Can anyone shed any light onto my HDD visibility issues?!

[Rtorbs]

Bit of back story, I've previously been using a repurposed gaming rig as a media centre that's got about 6tb of storage over 3 drives that's I've collected over the last 7 or 8 years, all been working fine. Fast forward to yesterday, I decided to build a dedicated sffpc with more bays to future proof etc. Build went fine with the exception of the fact that the HDDs aren't being picked up by the new rig in bios or windows. The SSD OS drove works on the 4 way sata BTW, just not the HDDs

The only difference I can see of the way I've connected the drives, the new psu has a 4 way sata so I assumed I could just connect 4 drives and away I'd go but alas I can't see the drives.

Before I post any further info such as hardware, has anyone encountered similar issues? Is there such a thing as hardware incompatibility between HDDs that might be considered old and newer MBs and settings etc? These drives were all connected by Sata connectors in the old rig, albeit not 4 on a single 6 pin connector from the psu.

Any thoughts? Or do I need to provide full hardware details? Both rigs were windows 10 of that helps?! Cheers in advance guys.

Mods please feel free to move this post if I've posted in the wrong section?!

 

[tinyitx]

Does the diagram show your current connection?

So, HDD1, 2 and 3 are old harddisk with data that you are moving from your old PC?

In BIOS, double check to make sure SATA6G_2 and 3 and 4 are Enabled.

 

[rfarmer]

Were the drives connected during the OS install or did you connect them after? If after did you check Disk Management to make sure the drives are initialized?

 

[Rtorbs]

Does the diagram show your current connection?

So, HDD1, 2 and 3 are old harddisk with data that you are moving from your old PC?

In BIOS, double check to make sure SATA6G_2 and 3 and 4 are Enabled.

In re of the diagram good question, I'd say probably not. I did play about but didn't know for sure which end would be considered the first drive and defo didn't try all combos. That's really useful thanks. I'll also check that drives 2-4 are enabled also. Thanks again.

Apologies and yes HDDs 1 to 3 are old pure storage drives that I'm moving over.

 

[Rtorbs]

Were the drives connected during the OS install or did you connect them after? If after did you check Disk Management to make sure the drives are initialized?

Hi, they were connected after. Technically I just plugged in the OS SSD hard drive and didn't do a clean install (not sire if I should have? ) my rational for not doing a clean install was based on the fact that the issue was present on the old build when using the 4 sata connector so assumed it can't be down the the OS build. I'll check the I've diagram though before I comment too much further. Thanks for you reply

 

[rfarmer]

Fresh install of OS shouldn't be necessary, I have moved drives over to a different motherboard with no issues. Are the drives not showing in BIOS or just Windows?

 

[Rtorbs]

Fresh install of OS shouldn't be necessary, I have moved drives over to a different motherboard with no issues. Are the drives not showing in BIOS or just Windows?

Both. But I'm now not 100% sure that my wiring was as in the above image. The SSD was defo in position 1 on the 4 way connector (at least once) and also in position 1 sata port on the Mb at some point during my testing.

 

[dfrgu]

Will the hdd be detected if you only connect one at a time?

 

[Rtorbs]

Does the diagram show your current connection?

So, HDD1, 2 and 3 are old harddisk with data that you are moving from your old PC?

In BIOS, double check to make sure SATA6G_2 and 3 and 4 are Enabled.

Soooo.... I'm back home and I've wired up according to your diagram only diff being my sata connectors are numbered 0, 1, 2 and 3.. .. SSD is on end of the 4 sata spur and position 0 on the MB. Drive 2 (HDD) is connected next on the spur and position 1 on the MB.

Deosnt matter where I put the SSD on that 4 sata connector or what position on the MB it gets picked up. The HDDs don't get picked up regardless of what combo.

Also there no obvious settings to enable the sata ports in question in bios?! It's a gigabyte B450 mini itx BTW....Update, right I've been through the manual and settings and they're defo enabled

Does the diagram show your current connection?

So, HDD1, 2 and 3 are old harddisk with data that you are moving from your old PC?

In BIOS, double check to make sure SATA6G_2 and 3 and 4 are Enabled.

 

[Rtorbs]

Will the hdd be detected if you only connect one at a time?

So I've been through all the HDDs drives, the Samsung seams to work... Ironically it's a Samsung ssd also.... Go Samsung.

None of the other drives, connected with others or independently are getting picked up.

It's looking like these are the oldest drives also.

Still perplexed as have never had any issues like this before.

Could it be firmware on those is out of date?

 

[tinyitx]

So, if you have Samsung SSD (OS) plus Samsung HDD, Samsung HDD gets detected and works with no problem.
But, if you have Samsung SSD (OS) plus one of the two other HDDs, the HDD does not get detected.
Right?
I suppose all three HDDs are still using their respective SATA data cable carried over from the previous build?
Maybe you list out all hardware components, particularly the HDDs.

 

[Rtorbs]

So, if you have Samsung SSD (OS) plus Samsung HDD, Samsung HDD gets detected and works with no problem.
But, if you have Samsung SSD (OS) plus one of the two other HDDs, the HDD does not get detected.
Right?
I suppose all three HDDs are still using their respective SATA data cable carried over from the previous build?
Maybe you list out all hardware components, particularly the HDDs.

So correct on your first question. The Samsungs (SSD and HDD) seem to work in any position.

The other drives however I cannot remember the original position and unlikely that they can be returned to it. Plus old MB had 6 sata connectors, new one has 4.

