[SOLVED] hard drive disappeared

tech_no · 08-29-2007, 12:57 PM

My computer has been making a loud electical switching sound for about a week, but otherwise working o.k. Today I went to move files from my documents to my new slave hard drive and realised it is gone from my computer. It was partitioned so it was drives D, E, F and G.
I looked in device manager and the drive is not there, same with bios, only C Drive there now. I tried system restore and tried to restore to yesterday, but message came up: G/F/E/D after this point cannot be reversed because the drive was either excluded from system restore monitoring or turned off or removed. I know the restore was monitoring this drive before this. Shall I diconnect and reconnect drive or is it obviously stopped working. The switching noise has stopped now. I would welcome any advice, the hard drive is still under guarantee and is a Western Digital model. Just looked in event viewer under system and on 22/8/07 an information event was saying, all day, WPDC ClassInstaller and after that a disk error was on and off every day until the 28/8/07. It is looking like hard disc was a faulty one and has stopped working. Any advice, could it be anything else?
thank you, regards tech_no

**TheMatt** · 08-29-2007, 03:43 PM

Check the power and interface connections. Re-seat everything. Is the hard disk SATA or IDE?

tech_no · 08-30-2007, 05:33 AM

hi Matt,
Thank you for your reply. My hard drive is an I.D.E. type, I fitted it in May '07. I took your advice and pushed down on both connections, they didn't seem to move at all, restarted and my drive was found on restart. I didn't think it would be that easy to fix. Is the clicking sound an indicator of a loose connection? Thank you again.
Regards tech_no

Just checked my event log, system tab, I am still getting an error on disk on start up, it seems.

**TheMatt** · 08-30-2007, 06:41 AM

Is it unusually loud clicking? If so, I would copy all important data off that drive ASAP because it could be in danger of failing.

tech_no · 08-30-2007, 01:14 PM

hi Matt,
The clicking we had was the same electronic click you hear when the computer shuts down and about the same volume too as that. It always occured on startup and would sound intermittently for a good 10 minutes. However the clicking has gone now the connections have been pushed down. I have full backup of that drive stored on DVD. The only mystery now is in event viewer, on system, an error is still occuring every hour or so, on disk, no category, user N/A, only an error no. Is this my master hard drive or slave? I don't know. Thanks again for your help.
Regards tech_no

**TheMatt** · 08-30-2007, 03:33 PM

Download SpeedFan from my sig below and go to the SMART tab. Select your drive there and click Perform an in-depth online analysis on this drive. Take a screenshot of the page and post it here since you can't copy the URL in the address bar. Use this thread to help you out. To actually take the screenshot of the Window, press ALT+PRINT SCREEN

tech_no · 08-31-2007, 07:27 AM

hi Matt,
I downloaded Speedfan successfuly and restarted my computer. I tried to run Speedfan and it goes to first page and tries to scan, but seems to get stuck. It then goes to second page with it's name at the top and this page remains blank and when I go to task manager to close it down, it states: programme is not responding. I read Zone Alarm can interfere with the software, so tried switching it off, but still the same. I have SensorsViewPro 2.1 already installed from a previous forum thread. Will this interfere with the Speedfan? I tried screenshotting 1st page for you, but every time it captures the next blank page instead of 1st page? Never known a screenshot to take pic. of wrong page before.
Regards tech_no
Just read the help that came with software, it says I might need to stop SMBus scanning, by typing command line: /NOSMBSCAN. but where does command line go? Tried comand prompt and run, but no good.

**TheMatt** · 08-31-2007, 09:30 AM

When you run the program, thats when you run it.

