bios wont recognize two hard drives at same time

[jmncrr]

My bios wont recognize two hard drives at the same time. Trying two run two solid state drives, with two different operating systems on them instead of dual booting. The bios will only detect on drive at a time when plugged in. If i plug them both in together, the bios will only read the first drive in Sata 1 spot, and will only read the second drive, when i unplug the first drive. Never at the same time. The bios will however read an optical drive and on of the hard drives together at the same time, with the same cable and power connector as one of the hard drives. So i know its not a data cable or power cable problem. It just has something to do with two hard drives plugged in at the same time. Dont know what to do and thats why i am posting here. Does it have something to do with the bios? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks

[Geek-9pm]

This is from dictation.
it would help if you would provide some details about the make and model of your computer and also the code for the be BIOS. The BIOS should have a version number or a code number that identifies when it was last updated or revised.
The behavior you describe with the use of SATA solid-state drive is the normal behavior for most desktop and laptop computers. Even though there is space inside to put two drives, and there are two separate channels to connect the drives, only one of the drives will be eligible for boot. Below is a typical boot loader found in many desktop computers.
1. Check to see if there is say disk in the DVD drive, if so try to boot from it.
2. Check to see if the first hard drive is bookable.
3. Boot from some other device.
Before you started this experiment, did you have some source or reference that indicated to you it would be easy to boot from either one of two SATA drives?   from my own personal experience the only way I can get my system to boot from another hard drive is to use some type of boot manager either inside of Windows 10 or else inside of a Linux distribution. Are you using Windows 10 and have you attempted to set up a secondary hard drive and say boot partition using the utility program such as Easy BCD?
Here is the link to our you can get a copy of the EasyBCD.
http://neosmart.net/EasyBCD/

It is free for non-commercial use. For use in a business they ask you to buy it.
I hope this information helps you out.

[jmncrr]

I apologize for my lack of detail on my motherboard. I have a GIGABYTE GA-970A-D3P REV.2.0, and the most current bios which is 2/26/2016. I will use some of the advice you gave me. Thanks for your help, and any other help is also appreciated.

[patio]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the BIOS...
It will default on boot to the last SSD you booted to...this is by design.
You use the BIOS to select which 1 to boot to at startup.
Next time you reboot it'll remember the last choice.
This is actually the cleanest and most trouble-free dual-boot setup as opposed to multi-OS's on 1 HDD....so be thankful.

Note: After boot the OS should recognise both SSD's and you should be able to access both.
If this isn't happening then you have an issue...

Geek is speaking to a boot manager...thats when installed both HDD's were present...ignore that...you don't need it.
Simply enter Setup at boot...select boot drive...and yer good to go.

P.S...  all my dual boot setups have been done this way.

[patio]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the BIOS...
It will default on boot to the last SSD you booted to...this is by design.
You use the BIOS to select which 1 to boot to at startup.
Next time you reboot it'll remember the last choice.
This is actually the cleanest and most trouble-free dual-boot setup as opposed to multi-OS's on 1 HDD....so be thankful.

Note: After boot the OS should recognise both SSD's and you should be able to access both.
If this isn't happening then you have an issue...

Geek is speaking to a boot manager...thats when installed both HDD's were present...ignore that...you don't need it.
Simply enter Setup at boot...select boot drive...and yer good to go.

P.S...  all my dual boot setups have been done this way.

P.S.S   "" Trying two run two solid state drives, with two different operating systems on them instead of dual booting.""...if this is your goal it cannot be done...you can only run 1 OS at a time...

Hope this clarifys things.

[BC_Programmer]

The issues the OP has don't appear to be related to booting. They have two SSD's, but cannot get both to be visible to the BIOS at the same time. If the drive isn't visible to the BIOS it's not going to be available to boot from in any BIOS boot manager.

I wonder if it could be the PSU? SSD's consume quite a bit more of the 5V rail than an optical drive, so if your PSU's 5V rail is used near capacity then adding another SSD could cause issues with the BIOS detection. Though it being consistent with which drive appears (specific slot) would seem to be unusual in that case.

