SSD not being detected

The_B_Man

Hi,
I just got a new laptop and was wondering if I can get help to fix a problem before I send it back.

So its meant to have a 1TB HDD and a 64GB SSD. In My Computer, it just shows a 946GB partition (C:) and a 24GB partition (D:). No 64GB SSD partition.

In Disk Management, it shows that the 1TB is split into 4 partitions. It also shows another hard drive that cannot be initialised. When I try to initialise it, it tells me that "The drive cannot find the sector requested".

I've attached screenshots of each error.

Also, when I try to initialise the hard drive, it sounds like it tries to spin up, then gives the error. Presumably a SSD shouldnt be spinning up? When I click the properties on the "good" hard drive, it doesnt make any spin up/fan noises at all.

Another funny thing is when I open the Intel SSD tool, it tells me the SSD is on port 0, and the SATA drive is on port 1, but in disk management, its the opposite way around.

I've attached some photos there. Hopefully someone can shed some light on it and either fix it, or tell me I need to send it back.

Cheers.

The_B_Man

also. heres some photos of the intel ssd tool.

mitosis

Have you the drive set AHCI in bios?

The_B_Man

I have the SATA mode set to AHCI and not "Compatibiity" if thats what you mean?

Firblog

Usually the SSD would be the boot disc with the O/S installed on it, so it should boot really fast.. less than 30 secs?

Wouldn't advise messing with it if you're unsure of what you're doing tbh

The_B_Man

Boot is under 30 seconds, ye.
Windows is telling me that the OS is installed on the 1TB 5400rm Seagate Momentus drive, not the SSD. Thats the weird thing.
If you look at the images, you'll notice Disk Management says the first disk is the SATA and the 2nd is the SSD, but the Intel SSD tool says the SSD is the first disk and the SATA is the 2nd!
Weird.

Anyway, I'm basically just gonna send the laptop back and get the SSD replaced, unless someone can spot a tickbox or setting i'm missing.

Firblog

My mate has tosh ultrabook with SSD, think it's much the same setup. I believe that you should phone support first an have a chat with them, perhaps they can explain the setup a bit more clearly..

The_B_Man

Ye I was looking up some SSD drives that are actually combo drives that have SSDs built into normal hard drives. I'm worried now that this is one of those, and I'm just being an idiot!

But stil though, should it not show the 64GB partition for the SSD?

Look here, you can clearly see it has the one big TB partition and that little lenovo partition with drivers and their own little apps that you can see in the 4th picture above.

Firblog

on your first pic there is a samsung drive mzmpa064bbdr.. have searched this and found its first cousin here ... A Samsung 64GB SSD..

Would like to know what way these things are setup, if anyone reading can shed some light on the matter? or a handy linky..

hearny

You have obviously looked in the bios if you knew about the AHCI settings,
Does it list 2 hard drives in the bios.

Dont suppose you have a windows installation disk with it.

I would try to install Windows on the SSD (it will format the drive when installing).

You need to be careful here though make sure you install it on the correct drive or you could lose data, since its new you probably dont have anything on it that you cant put back on.

You can download the iso for windows 7 here:
http://www.mydigitallife.info/download-windows-7-iso-official-32-bit-and-64-bit-direct-download-links/
make sure you have the correct one according to your product key sticker.

If you dont want to try to install windows on it you could try formatting it with a bootable version of GParted (http://gparted.sourceforge.net/download.php)

If you are unsure how to do any of these just ask.

The_B_Man

The BIOS definitely says AHCI and it says there are 2 drives. See the attached pics.

Also, I ran the windows installer and it didnt even pick up the other drive!

hearny

Cant find much info on the samsung drive can you send on the laptop model number and I will see if I can get info on the spec.

It may need drivers installed before windows 7 installation sees it.

Can you boot a live linux cd like knoppix to see if the drive can be formatted using gparted.

lynchie

Seem familair?

http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/IdeaPad-Y-U-V-and-Z-series/Y580-hard-disk-configuration/td-p/804129