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I'm having problems configuring a hard disk in a brand new, clean Windows 7 installation. System specs:

  • Hard disk: WD VelociRaptor WD6000HLHX (600 GB, 10000 RPM)
  • Motherboard: Gigabyte Z77X-UD3H
  • BIOS SATA mode set to AHCI (not RAID), with disk connected to SATA0 (6 Gb/s port).
  • Windows 7 Enterprise SP1 64-bit

The disk is recognized by the BIOS and is correctly identified, with the name and size correctly reported. Windows recognizes the disk itself and reports the device is functioning correctly, but it doesn't appear in Explorer.

Disk Management shows the drive, but incorrectly states that it is uninitialized and has no partitions. If I try to initialize the drive, I get an error saying that "the system cannot find the file specified" (what file?).

Before connecting the drive to the new machine, I partitioned and formatted it under Windows XP SP2, creating 2 partitions (MBR, not GPT) and copying over a boatload of data. However, none of this data appears under Windows 7. If I put the disk back into the Windows XP machine, I can access the disk and all of its data.

Is it possible to get Windows 7 to correctly recognize the disk without having to erase it and start over? If so, how do I do so?

I checked this question, which seems to cover the same issue, but it didn't help.

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  • Maybe a bad Sata data cable.
    – Moab
    Commented Aug 28, 2012 at 2:35
  • 1
    Check to see if the drive is marked bootable with GParted.
    – jmreicha
    Commented Aug 28, 2012 at 14:43

1 Answer 1

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Make sure you've enabled AHCI support in Windows 7.

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