Momentus XT, Momentus, Momentus Thin, MobileMax, and other notebook drives

[PRT940]

Guys, I need some help.  I've got a CompTIA A+ certification, and I've built several PCs from scratch, but I'm at my wit's end with this problem. 

I bought the Momentus XT hybrid 750GB ST750LX003 drive to replace an existing 500GB Seagate drive in my 3-year-old Dell Studio 1557 laptop (running Windows 7 Professional 64-bit, with the latest BIOS).  

When I install the new drive in my laptop, I can see that the BIOS detects it (AHCI mode) properly, but when I try to install Windows 7 or even Vista on it, both operating systems tell me that they cannot find any drive to install to.

Yet, if I plug the drive into an external SATA dock, or use an external SATA/USB adapter, Windows 7 will see the drive and let me copy files to it, and format it. 

It gets even weirder -- I downloaded the Seagate DiscWizard program, thinking that maybe I could use it to clone my existing drive to the new one.  But DiscWizard itself tells me that it can only find one drive!!

Does anybody have any suggestions as to how to get my Studio 1557 laptop to recognize this new drive? 

Thanks in advance.

Phil

[WiseDrive]

Run it in compatibility mode and see if it sees it.

Does it see the drive in a late model external casing?

No more than 6months old eg. SATA 3.0 external with 2 power plugs to provide the juice it needs.

Check for a power issue, connectors, bent pin etc.

[offlinealways]

same issue here with a zotac id80 - cedar trail - the uefi bios sees it but windows 7 64bit doesn't recognize the drive, identical drive 750 hybrid

[PRT940]

Thanks for the suggestions.

Running DiscWizard in compatibility mode didn't change anything.

I also tried switching to "ATA" mode in the BIOS (instead of "AHCI"), but then my DVD drive would no longer boot the Windows 7 DVD. 

My external SATA dock is a couple years old, but supports SATA 1/2/3.  I've never heard of one with 2 power plugs -- can you provide a link to such a beast? 

In any event, it appears that my 3-year-old Dell laptop's BIOS has a fundamental problem detecting this drive.  And as the last BIOS update was about a year ago, I'm not going to hold my breath for an update any time soon.

I have no choice but to return the drive to Amazon.  I'll probably just go all SSD.