[SOLVED] Hard Drive Disappears

reckless8594 · 01-26-2008, 01:43 PM

Drive is a Maxtor 7L300S0

This is not the same problem as the "Have you "lost" a hard drive or partition in your computer?" thread.

My SATA drive disappears at completely random times. It shows in the BIOS; Windows sees it after reboot, but with seemingly no reason at all the drive will disappear. It doesn't show up in Explorer, Device Manager or Disk Management. I have tried switching with new a SATA cable, and settings in the BIOS are okay.

A few months ago, I was having the same problem, which led to corrupt files, damaged sectors, etc. Eventually the drive started the stereotypical sounds of a HDD about to fail, then finally death. I got a replacement drive from Seagate, and it worked fine for awhile until just around this week it has started again.

Here is my PC Wizard Summary

<<< System Summary >>>

> Manufacturer : Custom Computers by Jerry

> Mainboard : ASUSTeK Computer Inc. P4P800-E

> Chipset : Intel i865PE

> Processor : Intel Pentium 4 @ 3000 MHz

> Physical Memory : 1152 MB

> Video Card : ATI Technologies Inc Radeon 9600 XT (V350)

> Hard Disk : Maxtor (164 GB)

> Hard Disk : Maxtor (300 GB)

> CD-Rom Drive : LITE-ON CD-RW SOHR-5238S

> DVD-Rom Drive : LITE-ON DVDRW SOHW-1213S

> CD-Rom Drive : MagicISO Virtual DVD-ROM0000

> Network Card : Marvell Semiconductor (Was: Galileo Technology Ltd) Yukon 88E8001/8003/8010 PCI Gigabit Ethernet Controller (Copper)

> Operating System : Microsoft Windows XP Professional 5.01.2600 Service Pack 2

> DirectX : Version 9.0c (March 2005)

Full report in attachment.

**bhahar84** · 01-27-2008, 05:18 AM

Hi reckless8594!!

Welcome to TSF

Can I know what is your power supply power, voltage and ampere rating? This might be because a power supply issue here

reckless8594 · 01-30-2008, 07:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bhahar84

Hi reckless8594!!

Welcome to TSF

Can I know what is your power supply power, voltage and ampere rating? This might be because a power supply issue here

Thanks for the welcome.

I'll get you posted tomorrow, I can't do it now. I was thinking power supply, too. In the BIOS it seems a bit underpowered by a couple tenths of a volt.

**bhahar84** · 01-31-2008, 12:19 AM

Hi again reckless8594!!

I'll wait for your post tomorow

Meanwhile, you can try to unplug the cd-rw on your computer, and use the computer. See whether the issue reoccurs again.

p/s:
Make sure you turn off the computer and power socket before opening the case and disconnect the drive. Also remember to discharge yourself before touching any peripheral inside the computer

reckless8594 · 02-06-2008, 03:28 PM

Sorry I haven't posted. It isn't my computer, it's my family's, and they decided to send it over to our friend that knows a great deal more than I about computers. Thanks for the help, though!

**bhahar84** · 02-07-2008, 09:23 AM

Hi again reckless8594!!

Its ok

And you might want to keep us updated with the situation later

Hope you enjoy your stay here at TSF

reckless8594 · 02-09-2008, 10:58 AM

Okay, thank you all. It was the PSU. Got a new one in, no problems!

dai · 02-09-2008, 11:19 AM

thanks for posting back

**bhahar84** · 02-09-2008, 11:43 PM

Hi reckless8594!!

Glad to hear that you resolved your issue, and your computer running up fine

01-27-2008, 05:18 AM	#2 (permalink)
bhahar84 TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Malaysia Posts: 1,386 OS: Windows XP SP2, Vista Ultimate My System	Re: Hard Drive Disappears Hi reckless8594!! Welcome to TSF Can I know what is your power supply power, voltage and ampere rating? This might be because a power supply issue here __________________ .:CPU-Z::Power Supply::Recuva::Unlocker::SensorsView::PSU Calculator::Everest:.[/center]

01-31-2008, 12:19 AM	#4 (permalink)
bhahar84 TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Malaysia Posts: 1,386 OS: Windows XP SP2, Vista Ultimate My System	Re: Hard Drive Disappears Hi again reckless8594!! I'll wait for your post tomorow Meanwhile, you can try to unplug the cd-rw on your computer, and use the computer. See whether the issue reoccurs again. p/s: Make sure you turn off the computer and power socket before opening the case and disconnect the drive. Also remember to discharge yourself before touching any peripheral inside the computer __________________ .:CPU-Z::Power Supply::Recuva::Unlocker::SensorsView::PSU Calculator::Everest:.[/center]

02-06-2008, 03:28 PM	#5 (permalink)
reckless8594 Registered User Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 4 OS: Windows XP Pro SP2	Re: Hard Drive Disappears Sorry I haven't posted. It isn't my computer, it's my family's, and they decided to send it over to our friend that knows a great deal more than I about computers. Thanks for the help, though!

02-07-2008, 09:23 AM	#6 (permalink)
bhahar84 TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Malaysia Posts: 1,386 OS: Windows XP SP2, Vista Ultimate My System	Re: Hard Drive Disappears Hi again reckless8594!! Its ok And you might want to keep us updated with the situation later Hope you enjoy your stay here at TSF __________________ .:CPU-Z::Power Supply::Recuva::Unlocker::SensorsView::PSU Calculator::Everest:.[/center]

02-09-2008, 10:58 AM	#7 (permalink)
reckless8594 Registered User Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 4 OS: Windows XP Pro SP2	Re: Hard Drive Disappears Okay, thank you all. It was the PSU. Got a new one in, no problems!

02-09-2008, 11:19 AM	#8 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 56,185 OS: win 7 32x 64x rtm	Re: [SOLVED] Hard Drive Disappears thanks for posting back __________________

02-09-2008, 11:43 PM	#9 (permalink)
bhahar84 TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Malaysia Posts: 1,386 OS: Windows XP SP2, Vista Ultimate My System	Re: [SOLVED] Hard Drive Disappears Hi reckless8594!! Glad to hear that you resolved your issue, and your computer running up fine __________________ .:CPU-Z::Power Supply::Recuva::Unlocker::SensorsView::PSU Calculator::Everest:.[/center]