Secondary Hard Drive Not Recognized in Windows 10 After Upgrade

After upgrading from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10, a 2TB internal secondary hard drive that previously worked no longer appears in File Explorer or Disk Management.
In Device Manager, the drive shows under “Other devices” instead of “Disk drives”, and it cannot be assigned a drive letter.

This usually happens when Windows 10 lacks the correct storage controller or chipset driver to properly communicate with the hard drive. As a result, the system does not recognize the disk as a usable storage device.

Solution

Step 1: Check Device Manager for Unrecognized Devices

1. Press Windows + X and select Device Manager.

2. Expand Other devices and locate the unknown device related to the hard drive.

3. Right-click the device, select Properties, and go to the Details tab.

4. Choose Hardware Ids from the drop-down list.

5. Copy the listed hardware ID for driver identification.

Step 2: Update or Reinstall Drivers Manually

1. Visit the laptop manufacturer’s support page.

2. Download and install the latest chipset drivers or SATA storage controller drivers for your device model and Windows version.

3. In Device Manager, right-click the unknown device, choose Update driver, and browse to the folder containing the downloaded drivers.

Step 3: Verify BIOS Settings

1. Reboot the computer and enter BIOS/UEFI (usually by pressing F2, DEL, or ESC during startup).

2. Check that the secondary hard drive is detected in BIOS.

3. If available, set the SATA mode to AHCI.

4. Save changes and exit BIOS.

Step 4: Use Diskpart (If Disk Management Fails)

1. Press Windows + X, select Command Prompt (Admin) or Windows PowerShell (Admin).

2. Type the following commands: