Dell Inspiron Laptop - D drive is not visible
Discussion
Hi All,
I have a one year old Dell Inspiron 7570 laptop. Last week I noticed the laptop make a louder 'processing' noise than normal and shortly after I noticed the D drive was not visible on file explorer. The laptop also takes longer to start-up.
I called Dell who asked me run a diagnostic to check the hardware. It came back with no hard-drive related faults so they said it must be a software issue. They transferred me to the ' Dell software support' team who wanted £48 to run a remote diagnostic and troubleshoot. I declined until I can see if this a problem that can be fixed easily myself (with help of the internet forum).
Any thoughts on the best course of action? Why might software (windows update?) affect D drive visibility.
I have a one year old Dell Inspiron 7570 laptop. Last week I noticed the laptop make a louder 'processing' noise than normal and shortly after I noticed the D drive was not visible on file explorer. The laptop also takes longer to start-up.
I called Dell who asked me run a diagnostic to check the hardware. It came back with no hard-drive related faults so they said it must be a software issue. They transferred me to the ' Dell software support' team who wanted £48 to run a remote diagnostic and troubleshoot. I declined until I can see if this a problem that can be fixed easily myself (with help of the internet forum).
Any thoughts on the best course of action? Why might software (windows update?) affect D drive visibility.
Hi
I think the Dell has 2 drives something like a 128 or 256GB C Drive which is flash based. The other being a 1 or2 TB Mechanical (spinning drive) (D) I think the mechanical drive is usually a Seagate or Western Digital variant
Can you get into your laptops bios its usually accessible by pressing the F2 button repeatedly on start up. To do this power off the laptop. Leave off a few moments then power up and press the F2 button repeatedly. The screen may say entering set up mode or something similar
The laptop should then enter bios mode.
If the bios is similar to my Dell Latitude you should have a vertical list under the word settings and if you click on system information and scroll down you should see under device information your list of hard drives. They may appear as Primary / Mini Card/ Dock etc whatever
Look to see if 2 are listed one will be lower capacity of maybe 128 or 256GB and the other will list as a 1 or 2 TB drive
If only one is listed then it looks like the mechanical drive has failed or the connector has failed. this means the drive needs replacing
If both are listed then it means the laptop can see it in bios but not in windows
If its the latter then you can right click on start and left click on Disk management and you may be able to see it. If so you may have to allocate a drive letter to it so it shows in file explorer.
I suspect the drive has failed and needs replacing. Its (to me) relatively easy to do but first thinbgs first
If any of the above seems written as if sucking eggs its not meant to be by the way
Good luck
I think the Dell has 2 drives something like a 128 or 256GB C Drive which is flash based. The other being a 1 or2 TB Mechanical (spinning drive) (D) I think the mechanical drive is usually a Seagate or Western Digital variant
Can you get into your laptops bios its usually accessible by pressing the F2 button repeatedly on start up. To do this power off the laptop. Leave off a few moments then power up and press the F2 button repeatedly. The screen may say entering set up mode or something similar
The laptop should then enter bios mode.
If the bios is similar to my Dell Latitude you should have a vertical list under the word settings and if you click on system information and scroll down you should see under device information your list of hard drives. They may appear as Primary / Mini Card/ Dock etc whatever
Look to see if 2 are listed one will be lower capacity of maybe 128 or 256GB and the other will list as a 1 or 2 TB drive
If only one is listed then it looks like the mechanical drive has failed or the connector has failed. this means the drive needs replacing
If both are listed then it means the laptop can see it in bios but not in windows
If its the latter then you can right click on start and left click on Disk management and you may be able to see it. If so you may have to allocate a drive letter to it so it shows in file explorer.
I suspect the drive has failed and needs replacing. Its (to me) relatively easy to do but first thinbgs first
If any of the above seems written as if sucking eggs its not meant to be by the way
Good luck
Edited by anonymous-user on Friday 18th January 13:43
techiedave said:
Hi
I think the Dell has 2 drives something like a 128 or 256GB C Drive which is flash based. The other being a 1 or2 TB Mechanical (spinning drive) (D) I think the mechanical drive is usually a Seagate or Western Digital variant
Can you get into your laptops bios its usually accessible by pressing the F2 button repeatedly on start up. To do this power off the laptop. Leave off a few moments then power up and press the F2 button repeatedly. The screen may say entering set up mode or something similar
The laptop should then enter bios mode.
