Your HDD Caddy is not working after installing can be related to a software or a hardware problem. Those two can be described as follow.

• Hardware – no good connection inside the HDD Caddy, in the SSD/HDD controller interface, and/or in the SATA port of the motherboard.
• Software – configuration is not set correct, can be in BIOS or OS software (or both)

In this how-to we will briefly explain some of the troubleshooting you can do to investigate why your drive is not working the HDD Caddy.

Check if  hardware is ok

To check if the HDD or SSD is defective you could just swap with a different drive to check if that is true. Also you can install it in the original HDD bay or use a USB HDD enclosure to check your drive is still working.
If the HDD or SSD is fine, you could check if the HDD Caddy is working properly. If your HDD Caddy is not defective is should be powering on the hard drive inside. Once you turn on the laptop it should let the hard drive spin up. In most cases you can feel the vibration and noise coming of from the laptop.
To check if the SATA port on your motherboard is working, you could install the original laptop dvd-drive. The dvd-drive should open when it is powered and dvd discs should be visible in Windows.

Check settings of your software

If the hardware is fine then you can do some troubleshooting in the software. A software problem is a bit more complex since it might be related to BIOS or your OS (Windows, Ubuntu, MacOS, etc.). Also BIOS settings and versions can be different per brand and per model. With Acer laptops it is generally helpful by updating the BIOS software en with Lenovo laptops there are often more security settings in BIOS. Those security settings can block your extra drive. There are also different versions of windows and each user can have their own applications.

Check your BIOS settings

BIOS settings can vary between brands and models. Here some options you can try:

▸BIOS and restart your system (a few times)
– If the drive is still not recognised, can you reset the BIOS settings to manufacturers settings? In some cases it helps BIOS to initialize new hardware. Also it can help to restart your system a few times.

– If you are unable to boot OS from the 2nd drive in the HDD Caddy (because it is not visible in the boot order list), you might take a look at the UEFI settings in BIOS. Please see this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYzU4z9HGCE

▸Enable port 0 SATA in BIOS settings
Enable port 0 sata option in BIOS settings if it is available.

▸Disable BIOS power saving settings
Check if your BIOS has some power saving settings. Turn them off since you already have those with Windows.

Software troubleshooting

In this case we will use Windows as an example. If you are using a different OS like Ubuntu (linux) or MacOS. Solutions might be similar.

▸Check your Drivers/Windows
– If the 2nd hard drive or SSD is not visible (nor in BIOS or Windows) or it isn’t working properly, it can also help to use the generic SATA drivers instead the intel SATA drivers. You can follow this same tutorial: http://hddcaddy.eu/2014/08/05/use-the-generic-sata-drivers-instead-the-intel-sata-drivers/

– Also, if you have a SSD and a HDD please put the HDD in the HDD Caddy and the SSD in the primary bay. Then put the Power Plan on High Performance (battery icon below). Combine this with troubleshoot number 2 when the second hard drive is not visible or doesn’t work correctly.
– Make sure your restart your Windows completely by using the reboot option in Start menu (do not choose the shutdown option).

▸Disable Power service in Windows
Remove HDDCaddy from the laptop. Turn on your laptop and disable “power” service in Windows Services. Restart your laptop and turn it off after it has been restarted. Put the HDDCaddy in the laptop and turn on the laptop.

▸Prepare your new empty drives
– If your drive is not visible in Windows and you are using a new and empty drive in a new laptop or PC, you have to partition and format it first before it’s visible in your My Computer or File Explorer. If you use Windows can you please check if the new volume is available in:
Control Panel > Administrative services/tools > Computer management > Disk management.

▸Problems with cloned drive / fix masterboot record
– In case you have replaced the original drive with a new SSD or HDD, and you have cloned this new SSD from the original drive. Please make sure you have cloned the exact same partitions, in the same order with the exact same partitions types.
https://hddcaddy.eu/how-to-clone-factory-installed-windows-8-to-a-new-empty-ssd/

If that is not the case it can cause problems with booting and recognizing the original drive or new SSD/HDD.

▸Update your Firmware
– If your SSD is not visible in BIOS or in Windows/MacOS/Linux-based, make sure the SSD has its most updated firmware installed. This can also solve problems with recognising the SSD and prevents future problems and errors.

▸Change your driver software
– If your 2nd HDD is not working properly (not reading or writing) then installing Intel Rapid Storage Technology RAID driver (only on Intel based laptops) might solve your problem.

▸Enable multi boot OS with 2 drives in your laptop
Please follow this link to read how to enable multi os boot on your laptop with two drives (1 in main bay and 1 in the HDD Caddy).

We hope the above troubleshooting can help your problem!

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