Hard drive disappered after Win 7 x64 updates installed

primnull

Ok so long story short I was trying to install Substance Painter 2 which I purchased earlier this week. I got this error saying I was missing a DLL file. I contacted the manufacturer of the software and they said my C++ Redistribute packages were out of date and I should do a windows update. This was 4 days ago. Yesterday and today I spent most of my time using the Windows updater tool to no avail. Let it run for 20 hrs... nothing.

I went down to my local PC fix it store and the guy had no clue besides doing a restart. Err duh. Figured it was worth a shot asking someone but he wasn't too clued in..

I googled the problem of the Updater taking FOREVER and saw a thread here and followed their steps in Solution 1 (downloading specific updates to FIX the windows updater). Success and I ran the updater and it installed approx 123 updates.

http://www.askvg.com/fix-windows-7-keeps-checking-for-updates-for-hours/

Ok all well and good, tons of restarts and my updates all applied.

I run SubPainter 2 and it works but informs me my video drivers are out of date. I go to nvidia and download newest for my 560 TI. Installed and another reset.

The drivers I installed (it failed twice from the official site so I found a mirror download)

NVIDIA Forceware 378.92 WHQL (Windows 7/8 64-bit) Download for Windows / FileHorse.com

Now my G:/ drive, storage, not boot, is gone. My icons for programs are gone and I can't see it in the My computer. I did not bump the cables or anything inside my tower.

Please help. Not only can I not listen to music from my G:, nor can I even run the new software which was working great no less than 30 mins ago (it is also installed on the G: drive)

Open to any suggestions

EliasWick

Sounds like a very strange error. It seems to have disappeared along with your updates. Have you checked the Harddrive Partition?: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg309170.aspx
I would recommend to start there... In the worst case senario the harddrive could have died or lost it's connection

So to sum it all up in order:
1. Check the Harddrive Partition and see if you can access anything from the drive.
2. Check the connection with the drive. Check cables connected to the Harddrive.
3. If possible move the drive over to another computer and check it there.
4. If all of the above doesn't work, the drive could be dead and due to unfortunate events, it happened to die during your Windows Update. It could just be a coincidence.

Make sure to get back to me if you have any other ideas and or if the above doesn't work. I would really like to know if you get it back up running. This must be one of the more infuriating things that can ba

throttlekitty

I don't know filehorse, but getting system drivers from a third party site when the official ones are available and maintained is quite a red flag. I'd also suggest doing a virus/malware scan.

If the drive doesn't show in Windows disk manager, check the BIOS setup to make sure the system can see the drive. Usually by hitting Del during the boot sequence. If it's not showing in the BIOS setup then you know there is an issue with cables, the drive or ports on the motherboard. It's unlikely you have a problem with power but that might be something to look at if Elias' suggestions and a virus scan don't help.

primnull

update:
Only my C shows up in Disk Management. This is not a new disk, I've used it for 3 years now
the only second listed thing is my CD/DVD drive which has a disk in it (a game)
http://imgur.com/jOtdpnY
http://i.imgur.com/jOtdpnY.jpg?1

primnull

Update:
Ok I took several pictures while in BIOS and my second HD is indeed there but not viewable in my OS. I also took a pic of a message that pops up when I start windows. Something about doing disk storage etc. I really don't want to delete or reformat my second drive, I just want it back! All my music, steam games, and 3d stuff is on that 500 gb drive. Hope this new info helps!
http://imgur.com/a/pWANV
http://imgur.com/a/pWANV

m4dcow

Try booting with something like Hiren's Boot Cd and seeing if you can actually read the second hard drive because showing up in bios doesn't always mean the hard drive is working.

CreativeSheep

Sounds like Malware got triggered.

primnull

I ran avast full scan yesterday, no hits

edit: ok I made my hirens boot usb and am confident I can make it boot instead of using C drive. What options should I look into to find the drive?

m4dcow

primnull said:

I ran avast full scan yesterday, no hits

edit: ok I made my hirens boot usb and am confident I can make it boot instead of using C drive. What options should I look into to find the drive?

It has a bunch of different hard drive diagnostic tools along with certain tools to repair partitions etc... You could also boot into the XP environment to see if the drive shows up, if it does and works you might have some sort of malware on your actual OS.

primnull

I use Avast! for my anti-virus. Can you suggest something better? I think Avast! only checks virus and misc things like weak password, rarely used programs, etc

primnull

ok well for whatever reason i started my comp up today and my G drive is back, no files missing, all parent/child folders working. I wish I knew why this happened in the first place though. watching subpaintr2 vids now hopefully work to show soon