I recently updated the BIOS on my Gigabyte AM4 motherboard, and afterward noticed that my 3.5-inch SATA hard drive was missing. It does not appear in Windows Disk Management, and the BIOS reports the SATA port as "Not Installed." Windows is installed on an M.2 SSD, so the computer still boots normally. The HDD spins up and vibrates without clicking or other unusual sounds. I have tried different SATA power connections, SATA cables, and ports, but the drive still is not detected. I also recently dealt with malware and reset Windows, so I am unsure whether the drive disappeared before or after that incident. The HDD is around two to three years old. Could a BIOS update cause this, or could malware make a drive disappear from BIOS? What should I check next?
3 Answers
The fact that the HDD spins only confirms that it is receiving power; it does not prove that the electronics or read heads are working. Since it is absent from both BIOS and Disk Management, Windows cannot repair or assign a letter to it. Testing it on another system is the best next step. If it remains invisible there, treat it as a hardware failure and avoid repeated power cycling if the data is important.
A virus is very unlikely to make a drive vanish from the BIOS. Since the BIOS itself says the port is not installed, this is happening below Windows, so changing drive letters or reinitializing the disk will not help yet. Try another known-good SATA data cable, another motherboard port, and confirm that the drive is receiving both power connectors. Also check whether the BIOS update changed the SATA controller mode or disabled the ports. If possible, test the HDD in another computer or with a USB-to-SATA adapter. If it is not detected there either, the drive or its controller has probably failed.
A BIOS update can reset settings or occasionally introduce a compatibility problem, so load the BIOS defaults and verify that the SATA controller is enabled. You could also check the motherboard support page for a newer BIOS or carefully roll back to the previous stable version if the problem began immediately after the update. Before doing that, disconnect unnecessary drives and make sure the board is using the expected AHCI setting rather than a changed RAID or storage mode.
It is roughly two or three years old. I already tried different ports, power connections, and SATA cables, but the BIOS still does not detect it.