PC hardware forum: Cannot detect hard disk

If not WD drives need to have a jumper put on. Go tho the WD site and check your model number. Or the diagram and info is on the drive nameplate.

hi all,

i found out from the website (http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/resources/DriveCompatibilityguide.asp#external) this information...

"eSATA

SATA is very effective for external storage applications, and the external SATA (eSATA) cable and connector application provides a physically secure and fast connection for external hard drives. With up to 3 Gb/s data transfers, this interface is suitable for hard drives, home networking, digital video, and home entertainment devices such as set-top boxes and personal video recorders. eSATA and internal SATA cables and connectors cannot be used interchangeably. This is an important feature since eSATA cables and connectors are designed for 5000 insertion and removal cycles while internal SATA cables and connectors are designed for only 50 insertion and removal cycles. To achieve eSATA connectivity with an external SATA drive, a SATA PCI card must be installed on the host computer."

Can this be the main problem?

What computer model are you using?

What operating system are you using? Any service packs installed? Is it fully updated? Did you ever install the SATA driver?

Some motherboards require you to boot to BIOS and enable the SATA ports. This usually means setting SATA HD detection to "autodetect" or "automatic." Check the motherboard manual.

Some settings will enable only one or two ports. Other settings will enable all SATA ports.

Hi, here is my pc profile..

Operating System - Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (build 2600)
System Model - MICRO-STAR INC. MS-6788 20A
Processor - 2.40 gigahertz Intel Pentium 4
8 kilobyte primary memory cache
512 kilobyte secondary memory cache
Main Circuit Board - Board: MICRO-STAR INC. MS-6788 20A
Bus Clock: 200 megahertz
BIOS: American Megatrends Inc. V6.2 on 07.00T 02/08/06

20.41 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
1.98 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

E-IDE CD-ROM 52X/AKH
FS_SCSI7 FS_CDAWDM_2000CD SCSI CdRom Device [CD-ROM drive]
TDK CDRW482448BC [CD-ROM drive]
3.5" format removeable media [Floppy drive]

QUANTUM FIREBALLlct20 20 [Hard drive] (20.42 GB) -- drive 0, s/n 652101747162, rev APL.0900, SMART Status: Healthy

512 Megabytes Installed Memory

Slot '0' has 256 MB
Slot '1' is Empty
Slot '2' has 256 MB
Slot '3' is Empty

c: (NTFS on drive 0) 20.41 GB 1.98 GB free

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The hard disk i bought is WD Caviar SE16 SATA Hard Drives
250 GB, 300 MB/s, 16 MB Cache, 7200 RPM.

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Me external casing is Vantec nexstar 3 NST-360SU-BK

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