One of my hard drives keeps disappearing

[ualdriver]

ASUS P6X58D-E motherboard
Windows 7 64 bit
Core i7 processor
Corsair 750 Watt power supply
WD Raptor 74GB (storage drive)
WD Velociraptor 300GB (storage drive)
OCZ Vertex 2 120GB (boot drive)
6GB Corsair Dominator RAM
HD 5870 graphics card


This is a relatively new build and it worked great until recently. After the computer is booted up and running for a while, my Velociraptor 300GB drive "disappears" from my library. Sometimes my computer boots up and it doesn't show up as a drive at all, then I reboot a time or two and it comes back. It's very intermittent, which is making it difficult to troubleshoot, especially with my relatively limited knowledge (compared to you guys). I opened the computer up and reseated the SATA and power cables, although they appeared to be connected just fine.

So where do I start with this? Is this a hard drive failing? A motherboard problem? A Windows 7 problem?

Thanks

 

[pandemonium]

I'd first check to see when it disappears if the HDD is actually powering down. That'll tell you if it's more-less hardware related. It's possible your PSU is going bad or that you need to try a different power cable. The HDD could also be going bad, and being that I have the same drive that'd be surprising.

There's a million things software related that could be going wrong but I'm always inclined to troubleshoot hardware first. After you eliminate all possibilities hardware related only then would I check if MOBO bios needs updating, some odd power management driver in Windows or proprietary software is resetting it, etc...

Easiest way to really check if it's the drive is pop it on another computer to see if the same happens. That's where I would start anyways. Good luck!

 

[Dahak]

I would

1) try a different sata cable
2) try a different sata port on the board see if the issue happens
3) try a different sata power connector, on that is on a different wire, or use a molex(4pin) to sata power

or as pandemonium suggested you could try it in another machine, but that may not isolate the issue if its one of the above things. but it would narrow it down to the hard drive


would be where i would personally start. I have not heard of a drive disappearing after powering down.

 

[corkyg]

If power is removed from a drive, it will most certainly disappear. Without power, it does not exist. I suspect the term "power down" as used above actually refers to a sleep mode. That is not power down, but a power reduction. Power down means off - no power - same as power cable removed or switched off.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Yeah, older raptors had issues with X58 and Win7.

 

[ualdriver]

I would

1) try a different sata cable
2) try a different sata port on the board see if the issue happens
3) try a different sata power connector, on that is on a different wire, or use a molex(4pin) to sata power

or as pandemonium suggested you could try it in another machine, but that may not isolate the issue if its one of the above things. but it would narrow it down to the hard drive


would be where i would personally start. I have not heard of a drive disappearing after powering down.

If power is removed from a drive, it will most certainly disappear. Without power, it does not exist. I suspect the term "power down" as used above actually refers to a sleep mode. That is not power down, but a power reduction. Power down means off - no power - same as power cable removed or switched off.

Yeah, older raptors had issues with X58 and Win7.

All through Virtual Larry:

Thanks guys. Sorry it took so long to respond to your suggestions as I never got e-mail notification that anyone had answered. Anyway, sounds like I have various methods of troubleshooting to do. Thanks for the advice. I'll start with the hardware issues first.