Comp thinks SATA drive is scsi

[gustavsmuthers]

I just purchased a pair of 160 GB Samsung SATA HDs. I installed one into my comp, and instead of ever prompting me for drivers or the like, it simply decided it was a SCSI drive. I cannot access the HD from "my computer," yet windows insists it is working perfectly. Any help would be greatly appreciated, and my apologies if this is a redundant post.

[xonik]

Something's missing in this equation. Have you tried formatting the drive using Disk Management? The drive won't show up in My Computer until it's properly formatted. Disk Management can be accessed by right-clicking on My Computer, selecting Manage, then proceeding to the Disk Management option in the window that will pop up.

[Dark Assassin]

Well, the first and most important part of this equation that you left out pertains to the actual motherboard that you are using.

Secondly, I'm wondering if you didn't install SATA drivers when you installed Windows on your boot priority hard drive. Those kind of things can make a difference. :D

Dark Assassin

[defakto]

underwin2k, on my board the onboard sata shows up under scsi controllers try installing the sata drivers from that point and see what happens.

*edit also, all my sata drives show as scsi drives, so i don't think this is anything abnormal i think you're being paranoid and too worried about little details.

[E4g1e]

gustavsmuthers,

That is perfectly normal if you're using a PCI-based SATA controller, whether it's embedded onto the motherboard or it's part of a add-in PCI card. But Windows does not come with drivers for that controller. Thus, you must find the exact SATA controller driver for your exact make and model of motherboard or PCI card (and download the driver if necessary), then install that driver onto your existing Windows installation on your current PATA drive. Also, check the Device Manager under "SCSI Controllers" or "Other Devices". It is possible - and highly likely - that you have an exclamation mark next to the entry "Mass Storage Controllers". If that's the case, then you don't have the correct SATA drivers installed.

Also, it may be possible that you've already installed the SATA driver long before you purchased those hard drives. If that's the case, then your SATA drives will show in the Device Manager as "working properly", but will not show up in My Computer because it had not yet been partitioned or formatted.

However, that does not apply if you're using an Intel-based system with an Intel SATA controller, since it's treated like any other ATAPI device in Windows.

[gustavsmuthers]

Thanks for all the help. Drivers were already installed. I had formatted and partitioned in a dos prompt and windows didn't recognize it. Used disk manager to redo it and everything's working right. Thanks again.