Just bought a samsung HD501LJ HDD and..

[antihero]

My computer doesn't recognize it, and their site doesn't offer any drivers. Anyone happen to have the same HDD and had the same problem before? Or if anyone knows a good site for drivers, I would be very grateful.

Thanks in advance!

[b0ss]

I could be wrong, but don't you have to install a driver for a SATA-HDD before you can use it? In the most cases they deliver a driver diskette beside the HDD.

[Blu]

Yea, You can usually go into the bios, And goto the sata properties and turn the proper controller on. (Some mobo's come with only one controller/port turned on and the others off)

[ZERO_ice]

If you inserted the disk correctly and you're PC just doesn’t detect (shows as if there is no disk there) it you probably haven't set you're BIOS right (probably have to set master slave & configure the jumpers right). Above all read the manual.

[bondo]

possibly, the drive is being recognized but not mounted because it has not been formated. Have you tried using the Administration Tools->Computer Management then select "disk Management" and see if the drive is there and then you have to format it. That is if you are using Win2k or WinXP or Vista.

Look in your BIOS and see if it recognizes your drive. If it does not then you probably have a connection problem or your BIOS is not up to date. You will need to check with your computer or motherboard maker for a firmware update.

[C8wXZbpw]

Hi there, antihero:

• Hard drives don't need drivers. But many other things still have to be configured, so read on.
• Does your disk controller recognize the hard drive? The disk controller is the thing that you plug your hard drive into, which is usually the motherboard.
• When you start up your computer, go into the BIOS and check that your hard drive is displayed in the list of attached storage devices.
• Do you have Windows drivers for the SATA disk controller? If not, then install the appropriate drivers for your motherboard.
• Now you need to format your drive. Go to Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Disk Management. Create a new primary partition on that new disk drive. Use NTFS. Make it fill up all the space.
• Done! Don't forget to do some sanity tests to make sure the disk and the whole system works.

[C8wXZbpw]

Btw, for everyone's benefit, here are the specs for the Samsung SpinPoint T166 HD501LJ:

• 500 GB
• SATA 3.0 Gb/s (gigabits)
• 16 MiB cache
• 7200 RPM
• NCQ
• Approx. $90 USD
• 3-year warranty