In the run box, type/copy this:

Code:

C:\Program Files\SpeedFan\speedfan.exe /NOSMBSCAN

tech_no · 09-01-2007, 05:12 AM

Matt, I copied and pasted your command into the run box, and started up speedfan. It comes up with C:\Prog. unrecognisable, how odd? Tried leaving gaps after each \ and found it opens my C Drive, and shows folders on the C Drive. I then opened Speedfan folder and found exe. file is not in there, is this right? I clicked on debugg file and the sytem information started o.k. and found all drives o.k., and last night somehow I clicked on something and got the box up with Smart tab, you said about, but I couldn't get option up for perform in depth online analysis. Now cannot get this box up again.
regards tech_no

**TheMatt** · 09-01-2007, 09:20 AM

Try this instead:

Code:

C:\Progra~1\SpeedFan\speedfan.exe /NOSMBSCAN

tech_no · 09-01-2007, 12:07 PM

hi Matt,
That command worked straight away. I have enclosed 2 screenshots. First one is my C Drive with my Windows XP on, my master drive. This one is 6 years old and seems to be under performing in some aspects. The second is my slave drive and seems to be o.k., this one is new, fitted in May '07. So the error disk showing in event log must be my old hard drive. Hope this helps you. Thank you.
Regards tech-no

**TheMatt** · 09-01-2007, 04:08 PM

You're western digital looks healthy. I would keep a close eye on the Seagate though because it seems that one of the values is below the threshold. Back up any important data stored on it.

As for the Slave drive, are you still having problems with that?

tech_no · 09-02-2007, 02:19 AM

Thank you for your reply Matt. I have had no problems with my new Western Digital 160 Gb Slave Drive since pushing in the connections, no clciking either. However the error on my event log is getting more frequent. I can only assume that it is my Seagate 40 Gb Master Drive. I have the Windows XP Home on three CD/R's, so that is not a problem. I realise I would have to re-tattoo the drive if I fitted a new hard drive at a later drive, but I have found out how to do that from the Packard Bell forum, so hopefully not too much of a problem. Thank you very much for your invaluable help Matt. I have enclosed a screenshot of my event viewer, taken today, on system tab.
Regards tech_no

**TheMatt** · 09-02-2007, 09:37 AM

If you click on the properties of the error, what does it say?

You're welcome.

tech_no · 09-02-2007, 10:48 AM

I am learning all the time Matt, selected properties and found error is a bad block on disk 1 and on D partition. My master drive being disk 0 and my slave being disk 1. On partition D I have all game programme files only and I do find registry inconsistencies sometimes with a small ammount of game files stored on C Master drive and bulk of game files on D Drive. Is this a reason for a bad block?

My slave drive has partitions D, E, F and G.
Thank you. tech-no

**TheMatt** · 09-02-2007, 11:16 AM

Right click on the D: Drive and select Properties. Go to the Tools tab and click Check Now... under Error checking.

tech_no · 09-03-2007, 01:27 AM

hi Matt,
This morning my computer found that one of my disks needed checking and automatically checked C Drive, my Master. I only done an error check on this one last week, but let it carry on anyway. That volume was clean, as expected. I then selected error check on D Drive, as you advised. I selected auto fix bad sectors. On stage 1 of 5, File record segments 2216, 2217, 2218 and 2219 unreadable. On stage 2 Deleted 2 index entries and recovered lost files. On stage 3, 4 and 5 everything o.k..
I then ran an anti virus scan on D, nothing found. On starting Windows no errors in event viewer for last half hour. It is looking good Matt. Thank you again.
Regards tech_no

**TheMatt** · 09-03-2007, 09:38 AM

Glad to hear it fixed the errors. If the errors in the event manager don't come back in about a day, post back and we can call this solved.

tech_no · 09-04-2007, 05:28 AM

hi Matt,
Good news, no disk errors yet. Thank you very much for your help. I wondered what size hard disk to get if my Master 40Gb Drive gives up, considering it is used mainly for operating sytem and most recent letters and documents, everything else is stored on my 160 Gb slave. I was wondering if 80 Gb would be suffice for that?
Also if I have to do a full system recovery, do I disconnect my new slave, or leave it in place? This thread will be closed after this Matt thank you.
Regards tech_no

**TheMatt** · 09-04-2007, 08:41 AM

80 GB should be more than enough. I am running only a single 160 GB in my computer (80 GB Windows, 80 GB Linux) and have barely filled up either half. For backups we have a 250GB NAS drive on the network. I can tell you that many people are going out and buying huge hard disks but not using them. Go with the 80 GB and get another hard disk later on.

