I have windows xp and i recently reformated. I use a asus a8nsli 32 deluxe mobo and have 2 raptor hd's in a raid o config using nvidia raid controller and also have a seagate sata drive for storage. After the format I can get the sata drive to be recognized by windows. I can see it in the bios tho. Any ideas? This drive is very important sinc ei didnt have a chance to backup alot of family pics on it.

Right click on "My PC", select manage and then disk management, check if the drive shows there and if it does asign a drive letter to it manually or right click on it and mark it as active, I've had the same problem a couple of times and i've solved it this way.

Hope it helps.

I tried that already. Doesnt show. Im running out of options. Only thing i can guess is some kind of bios setting or sata driver error.

have you tried using the disk on another machine....or a friends computer or something?