If the bios is similar to my Dell Latitude you should have a vertical list under the word settings and if you click on system information and scroll down you should see under device information your list of hard drives. They may appear as Primary / Mini Card/ Dock etc whatever
Look to see if 2 are listed one will be lower capacity of maybe 128 or 256GB and the other will list as a 1 or 2 TB drive
If only one is listed then it looks like the mechanical drive has failed or the connector has failed. this means the drive needs replacing
If both are listed then it means the laptop can see it in bios but not in windows
If its the latter then you can right click on start and left click on Disk management and you may be able to see it. If so you may have to allocate a drive letter to it so it shows in file explorer.
I suspect the drive has failed and needs replacing. Its (to me) relatively easy to do but first thinbgs first
If any of the above seems written as if sucking eggs its not meant to be by the way
Good luck
Thanks for this advice.I think the Dell has 2 drives something like a 128 or 256GB C Drive which is flash based. The other being a 1 or2 TB Mechanical (spinning drive) (D) I think the mechanical drive is usually a Seagate or Western Digital variant
Can you get into your laptops bios its usually accessible by pressing the F2 button repeatedly on start up. To do this power off the laptop. Leave off a few moments then power up and press the F2 button repeatedly. The screen may say entering set up mode or something similar
The laptop should then enter bios mode.
If the bios is similar to my Dell Latitude you should have a vertical list under the word settings and if you click on system information and scroll down you should see under device information your list of hard drives. They may appear as Primary / Mini Card/ Dock etc whatever
Look to see if 2 are listed one will be lower capacity of maybe 128 or 256GB and the other will list as a 1 or 2 TB drive
If only one is listed then it looks like the mechanical drive has failed or the connector has failed. this means the drive needs replacing
If both are listed then it means the laptop can see it in bios but not in windows
If its the latter then you can right click on start and left click on Disk management and you may be able to see it. If so you may have to allocate a drive letter to it so it shows in file explorer.
I suspect the drive has failed and needs replacing. Its (to me) relatively easy to do but first thinbgs first
If any of the above seems written as if sucking eggs its not meant to be by the way
Good luck
Edited by techiedave on Friday 18th January 13:43
I have looked at the Bios and apart from the SSD, I cannot see the D drive. See attached pictures.
How do I go about resolving this with Dell? ( I am a little peeved that their diagnostic check doesn't pick up the missing drive).
I hope Dell can use common sense to investigate and rectify issue rather than point to software.
Does this mean I have lost the data on the D drive too?
|https://thumbsnap.com/YMzqkwfW[/url]
SATA-1 isn't showing up in the BIOS status screen.
Disabled somewhere? Note that SATA-0 is showing, but empty.
Otherwise; next step is to open laptop and make sure drive cable is seated. After that, replace-drive with another to check.
If still not detected you could run Dell DellSupport Assist and see if there is a BIOS update, a reflash might re-invigorate it.
After that, looks like a return to Dell.
Disabled somewhere? Note that SATA-0 is showing, but empty.
Otherwise; next step is to open laptop and make sure drive cable is seated. After that, replace-drive with another to check.
If still not detected you could run Dell DellSupport Assist and see if there is a BIOS update, a reflash might re-invigorate it.
After that, looks like a return to Dell.
Edited by Slushbox on Friday 18th January 20:23
HiJim OP
I urge you not to do what the poster above has suggested in good faith
ie Do not reflash the bios.
I have made the mistake of doing this myself in the past and there is no reason to do it. A few Dell bios updates have caused issues with other functions this will no doubt be disputed by other posters but I genuinely believe you shouldnt unless advised to do so by Dell themselves
It looks like the D Drive has failed - the noises you reported bothered me originally in the post
The thing you are reporting is exactly the same I saw on someomne elses Dell late last year however they were happy enough to have the thing opened up and I replaced the failed Western Digital (in their case) 1TB drive with a replacement and everything was fine. They did a backup of the data onto an external so it was pretty much as before
It is VERY likely that you have lost what was on the D Drive.Its sometimes possible to retrieve data from a drive by putting it in an external caddy and copying it back. That tends to work when the OS( operating system ) wont boot as its corrupted but otherwise the drive is basically ok
In your case I doubt thats the case as I think the drive itself has failed or at least part of it has
I think your next step is to contact Dell again see if there is warranty. I think you can do this by putting the service tag number into their site
I do think the reralistic scenario is youve lost the data and it cant be emphasised enough how important it is to back up data in future
I urge you not to do what the poster above has suggested in good faith
ie Do not reflash the bios.
