AOMEI Partition Assistant
[Full Guide] Fix Acer Laptop Hard Drive Not Detected
This a comprehensive tutorial for fixing Acer laptop hard drive not detected suddenly. You can choose to use a quick solution or try common methods. All of these are practical to solve the Acer hard disk problem.
By Irene / Updated on March 14, 2025
Scenario
"My laptop (Acer Aspire 5570Z) while booting says hard disk not detected. It all happened suddenly. Nothing was wrong with my hard disk as well, my hard disk is 4 months old (HITACHI TRAVELSTAR) and my notebook is 1 year old. This hard drive is very vital for me; I really need your help. Thank you!"
The once-for-all solution for Acer laptop hard drive not detected
If your Acer laptop hard drive is damaged or has bad sectors, it may not be detected. The most direct and once-for-all method is to remove the corrupted disk. Replacing it with a new disk and cloning your data can resolve the issue. AOMEI Partition Assistant supports Windows 7/8/10/11 and offers a "Disk Clone Wizard" for easy data transfer. The cloned disk is bootable, ensuring a smooth transition.
Use "Clone Disk Quickly" to skip bad sectors or "Sector-by-Sector Clone" for a full copy. Either way, you avoid reinstalling Windows and other programs, saving time and effort.
Note:
1. The clone process will erase all data on the target disk, so please back up everything important beforehand.
2. This software also supports cloning MBR system disk, MBR to GPT, GPT to MBR, GPT to GPT. It also can help convert MBR to GPT without data loss.
AOMEI Partition AssistantThe Best Windows Disk Partition Manager and PC Optimizer
Step 1. Install and launch AOMEI Partition Assistant, click "Clone" in the main interface and select "Clone Disk".
Step 2. Choose the hard disk that you need to clone as the source disk and click "Next".
Step 3. Select the destination disk to store the data on the source disk, and then click "Next".
Step 4. Then, you can check the source and destination disk in the next window or change to “Sector to Sector clone”, and click the "Confirm" button to continue if there is no problem.
Here, you can also click the "Settings" button to adjust the partition size on the destination disk or tick "4k alignment" to improve the reading and writing speed of SSD if the target disk is an SSD drive.
Step 5. At last, click "Apply" and "Proceed" in the main interface to start cloning the hard drive.
Then you can replace the damaged Acer laptop hard drive with the cloned good hard drive and boot computer from it.
Common solutions to Acer laptop hard drive not detected
There are 3 main reasons why an Acer laptop hard drive may not be recognized or detected. We will go through each one and provide the corresponding solutions. You can refer to the table for a quick overview and then follow the detailed steps to fix Acer laptop hard disk problem if you don't want to replace the disk.
| Causes | Solutions |
|---|---|
| Drive not enabled in BIOS | Enter BIOS (F2 for Acer), enable the drive, or change disk controller setting from AHCI to IDE. |
| Faulty or unplugged data cable | Inspect and replace the SATA cable if damaged or loose. |
| Outdated or damaged driver | Update, troubleshoot, or reinstall the hard drive driver via Device Manager. |
| Damaged hard drive or bad sectors | Clone the hard drive using AOMEI Partition Assistant and replace it. |
Solution 1.Enable the drive in BIOS
If your Acer laptop internal hard disk is not detected, maybe it has been turned off in System Setup. It is also known as the System BIOS or sometimes CMOS Setup. Therefore, you should enable it in System Setup. Some motherboard manufacturers disable the unused ports in the BIOS by default. You need to enter the System BIOS to verify their current state. Different manufacturers have methods to enter System BIOS. For example, you can press F2 to enter the System BIOS for Acer and Dell computer. Here is a list of some common brands for opening BIOS. If you still can't access to the interface, please try AOMEI Partition Assistant, a reliable disk manager for solving various Windows issues.
AOMEI Partition AssistantThe Best Windows Disk Partition Manager and PC Optimizer
- Keys of different brands for accessing BIOS Windows 11
- Dell: F2/F12
- HP (Hewlett-Packard): Esc or F10
- Lenovo: F1/ F2, Fn + F2, or Enter followed by F1
- Acer: Del/F2
- Asus: Del/F2/F10
- Microsoft Surface: Press and hold the Volume Up button on the device while pressing the Power button.
- Toshiba/Samsung/Intel/ASRock/Origin PC: Esc, F1, F2, or F12
- MSI/Gigabyte/EVGA/Zotac/BIOStar: Del
Besides, you can try to change the disk controller setting from AHCI to IDE in BIOS Setup. It is a method that worth trying according to the feedback of some computer users who have the similar issue.
Solution 2. Check whether the data cable is faulty or unplugged
When you find Acer laptop hard disk is not detected in BIOS, you should inspect the hard drive connections and the motherboard. Do not be cheated by seemingly normal cable from the exterior, any folding, creasing, crimping data cable can cause the wires to break inside the insulation.
The BIOS will not detect the Acer laptop hard disk if the data cable is damaged or the connection is incorrect. Serial ATA cables, in particular, can sometimes fall out of their connection. Be sure to check your SATA cables are tightly connected to the SATA port connection. The easiest way to test a cable is to replace it with another cable.
Solution 3. Update the out-dated or damaged driver
If your driver is out-dated or damaged, the Acer hard drive will not be detected. Therefore you should go to the Device Manager and check the driver. To update driver or reinstall the driver, you can follow the steps below.
3.1. To update driver
Access Device Manager by typing device manager in the Search Box and hit Enter. Expand the categories of Disk drivers. Find the name of your hard drive, right-click it and select Update Driver Software…. Then select Search automatically for updated driver software.
3.2. To troubleshoot driver
If the driver is damaged, there is a yellow exclamation point beside the device. Right-click on the device that has a yellow exclamation point beside it and navigate to Properties -> General -> Troubleshoot. Then follow the instructions to solve damaged driver issue.
3.3. To reinstall driver
If you cannot fix driver issue by updating or troubleshooting the drive, you can try reinstalling the driver. Uninstall drive from Device Manager, then restart PC and Windows will automatically reinstall the drivers on the hard drive for you.
Conclusion
In conclusion, if your Acer laptop hard drive is not detected, it could be due to BIOS settings, faulty cables, or outdated drivers. You can try fixing it by enabling the drive in BIOS or replacing cables, but these may not always work. The easiest and most reliable solution is to use AOMEI Partition Assistant to clone the hard drive and replace it with a new one. This ensures a quick and permanent fix, getting your laptop back to normal with minimal effort.
AOMEI Partition AssistantThe Best Windows Disk Partition Manager and PC Optimizer
