Okay My Hard-drive.

[CallisterUK]

I have both an SSD and HD, but on 'Computer' only my SSD shows.

 

 

How can I determine whether the Hard-drive is actually functional / plugged in (without removing my case etc)

[Muz]

Just open the case and look, not that hard?

[KemoKa]

Go into Device Manager. sometimes hard drives aren't mounted until you mount them as a volume. Until then, your HDD is just a piece of blank media.

[CallisterUK]

Just open the case and look, not that hard?

Not too confident about doing that. I'd end up breaking something.

[007agentHP]

Not too confident about doing that. I'd end up breaking something.

then we cant help you

 

the sata cable might be unplugged or the sata power cable might be unplugged

[CallisterUK]

Go into Device Manager. sometimes hard drives aren't mounted until you mount them as a volume. Until then, your HDD is just a piece of blank media.

I see it in device manager, how do I 'mount' them?

[Muz]

Not too confident about doing that. I'd end up breaking something.

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/insidethepc/ss/opencase.htm

[KemoKa]

I see it in device manager, how do I 'mount' them?

Start up the partition manager, just go into Start and search for create and format partitions, and the option should show up.

 

Your hard drive should appear as an option there, and where your SSD has a blue stripe for its own partition, the HDD should be a black stripe, which stands for unmounted/unallocated space.

 

Right click on it and press "New Simple Volume". A setup "wizard" will appear. Keep clicking "Next" in the dialogue until it goes away.That will set whatever unallocated space you've selected to be a mounted volume, which will show up in your file explorer.

[CallisterUK]

Start up the partition manager, just go into Start and search for create and manage partitions, and the option should show up. Your hard drive should appear as an option there, and where your SSD has a blue stripe for its own partition, the HDD should be a black stripe, which stands for unmounted/unallocated space. Right click on it and press "New Simple Volume"

Worked! thank you so much.

[KemoKa]

Worked! thank you so much.

No problem! happy that it worked out for you.