Simply put is there a way to reset the sata position without compromising or wiping the disk content?

I've just ordered a dock/caddy to hopefully be able to access the drives contents on another device and I'll move it over to new drives if not. I've literally just ordered 2 x 4TB WD reds for this. It also makes sense from a storage pov as all my media will be contained on 2 larger drives and not not 4 smaller ones.

Old hardware is as follows though:

AMD 6100 bulldozer hexacore 3.2ghz maybe?
Asus M5A78L-M motherboard
8gb mushkin ddr3 ram speed unknown
1 x 250gb Samsung Evo SSD
1 x 2tb Seagate Barracuda HDD
1 x 2tb Samsung HDD
1 x 2tb WD Green HDD
1 x 2tb WD Blue (brand new unformatted) HDD

New hardware
Ryzen 3 2200g
Gigabyte B450 mini itx
8gb Hyper fury x 3200 DDR 4 ram

Was planning on using all the old drives but happy to move the content over to the new WD Reds if I can't reset the sata positions on the old drives?!

 

[BaK]

SATA position doesn't matter, a working disk is supposed to be detected by BIOS in any SATA connector on the motherboard it is attached to.
And SATA 3 Gbit/s and SATA 6 Gbit/s are compatible with each other (from wikipedia).

Are you able to reconnect these disks to the old motherboard and check that they are indeed listed in the BIOS?

If they are, then connect a disk back to the new motherboard one at a time, using the same data cable as mentionned by @tinyitx, and see if it appears in the BIOS.
I would be very surprised to hear that a disk is detected on the old mobo and not on the new one, especially since there is no jumper on SATA disks as it was before with PATA ones.

 

[Rtorbs]

SATA position doesn't matter, a working disk is supposed to be detected by BIOS in any SATA connector on the motherboard it is attached to.
And SATA 3 Gbit/s and SATA 6 Gbit/s are compatible with each other (from wikipedia).

Are you able to reconnect these disks to the old motherboard and check that they are indeed listed in the BIOS?

If they are, then connect a disk back to the new motherboard one at a time, using the same data cable as mentionned by @tinyitx, and see if it appears in the BIOS.
I would be very surprised to hear that a disk is detected on the old mobo and not on the new one, especially since there is no jumper on SATA disks as it was before with PATA ones.

OK so the first paragraph makes sense, I'd never previously paid any attention to what sata connectors were used and they all worked fine so this kind of confirms what you're saying.

As for connecting back to thr old Mb then sadly not, it's since been passed on. They were 100% enabled though as my plex server was accessing the content until the day I decided to build the new rig.

When you say connect then one by one with the same cable, are you actually referring to the cable cable, or the MB position? Reason I ask is because I bought a brand new set of cables for this build so have no real way of knowing what was attached to what.

I genuinely wasn't aware that the cable itself is linked to the drive ! Well surprised

 

[tinyitx]

I genuinely wasn't aware that the cable itself is linked to the drive ! Well surprised

I think you misunderstand. A cable itself is not linked to a specific drive.
The data cable (connecting a drive to the motherboard) can be faulty/defective, making the drive not being detected by the BIOS and/or OS.
So, it is good to first confirm that a certain cable is in good working condition.

 

[Rtorbs]

I think you misunderstand. A cable itself is not linked to a specific drive.
The data cable (connecting a drive to the motherboard) can be faulty/defective, making the drive not being detected by the BIOS and/or OS.
So, it is good to first confirm that a certain cable is in good working condition.

Sorry, I took the words literally.

First thing I did was try various cable combos. Its defo not a cable issue

 

[tinyitx]

What are the model numbers of those HDDs?

 

[Rtorbs]

What are the model numbers of those HDDs?

Sorry I won't be able to supply these till I'm back at home.

Could I just have inadvertently knackered two of them?

I'm all my years of tinkering adding and removing drives I've never had this issue.

I mean I'll get them in the caddy/dock as soon as soon as it arrives and worst case scenario I'll manually drag the files off and into new freshly formatted reds if the data is accessible, if not I'll assume I've broken them.

Still wouldn't mind knowing wtf is wrong though if the drives are readable lol

 

[tinyitx]

At first, all HDDs are not detected. But then, the Samsung HDD is detected. So, what did you do specifically? Or, nothing specific but just fiddling around and then somehow the Samsung HDD got detection? There should be a clue here.

If the two HDDs were working perfectly right before the transfer, then it is not likely that you broke them during the new build process.

 

[Rtorbs]

At first, all HDDs are not detected. But then, the Samsung HDD is detected. So, what did you do specifically? Or, nothing specific but just fiddling around and then somehow the Samsung HDD got detection? There should be a clue here.

If the two HDDs were working perfectly right before the transfer, then it is not likely that you broke them during the new build process.

So I think this is just down to the fact that I didn't initially connect the Samsung. On the 4 way sata connector the SSD was always in spot 1 (or 0) and therefore only 3 others were connected of which I think I didn't initially connect the Samsung.
The liklihood is that its always worked, this became more evident based on the comment above.

Apologies if I gave you the run around but I've been trying various combos and or methods as and when posts come in.

As it stands the seagate and wds aren't visibe (one being unformatted so not sure of I can I class that)

-Cables irrelevant
-Mb sata position irrelevant
-Connected as a single drive or with others irrelevant (I even removed the SSD and left the cabling, knowing that these work to then try the other HDDs without the os drive selected and nope doesn't pick up in bios either)

Defo blagged