HD and now the paritions appear as I had originally expected with the old C partition now D and the old D now E. I am not sure what caused the problem to disappear, it may have been the installation of the driver for the Maxtor HD triggered the change.

I am able to access the files on the 'new' partitions, but have not relabeled them (I need to E drive to become the D drive to keep iTunes happy). I have also rebooted the system several times and the partitions continue to appear.

Thanks to those who helped! If anything changes I may be back for more help,

Cheers
M.

I wanted to eliminate the WD Sata drive as the source of the problem

That's where I was heading before declaring the motherboard was it. I was going to suggest trying that drive in another machine, or another drive in yours.

I suspect what happened (and it has been a problem for years on all versions of Windows, and other OSes too), is something hiccuped, a power fluctuation, a fluke, or whatever you want to call it, but some driver, setting in the BIOS, or other setting became corrupt, or was set to something that did not make sense to whatever needed that data. And at the same time, there was enough data there to confirm it was the same hardware attached - thus no need to change or reset that bad data.

It took you installing a different brand (thus different driver) drive in there for Window and/or the BIOS to sense a hardware change, re-write whatever it was that hiccuped, making all right. Then re-installing the original hardware forced the change again, only this time, correctly - so your drive worked.

I used to have to do the same thing with sound cards, when they were common. And I still do the same thing with graphics cards all the time. If an AMD/ATI card is giving problems, or the driver won't install or whatever, I will uninstall that and install a NVIDIA card forcing a total reset of drivers and other settings in Windows. Then uninstall those and back again with the original card - usually with no problems this time.