Mystery: Hard drive troubles

[D2Nik]

Here is the problem: I got a WD hard drive from a direct TV old DVR, model WD5000AVVS and tried to put it in my PC. Unfortunately, the BIOS and the Windows does not recognize it… The BIOS detects something but I guess it cannot recognize it and shows blank, while an empty SATA shows [AUTO].

Of course that is not the weirdest of all. Some Linux live CDs recognize the drive and I can even format it and work with it. If I only soft restart the PC the BIOS recognizes the hard drive and I even have access to it in Windows but as soon as the power is off, it loose everything and the HDD is unavailable.

Any suggestions why is that and how can I fix it.

 

[jamesodriscoll]

Hi D2Nik welcome to TechSpot!

have you tired installing it inot an external caddy and plugging it into the PC via USB?


James

 

[D2Nik]

I bought an NAS-321 network storage device that I want to use the HDDs in but it does not recognize them too.

That makes me think that it is not my MB.

Next step is to low-level format them... I found some app for that... hope it will work

 

[dikbozo]

Check to see if you have a motherboard that supports 3.0 Gbps SATA. you will have problems in you don't. The drive you have does offer 1.5 Gbps speeds but are best done so jumpered.

WDC settings:

http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc...&p_cv=1.185&p_pv=2.296&p_prods=208,296#jumper

BTW these are Advanced Format drives. You may have to set them up properly if you are using XP.

Go here:

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=150

and click on Advanced Format to learn more.