What I would do is use the Windows Backup utility and make a backup of the C: drive and the System state. Save it to your clave drive. When your 40 GB does bite the bullet, restore that backup after you reinstall Windows.

Now, do you have Windows XP/Operating System/Recovery disk(s) that came with the computer? if so, these are your ticket to Reinstalling Windows.

08-29-2007, 12:57 PM	#1 (permalink)
tech_no Registered User Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Plymouth in Devon Posts: 163 OS: Windows XP Home with SP3 My System	[SOLVED] hard drive disappeared My computer has been making a loud electical switching sound for about a week, but otherwise working o.k. Today I went to move files from my documents to my new slave hard drive and realised it is gone from my computer. It was partitioned so it was drives D, E, F and G. I looked in device manager and the drive is not there, same with bios, only C Drive there now. I tried system restore and tried to restore to yesterday, but message came up: G/F/E/D after this point cannot be reversed because the drive was either excluded from system restore monitoring or turned off or removed. I know the restore was monitoring this drive before this. Shall I diconnect and reconnect drive or is it obviously stopped working. The switching noise has stopped now. I would welcome any advice, the hard drive is still under guarantee and is a Western Digital model. Just looked in event viewer under system and on 22/8/07 an information event was saying, all day, WPDC ClassInstaller and after that a disk error was on and off every day until the 28/8/07. It is looking like hard disc was a faulty one and has stopped working. Any advice, could it be anything else? thank you, regards tech_no Last edited by tech_no; 08-29-2007 at 01:14 PM.

08-29-2007, 03:43 PM	#2 (permalink)
TheMatt TSF Enthusiast Join Date: May 2006 Location: Boston Posts: 13,702 OS: Win 3.1, 98, NT 4.0, XP Debian 4.0, Kubuntu 6.06 My System Blog Entries: 3	Re: hard drive disappeared Check the power and interface connections. Re-seat everything. Is the hard disk SATA or IDE? __________________ - Matt M - KB1OSC - Folding@Home 85015 [url="http://www.techsupportforum.com/hardware-support/"] If TSF has helped you, please consider donating. If I have stopped responding to a thread, feel free to send me a PM with a link to the thread. It is advisable to subscribe to threads so you will receive updates when replies are posted. You can subscribe to threads from the "Thread Tools" Menu. »Memtest86 »Prime95 »UBCD »SpeedFan »NHC Personal »Everest »Sandra »PC Wizard »RivaTuner »ATi Tool Click here for Useful Articles and Guides

08-30-2007, 05:33 AM	#3 (permalink)
tech_no Registered User Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Plymouth in Devon Posts: 163 OS: Windows XP Home with SP3 My System	Re: hard drive disappeared hi Matt, Thank you for your reply. My hard drive is an I.D.E. type, I fitted it in May '07. I took your advice and pushed down on both connections, they didn't seem to move at all, restarted and my drive was found on restart. I didn't think it would be that easy to fix. Is the clicking sound an indicator of a loose connection? Thank you again. Regards tech_no Just checked my event log, system tab, I am still getting an error on disk on start up, it seems. Last edited by tech_no; 08-30-2007 at 05:38 AM.

08-30-2007, 06:41 AM	#4 (permalink)
TheMatt TSF Enthusiast Join Date: May 2006 Location: Boston Posts: 13,702 OS: Win 3.1, 98, NT 4.0, XP Debian 4.0, Kubuntu 6.06 My System Blog Entries: 3	Re: hard drive disappeared Is it unusually loud clicking? If so, I would copy all important data off that drive ASAP because it could be in danger of failing. __________________ - Matt M - KB1OSC - Folding@Home 85015 [url="http://www.techsupportforum.com/hardware-support/"] If TSF has helped you, please consider donating. If I have stopped responding to a thread, feel free to send me a PM with a link to the thread. It is advisable to subscribe to threads so you will receive updates when replies are posted. You can subscribe to threads from the "Thread Tools" Menu. »Memtest86 »Prime95 »UBCD »SpeedFan »NHC Personal »Everest »Sandra »PC Wizard »RivaTuner »ATi Tool Click here for Useful Articles and Guides

