Additional Hard Drives not recognized or usable

[jekemi2013]

After making change in Setup to AHCI only I installed a second hard drive but it still is not recognized. I also installed a PCIe card with M.2, NVMe Samsung 1TB SSD. It isn't recognized either. What else can I do to get my HP Z420 v2 system to recognize additional hard drives. I have an 800 Watt PSU, 32 GB server RAM, and an EVGA GTX 1080ti Graphics card. The graphics card works fine. My CPU is an Intel Xeon E5-2665 10 core processor. HELP!

[Brian1965]

Can you please clarify your problem. When you say not recognized, are you saying the drives are not visible in;

a. BIOS

b. Windows Device Manager

c. Windows Explorer

Also, what models are the M.2 NVMe drive and the PCIe adapter card? What PCI slot is the M.2 drive installed in?

[DGroves]

you should leave the Bios defaults to Raid+AHCI, as this setting is the most compatible/fastest for the z420

the raid extensions by default contain the AHCI driver, and the raid bios will only be loaded/used if you create a raid array otherwise it's not loaded and only the AHCI extensions are active

new drives are usually pre partitioned and  formatted as Fat32 and should be reformatted as NTFS using "disk Management"

disk management will also show if the drive has been partitioned, if not then partition and format

https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/how-to-partition-a-hard-drive-in-windows/

https://www.wikihow.com/Partition-Your-Hard-Drive-in-Windows-7

[jekemi2013]

Here's my system: 

One is a Samsung M.2 NVMe SSD, which is in a PCIe card, fitted in the short-length slot on the motherboard. This drive will be my number 2 drive for data and large graphics, etc. I am not attempting to boot from this drive. The third drive is a Samsung 1TB SATA SSD, which will be used for backup. Here’s my system:

• HP Z420 motherboard v2 ready
• Intel Xeon E5-2670 CPU, 10 cores, 2.5 GHz
• I’m using a LEPA closed-loop liquid cooled CPU cooler with 240mm radiator and 4 120mm fans arranged in a push-pull configuration
• 32 GB HP DDR3 server RAM, 1600 MHz

So far, the drives are still not being recognized. 

• EVGA GTX 1080ti Graphics Card
• Two Samsung 870 QVO SATA III internal SSD’s
• Samsung 1TB 970 EVO M.2 NVMe SSD
• M.2 NVMe to PCIe 3.0 x4 Adapter
• Windows 10 Pro
• all drives are formatted NTFS

[DGroves]

you need to answer brian1965's questions, specifically....do the drives show in the Bios

[Brian1965]

When you say the M.2 PCIe card is installed in the short slot, are you referring to the PCIe slot nearest the CPU? This is pci slot 1, which although physically is a 4x pci lane slot width, only 1x pci lane is active - the M.2 drive will NOT work in this pci slot. The M.2 pci adapter card must be installed in a pci slot with at least 4x active PCI lanes, and ideally PCIe 3.0 compliant, e.g. either slot 4 or 5, (since slot 2 is being used by your GPU).

[jekemi2013]

That's correct, the devices are not visible in BIOS, Windows Device Manager, or in Windows Explorer. A drive connected externally through a USB cable is recognized, but not connected internally using a SATA cable and one of the PSU's data cables. 

The model of the M.2, NVMe drive is a Samsung, 970 EVO. The PCIE card is nvm express. Supports PCIe M.2 NVMe M key SSD mount. I have tried it in Slot 1 and in Slot 5, but makes no difference. As I mentioned I have tried both AHCI and RAID + AHCI. 

It appears to be somewhat random. Sometimes when I have the drive connected internally it boots to Windows but the drive is not seen anywhere. Sometimes it won't go to Windows, just to a short POST, then nothing - blank screen. I have formatted the drives to NTSF, tried both GPT and MBR. Makes no difference. 

My system is an HP Z420 v2. I am running an Intel Xeon E5-2670 10 core, 2.6 GHz.  I have 64 GB DDR3 ECC server RAM, 1600 MHz. 

[DGroves]

the nvme drive cannot be a boot drive, and it must be installed in a slot that is at least x4

not all slots are x4 electrically on the z420 only slots 4/5/3 are suitable (3 is a last choice slot)

if installed in slot 5 as a non booting drive (IE- another sata based drive is C:\) and the nvme does not show then 

OS is not a 64 bit windows (install a 64bit windows OS)

M.2 carrier is defective (replace m.2 carrier)

SSD is defective (try another ssd)

pci-e slot is defective (test in other slots)

[Brian1965]

I agree with DGroves regarding the M.2 drive. If it's not visible in the BIOS when placed in either PCI slot (3), 4 or 5 then the M.2 PCI adapter card is likely the culprit. Even I fell for this trap with my SM951 M.2 AHCI drive. I initially bought a cheap PCI adapter card on eBay and couldn't even see the drive visible in the BIOS. I then bought an ASUS M.2 PCI adapter card and the drive works perfectly (and installed very easily, after initializing the drive in Drive Manager).

[jekemi2013]

Update on HPZ420v2 recognizing multiple drives. Thanks again for your assistance

1. both Samsung 1TB SSD drives are recognized, both in System and in Windows File Explorer and are working correctly - able to store files to them

2. Samsung 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD installed on PCIe M.2, NVMe adapter card. It is recognized in both System and in Windows File Explorer and is working correctly - able to store files to it

3. DVD R/W player is NOT being recognized in either System or in Windows File Explorer. I can put a CD in the player, the green light comes on and blinks as though it is about to play the CD but then stops, with no detectable spinning. 

4. I am still on AHCI only and will try everything again switching to RAID-AHCI and see if it makes a difference. I hesitate to do that because it tends to wipe out Windows 10 forcing me to reinstall Windows 10 but if that's the case and all drives are working, I guess that's the price I will pay. Thanks to all of you that attempted to assist me. Not sure which suggestion did the trick but I'm making progress.