Yes. I, too, encountered this unrecognizable primary hard drive situation. I reinstalled Windows 10 more than once. Complete, royal pain in the butt! Again & again. Frustating; disappointing.
Where the hard drive finally became no longer recognized. It is configured with Windows 10 It was upgraded OS from Windows 8.1 It is installed in an ASUS P1801. It was approximately 1 year old... otherwise 'new-ish'.
I dismantled the P1801 removing it's Seagate Barracuda 1TB hard drive. Part# ST100DM003.
I remotely access the drive via an 'nGear' FIDECO Model# CHD-GJ1210
USB3.0 to SATA/IDE Drive Adapter 2.5/3.5/5.25IN Drives w/ Power Adapter
Upon attaching the drive,
I can then see all my files, directories, etc.
This suggests to me
it's MBR (Master Boot Record) has likely been corrupted/obliterated.
FYI - I use MalwareBytes Pro in conjunction with Windows Defender. Both are
consistently updated and scanned daily.
As is Microsoft/Windows Update.
I see the latter (Windows Update) as the primary potential suspect for my hard drive becoming unrecognizable while installed. I suspect a Windows 10 update somehow screwed the MBR.
FYI both my Windows 7 and 8.1 computers/cell phones are also configured with these protection utilities. They function fine and are also fully updated daily. Spotlighting the suspicion there is something remiss with Windows 10 and/or it's update(s).
It is less likely there are so many "failed hard drives". The remote adapter proves this untrue.
After I upgraded Windows Technical Preview, which is running in dual-boot alongside Windows 8.1, my computer turned off. When I turn it back on, the BIOS asks which hard drive to use but there aren't any listed apart from the CD-Drive...
What can I do? Does anyone else have the same problem?
Thanks for any help!