[SOLVED] Windows 7 hard drive disappears from dmesg

spork_kitty · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 05 Jul 2019 Posts: 124

I recently got a new drive to expand my Windows drive. I cloned it and then expanded it onto the new drive. There were a few issues that I was able to resolve with EasyBCD, but now my Gentoo system simply won't see the drive. `lsblk` doesn't show it, `fdisk -l` doesn't show it, it's not in dmesg, etc.

It's a SATA drive just like the others. The mobo sees it, I can boot into it from the boot menu or GRUB and both work. It's Linux that can't see it...

Any ideas?

EDIT: The ideal solution is to set a registry key from 3 to 0 (see Anon-E-moose's link to WinAero), reboot into the BIOS, set the SATA controller to AHCI for the given slot(s), boot into Windows, let it detect the drive in a different interface, then reboot for it to stick.

I was already dealing with a cloned-drive that didn't get detected well so I had an incomplete/borked bootloader setup that EasyBCD didn't fix. Once I reinstalled the bootloader using EasyBCD, then fixed *that* bootloader with WinRE (the windows recovery tool in the installation media), everything was fine since the registry key was already set to 0.

A heartfelt "thank you" to everyone for saving my Sunday afternoon!

e3k · Guru Joined: 01 Oct 2007 Posts: 513 Location: Inner Space

spork_kitty · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 05 Jul 2019 Posts: 124

I'm not entirely sure which driver is being used.

`zgrep SATA /proc/config.gz` returns:

e3k · Guru Joined: 01 Oct 2007 Posts: 513 Location: Inner Space

does not look that exotic. what drive vendor/type is it?
also did you check if there are bios updates for your motherboard?
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Anon-E-moose · Posted: Fri Nov 29, 2019 3:09 pm Post subject:

What sata port is it plugged into (on the MB)? (I ask because my MB has 2 sata controllers)

Do you have a copy of sysrescuecd to try and see if it recognizes the drive?
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NeddySeagoon · Posted: Fri Nov 29, 2019 7:41 pm Post subject:

spork_kitty,

What does lspci say about your motherboard?
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NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

spork_kitty · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 05 Jul 2019 Posts: 124

The drive is a Western Digital Blue 5400 rpm 2TB drive. WD20EZAZ model.

e3k · Guru Joined: 01 Oct 2007 Posts: 513 Location: Inner Space

Anon-E-moose · Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2019 10:26 am Post subject:

Tony0945 · Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2019 2:47 pm Post subject:

Goverp · Advocate Joined: 07 Mar 2007 Posts: 2014

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2019 8:50 pm Post subject:

spork_kitty,

IDE mode on a SATA interface is usually crippled, only some SATA ports work, no DMA, so its slow, so it should be avoided.

Linux has never needed IDE mode. Its sole intended purpose was to allow Windows users to install Windows when the Windows AHCI driver was an optional extra.
Once Windows users installed the AHCI driver, they were supposed to switch the BIOS to AHCI mode to get full SATA functionality and never use IDE mode again.
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

spork_kitty · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 05 Jul 2019 Posts: 124

Good eye, guys! I did take a look at the SATA controller settings in the BIOS. It appears SATA slots 1-4 can work in AHCI mode but slots 5 and 6 are restricted to IDE mode. Very odd, to me, and something I'll need to watch out for next time I buy a mobo.

That also explains why it loads slower than it should since it's *supposed* to be on a SATA 6Gb/s connector...

I'll see what I can do to force it into all AHCI mode. Failing that I'll try to plug it into slot 2 or 4, assuming I have enough room next to the GPU...

spork_kitty · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 05 Jul 2019 Posts: 124

So, it looks like my SATA controller was indeed in IDE mode! Setting it back to AHCI allows me to see the drive on Linux! Huzzah!

Next, I need to fix the issue with Windows booting. It complains about a missing BOOTMGR now that it's in AHCI mode.

I have an installation disk so maybe I can just boot into that and try to repair it. Suggestions?

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Sun Dec 01, 2019 6:35 pm Post subject:

spork_kitty,

Windows Vista and XP shipped without an AHCI driver.
Hopefully you won't be buying a new motherboard that is Windows XP ready :)
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

spork_kitty · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 05 Jul 2019 Posts: 124

This drive is using 7, thankfully, so it shouldn't give me much in the way of trouble. Now that I can see the drive from Linux, I can copy things off of it and start from scratch if I need to. I'd rather not, though.

EDIT: Blue screen on boot. Cannot get into Safe Mode either. When I get into WinRE, it doesn't detect Windows on the drive and automated repair couldn't do anything. Seems like it's borked. Lovely to happen on a Sunday of a 4-day weekend.

At least with your guys' help, I can see the drive and recover its data. Thanks again everyone!

I'm in the process of copying over important files (installers and gamesaves mostly) so I can reinstall Windows with my mobo in AHCI mode. It had trouble with the cloned drive anyway, so a clean slate will probably have fewer problems.

Maybe I'll do a recovery partition like they suggest, too. 2TB is plenty of space.

Anon-E-moose · Posted: Sun Dec 01, 2019 7:46 pm Post subject:

spork_kitty · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 05 Jul 2019 Posts: 124

I'll try that registry hack first. It would save me hours of trouble. Thanks for the link Anon-E-moose!

EDIT: The registry key was already set to 0. I'm trying a few more things before I wipe it and reinstall.

EDIT2: I used EasyBCD to reinstall BOOTMGR to the MBR. There was a problem with the way it was installed or something, so I combined it with Windows installation media, which recognized the faulty bootloader, fixed it, and rebooted for me. When I logged into the live Windows system, it recognized and installed the drive as AHCI. A few reboots later to check that I could access it from Gentoo then booting back, everything's fine.

It's a shame I don't know *why* it's fixed, but it's fixed.

Huge thanks to you guys for pointing me at the BIOS.