My SSD Won’t Detect in Crucial Storage Executive

There are some instances when Crucial’s Storage Executive software will not detect a Crucial SSD. Even when it will detect other non-Crucial drives in your system. This occurs either from an outdated or incompatible Chipset/SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) driver, or when the SATA mode is set to either IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) or RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks). The information below will walk you through the most common way to resolve the issue.

The SATA Operation Mode (or SATA Mode) is how the system communicates with the installed drive. To check this setting, you will need to boot into your system firmware interface, depending on your system either UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) or BIOS (Basic Input Output System). The SATA Mode setting can be in a few different locations depending on the system manufacturer and BIOS or UEFI revision, so you may have to look around to find it. The mode settings are IDE, RAID, or AHCI (Advanced Host Controller Interface). The recommended setting for a Crucial SSD is AHCI, and having it set as IDE or RAID can cause detection issues in our Storage Executive software. However, changing this mode is a bit more complex than just selecting AHCI and saving the changes, which results in a blue screen crash. Before making any change in your BIOS, you will need to boot into your computer like normal and adjust the operating system.

These changes may be difficult for the average computer user. We recommend this for only those with strong technical knowledge or professionals due to the risk of systems failing to boot if performed incorrectly. If you feel comfortable in your technical abilities (and are not afraid to perform a fresh install if something goes wrong), we recommend backing up any important data first in case there is a problem.

Once you have all the important data backed up, you will need to follow instructions for modifying your systems Operating Systems (OS) prior to changing the BIOS. To find these instructions, simply search “Change from RAID to AHCI” for your Windows© version. Since the changes differ depending on each Windows version, be sure to follow the instructions for your specific OS type. After changing the necessary settings in the OS, reboot into the BIOS and change the SATA mode to AHCI, then exit saving changes. This will cause the system to restart in AHCI mode and, pending the OS changes you performed are correct, the system will boot like normal.

After the system is booted in AHCI, the next step would be updating the Chipset driver to its latest revision listed for your computer by the system/motherboard manufacturer on their support site. After following the manufacturer’s instructions on updating the Chipset driver, restart the computer and then launch the Storage Executive software. The Crucial SSD should now be detected and you can utilize all the features in the Crucial software.

If you are still experiencing drive detection issues in Storage Executive, please contact Customer Service so we can assist you further.