320 ssd not being recognized by windows 7

[idata]

I'm trying to install my ssd into my laptop, using the data migration software. When I plug the ssd to my computer, using a sata to usb cable, my computer beeps and says installing device drivers. It then tells me the installation was complete and my mass storage device is available for use. However, I do not see the external drive anywhere on my computers screen and when I try to run the migration software it tells me that at least one Intel SSD device needs to be attached. I have tried this on 2 different machines with the same result. Do I have a defective ssd?

Thanks

[idata · Accepted solution]

Your drive may be fine. I ran into the same thing with my laptop. I'm still learning about this stuff, but apparently the migration software won't support usb-to-sata -- it won't recognize the drive. So you'll need to use a different cloning software -- there's more than one free app, I used Macrium Reflect Disk, which worked fine with a little tweaking. I had to clone one partition at a time because I was going from a larger to a smaller disk, but once I figure that part out, it was OK.

Now, of course Win 7 needs to see your drive. In my case, Win 7 didn't seem to see it since it didn't show up in Windows Explorer. But, when I went to Control Panel/System and Security/Create and format hard disk partitions (under Administrative Tools), the drive was there as a blank volume. I did a quick format and the disk came alive as the D drive. Intel migration still didn't see it, but Windows did, and from there I was able to clone.

Good luck!

[idata]

Thank you so much for answering my question. You were right in that I needed to go into the format disk partitions and do a format for it to show up, as well as needing different migration software.

I really appreciate you saving me the headache of saving a perfectly fine drive back!

[idata]

I'm glad it worked.

I've now installed a couple of these as boot drives (on my desktop and laptop), and each time the process of getting them up had a few more bumps than I hoped for -- Intel's instructions and software could be better. (I'm 0 for 2 with Intel's migration app.) But persistence paid off, and the drives themselves are great -- I'm getting the speed I was hoping for.