[Geek-9pm]

The OP says he has a Gigabyte board that has the GIGABYTE UEFI DualBIOS™
The seems to be a specific issue with that feature-rich BIOS..
Here is a video from Gigabyte.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EZ9F4paLRU
It is about the graphical presentation of the BIOS.
But some users grip about some details.
Gigabyte Dual BIOS: a nightmare

I have own a Gigabyte Z68XP-UD4 for almost a year and I'm truly disappointed on the system. Dual Bios should be a great idea, but in practice is a pain in the asth like I never had before with a motherboard.

But that was years ago. By now the issue should be resolved.
What is the date on the BIOS?

BTW: You might find this:

Common Problems With Gigabyte Drivers
    Driver is missing or corrupt
    Driver is out-of-date
    Previous attempt to update driver failed
    The current driver is the incorrect driver for the device
    The device is damaged and needs to be replaced or repaired (drivers cannot fix hardware issues)
Installing the most current and accurate driver will typically fix most problems that are experienced while operating Windows hardware devices. The original driver for any given hardware device often has been updated many times by the manufacturer to fix bugs and improve efficiency. Many users experience problems with older Windows devices for this reason.
There are many challenges when updating drivers. Finding the correct driver for all the devices in your Windows computer can be a hassle and installation can sometimes be tedious at best. You simply want your hardware to work and with the best performance!

Ignore that. The want to sell something that does not fix the problem. If there is a real problem and there is a fix, the information is on the Gigabyte site.
http://www.gigabyte.us/Support

[patio]

BC good point...never considered power as the culprit...
However what i think he's ex[ecting is a choice without entering BIOS and assunimg both will show at boot...which they do not...
However thats why i steered him down the setup at boot option...i'll bet both SSD's are listed.

I'll also bet the 2nd SSD with an OS was installed on a different PC which  may be why he cant or hasnt tried to boot from...

Just sayin.

[VintronNZ]

Just a thought your motherboard supports hardware raid. Check that raid is turned off. As in some raid configurations the 2 ssd's will appear as a single drive. 

[jmncrr]

I have tried installing both operating systems on separate ssd drives using legacy mode in bios on both hoping that would work, but with no luck. I guess that only applies to two Os's on same drive. The only way i can use both drives is to unplug one, and reboot with the other plugged in. If i have both connected, only the last one to boot will show up in the boot option in bios. I have read of other people being able to use two drives that are recognized in bios, but no luck for me. Any more suggestions are appreciated. I have raid disabled by the way.

[VintronNZ]

So the 2 drives are now detected in the bios ?
If so you can on a Gigabyte motherboard use f12 when the computer starts to bring up the boot menu. Hopefully the SSd's are different makes or you can remember what ports they are attached to to make it easier to select the the correct drive.
What did you need to do to get the 2 drives detecting ?
 

[patio]

Which SATA ports on the MBoard are you using...0 and 1 ? ?

Also make sure it's not eSATA...

[Justin_Time]

Are you using a 32 bit or 64 bit system? 32 bit systems are limited on how much storage space it can support. Also You might want to go to Computer Management/Disk Management, and see if it appears there. If so you might try changing the Drive letter to see if it helps.

[Allan]

Are you using a 32 bit or 64 bit system? 32 bit systems are limited on how much storage space it can support.

That has nothing to do with the system recognizing multiple drives - only the size of any given drive.

[jmncrr]

I still have not been able to get the bios boot sequence to recognize two hard drives at the same time, only individually when the other is not plugged in. I am using Sata 0 and 1, and i have tried all Sata ports, and that doesn't seem to make a difference.  The bios only recognizes the last drive that was plugged in, and never an additional one, unless i unplug the one that was recognized in bios boot sequence, then the other one will be recognized if plugged in, but never at the same time. Not sure what to do next. Any help is appreciated.