SATA HDD disappear after installing IRST

[EnvyYou]

Hi All,

At the moment I’m working with a MAXIMUS VIII Ranger motherboard and I have encounter this problem. After installing the IRST_15.2.1.1028 driver (Intel Rapid Storage Controller) from here https://www.asus.com/au/Motherboards/MAXIMUS-VIII-RANGER/HelpDesk_Download/ my WD Black SATA Drive will disappear from Windows and Bios ONLY a reboot. After this happens it takes about 5 times longer to enter BIOS or Windows then it normally does.
If I power the machine off and do a cold boot the drive will appear.

Does anyone have any ideas? I have reformatted Windows twice and this happens each time. I have installed many other systems and have not had my HDDS disappear after installing IRST.

Am running 1 SSD and 1 SATA Drive, both are installed into the top two slots 0,1 (Not Sata Express)

Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor
CRYORIG H5 Universal 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler
Asus Z170 PRO GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard
G.Skill Ripjaws Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory
Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Western Digital BLACK SERIES 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB GAMING Video Card
NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case
Corsair RMx 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply

[emsir]

EnvyYou wrote:
Hi All,

At the moment I’m working with a MAXIMUS VIII Ranger motherboard and I have encounter this problem. After installing the IRST_15.2.1.1028 driver (Intel Rapid Storage Controller) from here https://www.asus.com/au/Motherboards/MAXIMUS-VIII-RANGER/HelpDesk_Download/ my WD Black SATA Drive will disappear from Windows and Bios ONLY a reboot. After this happens it takes about 5 times longer to enter BIOS or Windows then it normally does.
If I power the machine off and do a cold boot the drive will appear.

Does anyone have any ideas? I have reformatted Windows twice and this happens each time. I have installed many other systems and have not had my HDDS disappear after installing IRST.

Am running 1 SSD and 1 SATA Drive, both are installed into the top two slots 0,1 (Not Sata Express)

Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor
CRYORIG H5 Universal 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler
Asus Z170 PRO GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard
G.Skill Ripjaws Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory
Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Western Digital BLACK SERIES 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB GAMING Video Card
NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case
Corsair RMx 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply

There is a problem with the SATA connectors on WD Black HDD's. The SATA cable will not connect with a click on these SATA drives and will disconnect very easy. It's a known problem and it's recommended to stay away from these drives until WD fix it. Try to check if the SATA cable has come loose.
If you search on Internet you will see many having the same problem with these drives. It also happens with other drives from WD.
I had 2 WD drives with the same SATA cable problem and experienced the drive not showing up in Windows Explorer and BIOS from time to time (SATA cable disconnected from the drive). I have stopped buying WD HDD. WD has not done anything to fix the problem. All my mechanical drives are Seagate now and the problem is gone.

[EnvyYou]

emsir wrote:
There is a problem with the SATA connectors on WD Black HDD's. The SATA cable will not connect with a click on these SATA drives and will disconnect very easy. It's a known problem and it's recommended to stay away from these drives until WD fix it. Try to check if the SATA cable has come loose.
If you search on Internet you will see many having the same problem with these drives. It also happens with other drives from WD.
I had 2 WD drives with the same SATA cable problem and experienced the drive not showing up in Windows Explorer and BIOS from time to time (SATA cable disconnected from the drive). I have stopped buying WD HDD. WD has not done anything to fix the problem. All my mechanical drives are Seagate now and the problem is gone.

Hi Emsir,

The issue goes away as soon as i uninstall the IRST and when i install it again it reappears, in this case the issue isn't the HDD.

Its the IRST Driver.

[Chino]

Don't install the IRST driver.

[Vlada011]

I experience same problem with WD2003FZEX. Solution disconnect and connect SATA Cable.
Try to do that on HDD, not motherboard.
I didn't had problem with Blue but that was SATA II. I will try to remove IRST.
If not we need to check these new WD Black 4TB and 6TB 256MB. Because many people report this problem on WD forum for FZEX and other drives.
It's weird because my HDD was 2016, I found him for half price barely used.

If someone is interest these new WD are launched before few months.

Models

WD4005FZBX 4TB 256MB
WD6003FZBX 6TB 256MB

There are and WD Gold but different purpose, someone say even better than Black.
Maybe not in speed but generaly and they are higher capacity, but price is insane if you ask me for HDD.

WD8003FRYZ 8TB 265MB
WD101KRYZ 10TB 256MB
WD121KRYZ 12TB 256MB

Maybe these HDDs have some different firmware, but if recommend is uninstall IRST, why not.
PC run and without him.

[Vlada011]

This is one of rear problems when you find direct solution immediately on internet.
Looks like from some reason IRST really make mess with some HDDs.
Some people say newer IRST Drivers not make problems, but for us with X99 I think last IRST is as you see on ASUS site among other drivers v14.xxxx
People talk about v15.xxxx