One broken HDD prevents access to second?

[LUH3417]

Hi,

I've got a strange problem. I've got four SATA HDD's in my system, C, D, E and F. All are connected as single drives, no RAID whatsoever. Yesterday one of them (D) failed and it seems to have influence on the behaviour of another of them (C). This is what happened:

My computer had rebooted automatically, couldn't find the D drive, and had several of the following messages in the event log:

The device, \Device\Harddisk1\D, has a bad block.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

And:

The device, \Device\Ide\IdePort3, did not respond within the timeout period.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

These were from before the automatic reboot. After that, several of these where logged:

The device, \Device\Ide\IdePort3, is not ready for access yet.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

And:

The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Harddisk0\D.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Not certain what to do, I rebooted and I get:

NTLDR is missing, press any key to restart

I turned out that, when the D-drive is connected, my computer can't detect it AND the C drive as well. The BIOS just doesn't show them. Once I detach D, C gets detected and my computers runs great again. Both drives are on the same power supply cable, but changing that, doesn't change anything. They're third master and slave, but changing that, doesn't change anything. Changing the SATA cables themselves doesn't change anything.

I plugged the D-drive into another system and there it ALSO prevented acces to the C-drive.

The D-drive also makes a strange noise (buzzzzz, one second silence, buzzzzz, no variation in rythm, no clicking). I think it's broken and I'm ready to send it RMA, but I've still got one question unsloved: can a broken (bad sector) SATA HDD prevent my computer from accessing another drive, which is fine by itself?

Anoyone got an idea?

Edit: was just browsing some more through the Event Log viewer and discovered that in the past months the errors about 'Not ready for access yet' and 'controller error' pop up in two different sessions, but both times it's about the F-drive, which is working perfectly. Could something be wrong with my motherboard, the I/O controllers? Is it possible to fix it? But if it's the motherboard that's defect, why does the D-drive mess up the other computer as well?

 

[Harvey]

Your drive may actually have one or more bad sectors, but the "bad sector" message could also be the result of a failure in the drive controller circuitry. In either case, the answer is yes, a broken drive can be broken in a way that leave the electronic in a state that interferes with the IDE controller, including its ability to recognize other drives.

I hope you back up your data. Replacing hardware is cheap. Lost data and programs are a PITA.

Good luck.

 

[LUH3417]

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I did back-up, about two months ago. Never mind, nothing is lost that cannot be downloaded again if need be. I'm just glad it seems to be the drive itself which is in error, and not my motherboard. However this last thing (which I edited into my post while you were replying, bothers me:

I was just browsing some more through the Event Log viewer and discovered that in the past months the errors about 'Not ready for access yet' and 'controller error' pop up in two different sessions, but both times it's about the F-drive, which is working perfectly. Could something be wrong with my motherboard, the I/O controllers? Is it possible to fix it? But if it's the motherboard that's defect, why does the D-drive mess up the other computer as well?

 

[LUH3417]

I just thought of something. You mentioned the broken HDD interfering with the IDE controller, but all my drives are SATA. Is my motherboard still using a IDE controller to control SATA disks?

 

[degibson]

Sometimes motherboards will route SATA through an IDE interface. Its not universal across all motherboards, and some MBs allow you to choose.

The very likely cause is that D's controller is shot, and it talks funny lingo over the SATA cable, confusing the motherboard sufficiently that it doesn't realize there are healthy drives C, E, and F out there...

 

[LUH3417]

Thanks. I've got a Asus P5W DH Deluxe motherboard, but it seems that it doesn't matter whether it's IDE or SATA, the broken drive can confuse them both. Never knew it was even possible.

 

[Harvey]

Originally posted by: LUH3417
I just thought of something. You mentioned the broken HDD interfering with the IDE controller, but all my drives are SATA. Is my motherboard still using a IDE controller to control SATA disks?

SATA is Serial ATA. IDE is also known as ATA or PATA Parallel ATA. SATA is an extension of the ATA protocols, and on newer motherboards, the same controller system handles both.

 

[sutahz]

I had a similar thought. D is messing up C due to IDE emmulation so like IDE, one bad drive messes up the other it's attached to.

 

[LUH3417]

Hi. Just thought I'd give the nice people who helped me an update. I sent the broken disk back to Seagate and have just recieved an brand new one, in less than six days. Pretty good, I think.

Anyway, I ordered its identical twin just moments ago, so that I can create a RAID 1 array as soon as it gets here. I didn't loose any valuable data with this disk, but it did make me wake up about how safe my data is. Anyway, thanks again!