08-30-2007, 01:14 PM	#5 (permalink)
tech_no Registered User Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Plymouth in Devon Posts: 163 OS: Windows XP Home with SP3 My System	Re: hard drive disappeared hi Matt, The clicking we had was the same electronic click you hear when the computer shuts down and about the same volume too as that. It always occured on startup and would sound intermittently for a good 10 minutes. However the clicking has gone now the connections have been pushed down. I have full backup of that drive stored on DVD. The only mystery now is in event viewer, on system, an error is still occuring every hour or so, on disk, no category, user N/A, only an error no. Is this my master hard drive or slave? I don't know. Thanks again for your help. Regards tech_no

08-30-2007, 03:33 PM	#6 (permalink)
TheMatt TSF Enthusiast Join Date: May 2006 Location: Boston Posts: 13,702 OS: Win 3.1, 98, NT 4.0, XP Debian 4.0, Kubuntu 6.06 My System Blog Entries: 3	Re: hard drive disappeared Download SpeedFan from my sig below and go to the SMART tab. Select your drive there and click Perform an in-depth online analysis on this drive. Take a screenshot of the page and post it here since you can't copy the URL in the address bar. Use this thread to help you out. To actually take the screenshot of the Window, press ALT+PRINT SCREEN __________________ - Matt M - KB1OSC - Folding@Home 85015 [url="http://www.techsupportforum.com/hardware-support/"] If TSF has helped you, please consider donating. If I have stopped responding to a thread, feel free to send me a PM with a link to the thread. It is advisable to subscribe to threads so you will receive updates when replies are posted. You can subscribe to threads from the "Thread Tools" Menu. »Memtest86 »Prime95 »UBCD »SpeedFan »NHC Personal »Everest »Sandra »PC Wizard »RivaTuner »ATi Tool Click here for Useful Articles and Guides

08-31-2007, 07:27 AM	#7 (permalink)
tech_no Registered User Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Plymouth in Devon Posts: 163 OS: Windows XP Home with SP3 My System	Re: hard drive disappeared hi Matt, I downloaded Speedfan successfuly and restarted my computer. I tried to run Speedfan and it goes to first page and tries to scan, but seems to get stuck. It then goes to second page with it's name at the top and this page remains blank and when I go to task manager to close it down, it states: programme is not responding. I read Zone Alarm can interfere with the software, so tried switching it off, but still the same. I have SensorsViewPro 2.1 already installed from a previous forum thread. Will this interfere with the Speedfan? I tried screenshotting 1st page for you, but every time it captures the next blank page instead of 1st page? Never known a screenshot to take pic. of wrong page before. Regards tech_no Just read the help that came with software, it says I might need to stop SMBus scanning, by typing command line: /NOSMBSCAN. but where does command line go? Tried comand prompt and run, but no good. Last edited by tech_no; 08-31-2007 at 07:48 AM.

08-31-2007, 09:30 AM	#8 (permalink)
TheMatt TSF Enthusiast Join Date: May 2006 Location: Boston Posts: 13,702 OS: Win 3.1, 98, NT 4.0, XP Debian 4.0, Kubuntu 6.06 My System Blog Entries: 3	Re: hard drive disappeared When you run the program, thats when you run it. In the run box, type/copy this: Code: C:\Program Files\SpeedFan\speedfan.exe /NOSMBSCAN __________________ - Matt M - KB1OSC - Folding@Home 85015 [url="http://www.techsupportforum.com/hardware-support/"] If TSF has helped you, please consider donating. If I have stopped responding to a thread, feel free to send me a PM with a link to the thread. It is advisable to subscribe to threads so you will receive updates when replies are posted. You can subscribe to threads from the "Thread Tools" Menu. »Memtest86 »Prime95 »UBCD »SpeedFan »NHC Personal »Everest »Sandra »PC Wizard »RivaTuner »ATi Tool Click here for Useful Articles and Guides