I have made the mistake of doing this myself in the past and there is no reason to do it. A few Dell bios updates have caused issues with other functions this will no doubt be disputed by other posters but I genuinely believe you shouldnt unless advised to do so by Dell themselves
It looks like the D Drive has failed - the noises you reported bothered me originally in the post
The thing you are reporting is exactly the same I saw on someomne elses Dell late last year however they were happy enough to have the thing opened up and I replaced the failed Western Digital (in their case) 1TB drive with a replacement and everything was fine. They did a backup of the data onto an external so it was pretty much as before
It is VERY likely that you have lost what was on the D Drive.Its sometimes possible to retrieve data from a drive by putting it in an external caddy and copying it back. That tends to work when the OS( operating system ) wont boot as its corrupted but otherwise the drive is basically ok
In your case I doubt thats the case as I think the drive itself has failed or at least part of it has
I think your next step is to contact Dell again see if there is warranty. I think you can do this by putting the service tag number into their site
I do think the reralistic scenario is youve lost the data and it cant be emphasised enough how important it is to back up data in future
techiedave said:
HiJim OP
I urge you not to do what the poster above has suggested in good faith
ie Do not reflash the bios.
I have made the mistake of doing this myself in the past and there is no reason to do it. A few Dell bios updates have caused issues with other functions this will no doubt be disputed by other posters but I genuinely believe you shouldnt unless advised to do so by Dell themselves
BIOS updates provide security and stability updates. Dell Support Assist will always "recommend" them if they are available. Dell provide updates regularly for a reason: there were seven BIOS updates for this laptop in 2018 alone.I urge you not to do what the poster above has suggested in good faith
ie Do not reflash the bios.
I have made the mistake of doing this myself in the past and there is no reason to do it. A few Dell bios updates have caused issues with other functions this will no doubt be disputed by other posters but I genuinely believe you shouldnt unless advised to do so by Dell themselves
The current BIOS update 1.12 for the 7570 is from September 2018 and provides system stability fixes. The recommended Dell procedures are outlined in my previous post.
The SATA 1 port for the HDD isn't appearing in the BIOS status. The DELL procedure for this is: reset the BIOS defaults, reboot, retest. To check for corrupt BIOS: restore defaults/test, update BIOS, re-test.
If SATA port doesn't reappear, re-seat drive cable, re-test, substitute HDD, re-test.
Edited by Slushbox on Saturday 19th January 06:31
Slushbox said:
BIOS updates provide security and stability updates. Dell Support Assist will always "recommend" them if they are available. Dell provide updates regularly for a reason: there were seven BIOS updates for this laptop in 2018 alone.
The current BIOS update 1.12 for the 7570 is from September 2018 and provides system stability fixes. The recommended Dell procedures are outlined in my previous post.
The SATA 1 port for the HDD isn't appearing in the BIOS status. The DELL procedure for this is: reset the BIOS defaults, reboot, retest. To check for corrupt BIOS: restore defaults/test, update BIOS, re-test.
If SATA port doesn't reappear, re-seat drive cable, re-test, substitute HDD, re-test.
Thanks TechieDave and Slushbox for your help and insight so far.The current BIOS update 1.12 for the 7570 is from September 2018 and provides system stability fixes. The recommended Dell procedures are outlined in my previous post.
The SATA 1 port for the HDD isn't appearing in the BIOS status. The DELL procedure for this is: reset the BIOS defaults, reboot, retest. To check for corrupt BIOS: restore defaults/test, update BIOS, re-test.
If SATA port doesn't reappear, re-seat drive cable, re-test, substitute HDD, re-test.
Edited by Slushbox on Saturday 19th January 06:31
I am a computer novice but am willing to try the easy things to resolve first. How do I refresh the BIOS?
It is worth mentioning the computer takes much longer to start-up. I wonder if this alters the approach (software vs. hardware issue?).
Edited to add that I tried to install Seagate ST500LM030 and ST1000LM035 Series Hard Disk Drive Firmware Update from Dell, but on execution of application it resulted in 'fatal execution' error message. Unsurprising as drive does not show anywhere.
Edited by JimClark49 on Sunday 20th January 15:52
A quick update...Using Dell Support Assist, I performed a BIOS update but it didnt make any difference to the drive being visible.
The main drive is a SSD, and am wondering whether I should pay to have a second SSD instead of buying another HDD. What are your thoughts on this option?
A family friend has a computer repair business so would be the person I use to have it fitted.
Warranty with Dell is expired, and reading reviews on Trust pilot about their customer service doesn't fill me with confidence. I dont want to send them the laptop only for me not to receive it for weeks and weeks!
