HELP! Second hard drive install

I bought the Ultrabay SATA hard drive adapter from Lenovo, as well as a Lenovo 250GB hard drive. Probably not the best deal on a hard drive, but it's one that is expressly listed as compatible with the adapter, and I wanted to minimize heartache.

I installed the hard drive in the adapter as per the instructions, shut down my computer (just to be safe, I know it's hot swappable), removed the DVD-drive and installed the adapter. Started up the computer, and good sign, it said it was installing new hardware and then that it had successfully installed a new Hatachi device (maker of the drive).

Bad news: no sign of the drive anywhere on the system. Not present in Computer. Is there something further that I need to do to mount this drive? There are NO instructions that come with this beyond the instructions as to how to phsyically install the device in the computer.

HELP!

I'm running Vista Business x64 on a new Lenovo T61.

Thanks!

 

Just throwing ideas at you but maybe try reinstalling the SATA drivers. Look them up on Intel, probably under ICH8 or something (whichever one matches your T61's chipset, which is probably 965GM)

Some harddrive manufacturers like Seagate package formatting software with their drives. If you can get your hands on that, you might just need to format the new HD for NTFS. (Again, just a random suggestion)

 

I have extremely basic technical skills (for example, I have no idea what my chipset is), but I did happen to stumble upon the Computer Management control panel (directed there by Windows Help), and found the second hard drive listed but also listed as unformatted. I'm trying to format it now, it's 22% done.

If this is the problem, HOW CAN LENOVO NOT INCLUDE DIRECTIONS TO DO THIS? They will get a call from *every* ordinary person who buys the product. It's simply crazy to me how bad these companies are at anticipating service problems.

 

Try this. Go to the control panel>administrative tools>computer management>disk management. In the lower middle panel (gray), you should see disk 0 and disk 1. If you do, Disk 1 may be designated as "raw" which means it has no file system or letter designation. simply right click the drive and select format drive option. After the format is complete you can right click it again a select the drive letter.

 

Actually, it's not really a problem. Like many other things it's simply a matter of knowing how. It's a standard procedure for adding a hard drive to XP or Vista to use disk management, and windows has never really recognized an unformatted drive. More of a Windows thing than Lenovo, and Windows is chock full of things you have to know how to do.

Quinn

 

You have to change the configuration of your hard drive in the Bios. Change it from ACHI (or something like that) to the other option (that is more general). The system will show you now your hard drive. This happened to me before and it works.

 

What I mean is, if you're selling a product (the Ultrabay hard drive adapter), and everyone who buys it from you (with the Lenovo recommended hard drive, I might add) needs to go to the Disk Management Control Panel and format the drive, why wouldn't you include in your installation instructions an explanation of this? Doesn't really matter if it's a Windows "problem" or a Lenovo "problem", the fact is, a very large percentage of people who buy this drive are going to struggle with this, and wouldn't struggle if Lenovo provided a one page description as to how to do this. Many customers are going to call Lenovo (which costs them lots of money). I don't know why it's so hard for companies, when they prepare products for the consumer market, to think: what do I need to tell people to be able to use this product and how do I convey that information clearly?

 

dropro, did formatting it work?

I agree with you though. I would think they would mention it in the instructions. Something like "If you cannot see the drive you may need to format it".

Usually user manuals have some kind of small troubleshooting section.

 

So did it work. The instructions aadams offered is the proper way to add a second hard drive. Also, you will be given the option of Basic or Dynamic. You should select "Basic" and NTFS.

 

It did work -- perfectly. This is what you have to do.