[RESOLVED] Drive is not recognized after a win 10 update

Sorry for the dupe message. I'm really not sure what I'm looking at in the BIOS, would it help if I sent a screen shot?

I checked the BIOS and I do see three entries for the three WD20EARS disks. SATA controllers are enabled and Smart Self Test is ON.

I'm with you about hard evidence and proof, you can't respond to feelings or superstitions but here's another reason I'm convinced. I finished work (on the drive in question) and said Yes to 'Update and Shutdown.' So the update was the last thing to touch the computer, just prior to that I was working on the drive. In the morning the drive didn't show up.

Agreed, it could be coincidence that I've had this problem at least 5 recorded times after an update, because the possibility exists - but it's so remote that it's equal to 0. Others on the web have claimed the same problem (which is hearsay and not evidence of anything) but I'm inclined to believe them because I believe it's happening to me.

The entry exists in the BIOS, so what now?

I looked in the BIOS, booted up to write to you again and the drive is BACK! Was I right or was I right? All the data is there.

However, this is very disconcerting, I don't know if it will be there next boot. Perhaps the act of looking in the BIOS jogged it's memory, I don't know, this is baffling.

What can I do to ensure that it gets seen in the future?

OK, now we are getting somewhere. This is why I suggested checking the BIOS to make sure the drive was detected. If the BIOS does not see the drive, then when you boot up Windows, it will not see the drive either. That also explains why it appears to happen after Microsoft updates. Since most Microsoft updates require a reboot, and when you reboot the BIOS does not see the drive, presto - no drive in Windows after an update.

What we have to figure out now is WHY the BIOS sometimes fails to see the drive. This can be due to a variety of issues. These include possible corrosion or contamination (dust, etc.) on the cable contacts connecting the drive data or power cables, flaky drive electronics, flaky SATA motherboard electronics, etc. It might even be a bad BIOS battery, which can cause the BIOS to fail to retain settings.

Contamination wouldn't come and go with each update and I'm inclined to think the same about cables and connections. BIOS battery wouldn't cause the same drive to become invisible because it's only providing power, if it has some power but not enough, you would expect to see a different error each time - and we both know that CMOS batteries either work or don't work.

That leaves the flakiness you mentioned.

But - I work with digital audio and an incoming WhatsApp message changes the tempo of the song I'm working with! That's not supposed to happen but I've proved it over and over by setting the song to Play and having someone send me a whatsapp message. While they stand there, the song changes tempo. So I still maintain that there could be something in an update that's doing something it's not supposed to be doing and no one believes it except the victims because it isn't supposed to be possible.

Have you ever known a BIOS to change itself and always make the same edit? I think updates can't touch the BIOS, that could be disastrous all over the world, worse than a virus.

Diagnosing the cause of this issue may not be easy. If the drive is not recognized again at the next reboot, you should check to make sure that it is powered up, which may not be easy to do. You may have to try to verify that it is actually spinning. If it is, then a reboot into the BIOS Setup should be done to see if the drive is detected by the BIOS.

I have had some drives that took long enough to spin up and report a Ready status that the BIOS had already completed its check for drives and did not see it.

Western Digital Drive Diagnostics downloads:

https://support.wdc.com/downloads.aspx?lang=en&p=3

These might help to locate intermittent errors or other issues.

>I have had some drives that took long enough to spin up and report a Ready status that the BIOS had already completed its check for drives and did not see it.
That makes some sense! The drive that goes missing has a different capacity than the other two WD drives so that sets it apart. I didn't buy them all at the same time so it also could be newer or older.

Dude: What if I mapped it as a network drive? Do you think that would help or does that still depend on BIOS/Windows visibility?

Are you thinking of connecting it to a different computer and then sharing it and mapping it as a drive letter? Not sure what you have in mind here. You cannot map a local drive as a network drive on the same computer.

>You cannot map a local drive as a network drive on the same computer.
Didn't know that but it makes sense. Also, if the system can't see it, mapping it would only result in 'drive not found.'

I have one little tit bit that's new on this issue: It makes a difference how many drives I have connected. If I disconnect all external drives before booting, all remaining drives are recognized. I can't call it a solution but it seems to be an effective workaround.

I assume that you do not have more than 24 drives or partitions total, including hidden partitions.

I found a solution to this problem that seems to work. I just had the same thing happen except it was two drives this time.

1) Unplug the drive the drive that's not being recognized
2) Run Windows Memory Test
3) Plug the drive back in
4) Boot

In my recent situation, I had to repeat the procedure for two different drives and the above worked.