09-01-2007, 05:12 AM	#9 (permalink)
tech_no Registered User Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Plymouth in Devon Posts: 163 OS: Windows XP Home with SP3 My System	Re: hard drive disappeared Matt, I copied and pasted your command into the run box, and started up speedfan. It comes up with C:\Prog. unrecognisable, how odd? Tried leaving gaps after each \ and found it opens my C Drive, and shows folders on the C Drive. I then opened Speedfan folder and found exe. file is not in there, is this right? I clicked on debugg file and the sytem information started o.k. and found all drives o.k., and last night somehow I clicked on something and got the box up with Smart tab, you said about, but I couldn't get option up for perform in depth online analysis. Now cannot get this box up again. regards tech_no

09-01-2007, 09:20 AM	#10 (permalink)
TheMatt TSF Enthusiast Join Date: May 2006 Location: Boston Posts: 13,702 OS: Win 3.1, 98, NT 4.0, XP Debian 4.0, Kubuntu 6.06 My System Blog Entries: 3	Re: hard drive disappeared Try this instead: Code: C:\Progra~1\SpeedFan\speedfan.exe /NOSMBSCAN __________________ - Matt M - KB1OSC - Folding@Home 85015 [url="http://www.techsupportforum.com/hardware-support/"] If TSF has helped you, please consider donating. If I have stopped responding to a thread, feel free to send me a PM with a link to the thread. It is advisable to subscribe to threads so you will receive updates when replies are posted. You can subscribe to threads from the "Thread Tools" Menu. »Memtest86 »Prime95 »UBCD »SpeedFan »NHC Personal »Everest »Sandra »PC Wizard »RivaTuner »ATi Tool Click here for Useful Articles and Guides

09-01-2007, 04:08 PM	#12 (permalink)
TheMatt TSF Enthusiast Join Date: May 2006 Location: Boston Posts: 13,702 OS: Win 3.1, 98, NT 4.0, XP Debian 4.0, Kubuntu 6.06 My System Blog Entries: 3	Re: hard drive disappeared You're western digital looks healthy. I would keep a close eye on the Seagate though because it seems that one of the values is below the threshold. Back up any important data stored on it. As for the Slave drive, are you still having problems with that? __________________ - Matt M - KB1OSC - Folding@Home 85015 [url="http://www.techsupportforum.com/hardware-support/"] If TSF has helped you, please consider donating. If I have stopped responding to a thread, feel free to send me a PM with a link to the thread. It is advisable to subscribe to threads so you will receive updates when replies are posted. You can subscribe to threads from the "Thread Tools" Menu. »Memtest86 »Prime95 »UBCD »SpeedFan »NHC Personal »Everest »Sandra »PC Wizard »RivaTuner »ATi Tool Click here for Useful Articles and Guides

09-02-2007, 09:37 AM	#14 (permalink)
TheMatt TSF Enthusiast Join Date: May 2006 Location: Boston Posts: 13,702 OS: Win 3.1, 98, NT 4.0, XP Debian 4.0, Kubuntu 6.06 My System Blog Entries: 3	Re: hard drive disappeared If you click on the properties of the error, what does it say? You're welcome. __________________ - Matt M - KB1OSC - Folding@Home 85015 [url="http://www.techsupportforum.com/hardware-support/"] If TSF has helped you, please consider donating. If I have stopped responding to a thread, feel free to send me a PM with a link to the thread. It is advisable to subscribe to threads so you will receive updates when replies are posted. You can subscribe to threads from the "Thread Tools" Menu. »Memtest86 »Prime95 »UBCD »SpeedFan »NHC Personal »Everest »Sandra »PC Wizard »RivaTuner »ATi Tool Click here for Useful Articles and Guides

09-02-2007, 11:16 AM	#16 (permalink)
TheMatt TSF Enthusiast Join Date: May 2006 Location: Boston Posts: 13,702 OS: Win 3.1, 98, NT 4.0, XP Debian 4.0, Kubuntu 6.06 My System Blog Entries: 3	Re: hard drive disappeared Right click on the D: Drive and select Properties. Go to the Tools tab and click Check Now... under Error checking. __________________ - Matt M - KB1OSC - Folding@Home 85015 [url="http://www.techsupportforum.com/hardware-support/"] If TSF has helped you, please consider donating. If I have stopped responding to a thread, feel free to send me a PM with a link to the thread. It is advisable to subscribe to threads so you will receive updates when replies are posted. You can subscribe to threads from the "Thread Tools" Menu. »Memtest86 »Prime95 »UBCD »SpeedFan »NHC Personal »Everest »Sandra »PC Wizard »RivaTuner »ATi Tool Click here for Useful Articles and Guides

