Why isn't my drive being detected? Checking your SSD and Hard Drive connections

Why isn't my drive being detected? Checking your SSD and Hard Drive connections

If your drive isn't detected and you've already followed Why isn't my drive being detected in Windows? then use this guide on how to check the physical connections.

SATA Drives

1. Locate your drive. Remove the right side panel on your PC, and locate your drive. It will either be a large 3.5" hard drive, or a smaller 2.5" SSD.

Your SSD or HDD will be located in a different place depending on the case you have. Here are some examples of what you are looking for.

2. Locate the cables that might have come loose. There should be two cables going into each drive. One to the motherboard and one to the power supply. 

Here you can see both the SATA cable to the motherboard and the power cable have been disconnected.

3. Take the cables and reconnect them to the drive. They only go in one way and are different sizes, so it should be clear what goes where.

Once you have plugged the drives in, you can follow the guide here to initialise the drive in Windows.

M.2 Drives

M.2 drives are different to SSDs, it's unlikely they will come loose in shipping, but there is a slim chance it will happen. Here's how to reconnect that M.2 Drive in your PC.

Please note, in some systems in order to access your M.2 SSD, you will need to remove the GPU.You can find out how to do that here.

1. Locate the SSD and remove it from the system. The SSD is on your motherboard, so you'll need to remove the glass panel. If it's already loose, you can go ahead and remove it from the system.

2. Set the drive aside, and remove the M.2 screw. This is what holds the drive in place, and we'll need to remove it before we reinstall the drive.

3. Next, you can reinstall the M.2 drive. It can only go in one way, so make sure you have it orientated correctly. Insert the drive on a 45-degree angle, and leave it there for the next step.

4. Now you can install the screw you removed previously. Carefully push down on the drive, so it's flush with the motherboard, and screw in the screw.

Now your M.2 SSD is installed, you should be able to boot your system and it will be detected. Typically, your M.2 is your boot drive, so you may need to reinstall windows. If it's a secondary drive, you may need to initialise the drive also.