Why does my hard drive keep disappearing??

[DeRusto]

Recently my computer has been acting funny. If i restart (or the computer decideds to do so itself) my main hard drive usually can not be detected in the BIOS. Unplugging it from the IDE cable and power and reconnecting it usually solves this problem..or if I let it sit long enough (in the BIOS) and try to redetect the drive, it will find it. I have no idea why it has decided to do this.

I have a Gigabyte 7VRXP motherboard (I believe it is rev 1 or 1.1) and the hard drive is a Maxtor 40GB 700DX

Thank you for any thoughts or suggestions on this matter.

 

[DeRusto]

Well, it seems to be working decently for now.. I just wish someone had some insight on this problem..

 

[Zepper]

I have a similar problem and I think it is related to the cheap contacts on the cheap PSUs on the market. The contacts in my power connectors keep loosening up. I tighten them with a small blade flat screwdriver. If I had the time, I'd replace the connectors on all PSUs with AMP or Molex. Or just buy PC Power & Cooling and fageddabout it...
.bh.

 

[Soulkeeper]

Yeah cheesy PSU's tend to cause problems like that
i had a system with like 4 different hard drives and as a overclocked i could predict which one would not be detected first
if the overclock (stress on the psu) was just enough it would detect the drive but detect it wrong
try getting a better psu or taking some power hungry component out
or maybe lower yur vcore or clock this helps ease up on the psu
Have fun
--Soul_keeper

 

[DeRusto]

I have an Enermax 350w Whisper series power supply.. I thought Enermax made good psus

 

[Gunbuster]

Bad HDD, backup your data before it goes bye bye forever

 

[Zepper]

Well, my PSU's an Enlight and they don't make turkey dung either--but their connector contacts ain't up to AMP or Molex standards...
.bh.

 

[DeRusto]

bad hard drive, eh

I will be surprised if my 3 month old Maxtor goes out before EITHER of the year-and-a-half-old IBM 60GXPs I have in there

 

[DeRusto]

There...if it does turn out that my hard drive is bad..all my crucial data is now stored on my trusty IBM drives

 

[RedShirt]

Excellent idea. I put all of my CRUCIAL data on my IBM drive. That sucker is so reliable, I don't even back up my data.

IBM makes the best drives and did you know that not one IBM hard drive has ever failed ever? That is quite a reputation they have going on there. Seriously, no one in the world has ever had any kind of IBM drive in the world fail on them! So I would put all your data on that drive and just unhook your maxtor and let it sit in the corner, as anyone who does NOT use an IBM drive as their main drive deserves to have problems happen exactly like you have been experiencing!

IBM FOR LIFE!

 

[dszd0g]

Thanks RedShirt, that was worth a laugh.

Seriously though, DeRusto, if your IBM hard drive has GXP anywhere in its name then I wouldn't trust it to hold weather reports and an archive of useless trivia.

I don't think most people in these forums can claim ignorance about this when the media uses phrases like "By now, most of us are familiar with the serious reliability problems with IBM GXP-series hard drives..."

I still use an IBM DCAS SCSI drive in one of my systems, but if I was buying a new hard drive I do not think I would even trust their SCSI drives with how poorly they have handled the GXP problem.

 

[DeRusto]

I know, I know.. I was being sarcastic too But I was also trying to make a point.. that is.. I would think that something else is wrong if my almost brand new Maxtor is going bad but my IBM drives have been going strong for 1.5 years..

EDIT* BTW, I take very good care of my IBM's.. both are sitting in direct flow of intake fans and both are used mainly as storage as to keep data transfer to a minimum. I figure this will prolong the life of them. I also have fairly recent backups of most of what is on them.. other things I can obtain from friends or the internet, so data loss is a minimal issue with them. I've actually had one problem with one of the drives, it was being used as a primary at the time.. and it got a corrupt MBR.. the problem fixed itself (with a repartioning and IBM's drive tools) and it works just fine again.. Maybe I'm just lucky with them, though

 

[Siddhartha]

Originally posted by: DeRusto
Recently my computer has been acting funny. If i restart (or the computer decideds to do so itself) my main hard drive usually can not be detected in the BIOS. Unplugging it from the IDE cable and power and reconnecting it usually solves this problem..or if I let it sit long enough (in the BIOS) and try to redetect the drive, it will find it. I have no idea why it has decided to do this.

I have a Gigabyte 7VRXP motherboard (I believe it is rev 1 or 1.1) and the hard drive is a Maxtor 40GB 700DX

Thank you for any thoughts or suggestions on this matter.

I had a similar problem where the OS stopped detecting a month old 80 gig WD. I touched the hd to feel if it was running and it was very hot to the touch. It was much hotter than the other two hds in the same system. I installed a hd fan, $8 from CompUSA, and the problem went away.