The main drive is a SSD, and am wondering whether I should pay to have a second SSD instead of buying another HDD. What are your thoughts on this option?
A family friend has a computer repair business so would be the person I use to have it fitted.
Warranty with Dell is expired, and reading reviews on Trust pilot about their customer service doesn't fill me with confidence. I dont want to send them the laptop only for me not to receive it for weeks and weeks!
JimClark49 said:
A quick update...Using Dell Support Assist, I performed a BIOS update but it didnt make any difference to the drive being visible.
The main drive is a SSD, and am wondering whether I should pay to have a second SSD instead of buying another HDD. What are your thoughts on this option?
A family friend has a computer repair business so would be the person I use to have it fitted.
Warranty with Dell is expired, and reading reviews on Trust pilot about their customer service doesn't fill me with confidence. I dont want to send them the laptop only for me not to receive it for weeks and weeks!
Hi Jim TBH I didn't think for a minute the bios update would make any difference. I also posted what I posted in good faith as I had a Dell AIO ruined by a bios update that then caused the fan to spin incredibly fast and make extremely loud noises thus ruining the computer for everyday use. Intensive googling led me to the bios update being responsible and Dell shirking responsibility.The main drive is a SSD, and am wondering whether I should pay to have a second SSD instead of buying another HDD. What are your thoughts on this option?
A family friend has a computer repair business so would be the person I use to have it fitted.
Warranty with Dell is expired, and reading reviews on Trust pilot about their customer service doesn't fill me with confidence. I dont want to send them the laptop only for me not to receive it for weeks and weeks!
I'm sure somneone wil l pop up and say how unusual how exceptional etc but you can only go off your own real experiences IMHO
A second SSD will be faster to write to so when putting data on it it will be quicker. However your existing SSD does most of the work in the unit. So installing the second drive an an SSD wont necessarily give you too much of a performance boost
Also the cost of a 1TB SSD is rather more than an SSD itself
Only you can weigh up those costs and benefits
One thing you need to do is buy a separate hard drive and discipline yourself to do regular back ups
Another thing you may want to consider is maximising the amount of ram your machine has this may lead to a performance boost and may represent better VFM than swapping the damaged hard drive for an SSD
Again its something to consider.
Oh your family friend should be able to do either of the above with relative ease as its just a case of popping in a suitable drive
Good luck with whatever you decide
BIOS/UEFI updates have been quite important recently (Spectre and Meltdown) . But as with window updates (and some) I would not rush to install the latest until they have been out for a while (and after googling for problems). There have been issues with Dell BIOS updates on Skylake chips (6700 to name but one) where the fan profiles have been messed up - I would suggest having an aftermarket program to control these if noise or thermal throttling is a problem (if the chip is unlocked then Intel XTU can be used to under-volt the chip to reduce temps with minimum impact on performance).
As to the OPs issue - I would have pulled the "D" drive out into a caddy and see if the drive was accessible (and also back up any data off it) - and an SSD would be a good upgrade even for the data drive in a laptop (less noise and less power usage).
As to the OPs issue - I would have pulled the "D" drive out into a caddy and see if the drive was accessible (and also back up any data off it) - and an SSD would be a good upgrade even for the data drive in a laptop (less noise and less power usage).
JimClark49 said:
A quick update...Using Dell Support Assist, I performed a BIOS update but it didnt make any difference to the drive being visible.
The main drive is a SSD, and am wondering whether I should pay to have a second SSD instead of buying another HDD. What are your thoughts on this option?
A family friend has a computer repair business so would be the person I use to have it fitted.
Warranty with Dell is expired, and reading reviews on Trust pilot about their customer service doesn't fill me with confidence. I dont want to send them the laptop only for me not to receive it for weeks and weeks!
Personally I wouldn't put in a second SSD, I'd use another HDD & make sure most of my datat was stored on it. SSDs are great for the OS & programmes but can fail without hope of data recovery whereas you have some chance withan HDD. Of course you should also have backups of your data.The main drive is a SSD, and am wondering whether I should pay to have a second SSD instead of buying another HDD. What are your thoughts on this option?
A family friend has a computer repair business so would be the person I use to have it fitted.
Warranty with Dell is expired, and reading reviews on Trust pilot about their customer service doesn't fill me with confidence. I dont want to send them the laptop only for me not to receive it for weeks and weeks!
If you image your SSD to an external drive on a regular basis (maybe monthly) then it's very easy to recover if the SSD dies.
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