Hi
On 2nd Feb I finished installing a new mobo into my PC, a GA-Z97P-D3 rev 1.1. Everything seemed to be ok except I didn't have a power LED come on - that has since decided to work! I installed Windows 7 and all my programs but then I noticed I was missing two hard drives, both Seagate, both 1TB and both of which originally showed up. On checking in the BIOS I found it was not now recognising them at all. I removed the two drives and checked them using a desktop setup I have and yes, all the contents are still there. Assuming it was the drives at fault I ordered another drive, a 3TB Toshiba.
Whilst waiting for the drive to arrive, I installed Windows 10 Pro (dual booting with Windows 7) again with all the software. Once the drive turned up I installed it, partitioned it and in the process learnt the difference between MBR and GPT. I now have three drives which are GPT and two which are MBR (including the system drive). However, I now find myself in the same position of having lost the Toshiba. The BIOS just does not recognise it at all following my first reboot after installing it.
After I lost the two Seagates from Win7 I started investigating Intel RST and felt I needed to uninstall it. However, not being too sure how best to do it safely, I left it and installed Win10. Now though the same has happened in Windows 10 in that I have lost the new Toshiba and this time I cannot blame the Intel RST since as far as I can make out it is not installed. So what is going on? How do I sort this one out? I need these drives as they contain backup data. Yes, I do have an external USB for my backup but I also have a backup of my backup on the drives I have lost as well as other stuff I want to keep.
One website I went to suggested updating the BIOS if there is one for my mobo. Well, there is BUT... it is a beta version and I do not intend installing that - I have enough problems as it is. So, is this a case of a duff mobo I have installed or is there some other troubleshooting I can do to narrow it down? I suppose I could swap the data leads for the HDD that is showing up and the Toshiba. If the Toshiba shows up consistently over several days but the other drive disappears, at least it would show whether the SATA sockets are suspect. ...... Just taken a break to do this and yet again the Toshiba has disappeared and very quickly so I'm not so sure it is the mobo.
My husband and I have tossed it around and at present we seem to be clean out of ideas. So! If anyone has any thoughts on where I can go from here I would appreciate the advice. Many thanks. Oh - I'm sure you may have questions not answered in this post so please ask and I'll do my best to help.
Tracey
PS Sorry its such a long posting.
