Installing a second internal SATA hard drive for back up

I have connected a second internal SATA hard drive (Seagate Barracuda 7200) and Windows Explorer doesn't recognize it. The first time I booted up after installing (this is Vista Home Premium OS) I could see the drive for about 5 seconds (in explorer) and then it dissappeared. According to the Seagate manual there is no differentiation between a master and a slave ergo no settings or pin to change. Some research shows I may have to go into the BIOS to see if it is enabled. I know nothing about BIOS or how to configure for this. The drive is formatted with out an operating system so I can use it as back up. If anyone knows how I go about configuring this hard drive I'd appreciate your knowledge. I will need step by step instruction because I know nothing about fiddling with BIOS.

Just format the drive, Initialization Formatting New Drive - http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?loca...000dd04090aRCRD


Louis

Thanks for your response Louis. Sadly your link doesn't work and besides as I stated in my initial question, I have already formatted the drive. It was formatted before I installed it but it isn't recognized and I believe (and I could be wrong, as a novice) I need instruction in how to go into BIOS and configure this second drive.

Apologies for the oversight...I tend not to read everything in a post, which is just a sloppy mental habit of mine.

Every BIOS on every system...can theoretically be different. So I can't provide any standard instructions on how to configure your system. But your owner's manual for either your system or your motherboard...should explain all this.

System manufacturer and model? If custom-built system...motherboard manufacturer and model?

General info: How to access-enter Motherboard BIOS - http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/bios_manufacturer.htm

Louis

I was able to get into my BIOS and see the SATAs and of course it is all greek to me. Here is what I see

SATA-0 ST3250410AS
SATA-1 PBDS DVD+1-RW DH-16W
SATA-2 SATA DATA Port not present
SATA-3 SATA DATA Port not present
SATA-4 None
SATA-5 None

I certainly understand the SATA-0 and SATA-1 but 2 and 3 saying not present, I have no clue if this just means my second formatted hard drive can't work on my machine
or if there is a way to make the 'present'

The data you presented, my interpretation of it:

SATA 0 has a Seagate hard drive attached, 250GB.

SATA 1 has a DVD-RW connected.

I have no idea what the message for ports 2 & 3...is supposed to mean. I interpret the message for 4 & 5 to mean that nothing is connected to those ports.

I would say that you need to experiment with your system...and find out which motherboard ports work and which don't. I would do this by detaching all drives except the main boot drive...and move it around to each port. When the system doesn't boot, you have a problem.

I wouldn't worry about the "why" at this point.

I would also check for any RAID configurations which may have been enabled in the BIOS. Your motherboard manual or system owner's manual should cover this.

Louis