09-03-2007, 01:27 AM	#17 (permalink)
tech_no Registered User Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Plymouth in Devon Posts: 163 OS: Windows XP Home with SP3 My System	Re: hard drive disappeared hi Matt, This morning my computer found that one of my disks needed checking and automatically checked C Drive, my Master. I only done an error check on this one last week, but let it carry on anyway. That volume was clean, as expected. I then selected error check on D Drive, as you advised. I selected auto fix bad sectors. On stage 1 of 5, File record segments 2216, 2217, 2218 and 2219 unreadable. On stage 2 Deleted 2 index entries and recovered lost files. On stage 3, 4 and 5 everything o.k.. I then ran an anti virus scan on D, nothing found. On starting Windows no errors in event viewer for last half hour. It is looking good Matt. Thank you again. Regards tech_no

09-03-2007, 09:38 AM	#18 (permalink)
TheMatt TSF Enthusiast Join Date: May 2006 Location: Boston Posts: 13,702 OS: Win 3.1, 98, NT 4.0, XP Debian 4.0, Kubuntu 6.06 My System Blog Entries: 3	Re: hard drive disappeared Glad to hear it fixed the errors. If the errors in the event manager don't come back in about a day, post back and we can call this solved. __________________ - Matt M - KB1OSC - Folding@Home 85015 [url="http://www.techsupportforum.com/hardware-support/"] If TSF has helped you, please consider donating. If I have stopped responding to a thread, feel free to send me a PM with a link to the thread. It is advisable to subscribe to threads so you will receive updates when replies are posted. You can subscribe to threads from the "Thread Tools" Menu. »Memtest86 »Prime95 »UBCD »SpeedFan »NHC Personal »Everest »Sandra »PC Wizard »RivaTuner »ATi Tool Click here for Useful Articles and Guides

09-04-2007, 05:28 AM	#19 (permalink)
tech_no Registered User Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Plymouth in Devon Posts: 163 OS: Windows XP Home with SP3 My System	Re: hard drive disappeared hi Matt, Good news, no disk errors yet. Thank you very much for your help. I wondered what size hard disk to get if my Master 40Gb Drive gives up, considering it is used mainly for operating sytem and most recent letters and documents, everything else is stored on my 160 Gb slave. I was wondering if 80 Gb would be suffice for that? Also if I have to do a full system recovery, do I disconnect my new slave, or leave it in place? This thread will be closed after this Matt thank you. Regards tech_no

09-04-2007, 08:41 AM	#20 (permalink)
TheMatt TSF Enthusiast Join Date: May 2006 Location: Boston Posts: 13,702 OS: Win 3.1, 98, NT 4.0, XP Debian 4.0, Kubuntu 6.06 My System Blog Entries: 3	Re: hard drive disappeared 80 GB should be more than enough. I am running only a single 160 GB in my computer (80 GB Windows, 80 GB Linux) and have barely filled up either half. For backups we have a 250GB NAS drive on the network. I can tell you that many people are going out and buying huge hard disks but not using them. Go with the 80 GB and get another hard disk later on. What I would do is use the Windows Backup utility and make a backup of the C: drive and the System state. Save it to your clave drive. When your 40 GB does bite the bullet, restore that backup after you reinstall Windows. Now, do you have Windows XP/Operating System/Recovery disk(s) that came with the computer? if so, these are your ticket to Reinstalling Windows. __________________ - Matt M - KB1OSC - Folding@Home 85015 [url="http://www.techsupportforum.com/hardware-support/"] If TSF has helped you, please consider donating. If I have stopped responding to a thread, feel free to send me a PM with a link to the thread. It is advisable to subscribe to threads so you will receive updates when replies are posted. You can subscribe to threads from the "Thread Tools" Menu. »Memtest86 »Prime95 »UBCD »SpeedFan »NHC Personal »Everest »Sandra »PC Wizard »RivaTuner »ATi Tool Click here for Useful Articles and Guides