On legacy computers, if the internal hard drive is not detected when the computer is booted with a boot diskette, follow these steps to resolve the problem.

DDO (dynamic drive overlay) or other software utility

The computer’s hard drive may be utilizing a DDO (dynamic drive overlay), which is commonly used for larger hard drives to allow them to work properly. When using a DDO, you must boot the computer from the hard drive as normal. As the computer is boots, a message to press a key such as Ctrl+Esc to boot from a floppy. Once the key combination is pressed, you can place a boot disk into the computer.

Hard drive is a SCSI hard drive

If you are using a SCSI hard drive, it may not be seen until the SCSI device drivers are loaded. Also, some manufacturers may require the drive to be set up and created through the SCSI utility and not fdisk.

Hard drive is not properly setup in CMOS

If the computer hard drive is not configured properly in CMOS setup, the hard drive won’t be recognized properly. Verify that CMOS is properly detecting and initializing the hard drive.

  • How to enter and exit the BIOS or CMOS setup.

Hard drive is bad, not formatted

If when typing fdisk you receive a message saying “No Fixed Disks preset,” the hard drive may be bad or have a loose connection. If you can get into the fdisk options, delete, and then recreate the partition. Also, after this is done format the partition to allow it to be readable.

  • See our fdisk page for further information.
  • How to install a hard drive or SSD.
  • How to create a computer boot disk.
  • Hard drive help and support.