Consider a situation where you enter the system BIOS to change the boot sequence. Upon entering BIOS, you realize that the internal SSD is not showing up. There are many possible reasons for this to occur such as a faulty data cable or a faulty SSD. Here, in this article, we cover the reasons for this error and potential solutions to resolve the same. Before moving ahead let us first understand the common scenario for the occurrence of this "SSD not detected in BIOS" error
Why is my SSD not being detected?
Below listed are the common reasons for SSD not being detected
- Faulty or disconnected data cable
- Outdated device drivers
- Drive not enabled in the BIOS
- Faulty SSD drive not detected by Computer
In the section below, you will learn the hassle-free methods to recover SSD not detected and resolve the issue effortlessly.
How do I fix my SSD not detected?
Solution 1: Enable Drive in BIOS
If your hard disk is not being detected in BIOS, it is possible that the drive has not been set up yet. To set up the drive, follow the steps below.
- Restart your computer and press the ‘F2’ key or any key according to your PC
Note: Different PC manufacturers use different keys to enter the system BIOS. If you have a Dell, F2 key is normally used to enter BIOS. Find out the key on your computer to enter BIOS and hit that particular key.
- This will open the system BIOS; go through the system documentation to check if the hard drive is turned OFF
- If it is OFF, turn it ON in system setup
- After you have turned it ON, restart your computer and enter BIOS again to check if your drive is detected and the problem is resolved.
If the drive is still not detected, there is a possibility that your drivers are not updated. To update drivers, go to the next step.
Solution 2: Update Device Drivers
If the device drivers in your system are outdated, there are chances that the hard drive may not be detected. To update device drivers, you can follow the steps below.
- Click on the Start menu and search for ‘Device Manager’ and hit Enter
- Open Device Manager and identify your hard drive from the list
- Right-click on the hard drive and select Update drivers
- Then select Search automatically for updated driver software
This will update the device drivers automatically. However, if this doesn’t help, you can also try uninstalling the drivers. To do this, right-click on your hard drive, click on Uninstall to uninstall drivers. Then restart your system and this will automatically ‘reinstall’ drivers for you. Now enter BIOS and check if the drive is being detected. If not, proceed to the next step.
Solution 3: Verify and Replace Faulty Data Cable
First thing you should do is to inspect the motherboard and SSD connections to verify if there is any bent or misaligned pins. If a cable is pinched, creased or even folded, it might cause breakage internally. Externally your cable might look good but it will be damaged internally.
If there is a damaged SATA cable or other data cable, you might consider replacing the cable. You can refer to the laptop or SSD manufacturer website to see the recommended length of the cables. Seagate, actually recommends their users to for shorter cables that is less than 1 meter.
Solution 4: Configure SSD Settings
If your SSD is not showing up in BIOS it is likely that SATA controller mode is not set properly. You can configure the SATA controller mode by following the steps below.
- Restart your computer and keep pressing the F2
- Press the Enter key to enter SATA Configuration.
- Select serial ATA and hit Enter.
- You will see, SATA Controller Mode Choose the IDE Compatibility Mode.
- Now Save the changes and restart your computer to enter BIOS.
- Now the BIOS will be able to detect your SSD
In case the BIOS does not detect SSD then move the next section of the article.
Solution 5: Faulty SSD not Getting Detected
If none of the above methods work, it’s possible that your SSD is faulty. Faulty, damaged or a crashed SSD can be a result of many reasons such as temperature and ventilation to the drive, a large number of bad sectors, etc. In this case, you may need to examine further to debug the issue.
In most of the cases, one of the above methodologies will address the SSD is not detected. If your drive is severely corrupt or has bad sectors, formatting it may resolve the issue in some cases. A downside to formatting is that all data will be lost. If you have a backup, well and good!
However, if your data is lost and there is no backup, Remo Recover is a great choice to recover data from a formatted SSD. Refer to SSD data recovery for more details.
SSD Not Detected? Recover Data from Faulty SSD
Remo Recover is a reliable data recovery utility that can retrieve any lost, formatted, or deleted data from your SSD effortlessly. It scans your formatted SSD and restores all your data is only a few minutes.
The tool is programmed with an advanced scan engine that can analyze from sector to sector in order to retrieve your valuable data from hard drive of any corruption. The software can also recover data from the bad sectors.
Steps to Recover Data from Faulty SSD using Remo Recover:
Connect your SSD to another computer, don’t worry about your computer showing the drive on screen. Download and install Remo Hard Drive Recovery Software on your computer and follow the below mentioned steps:
- Launch Remo Recover, Click on Recover Partitions, list of drives available on your computer will be displayed and select your SSD which was not getting detected. Click on Scan
- This will initiate a scan process and after completion of the scanning process, you will be displayed the recoverable data.
- Preview the files and verify the SSD recovery. If you find all your files, go ahead and Save them on to desired location.
Final Words:
All the above mentioned methods will certainly help you fix SSD not getting detected issue on your computer. However, even after following all above mentioned methods, if you were not able to make your SSD detected in BIOS then you might have to consider finding a solution offline. In case you were successful in fixing SSD not detected issue here, do let us know your thoughts below and also share the word.
