Disappearing HDD's and Write Errors

**Aus_Karlos** · 09-12-2008, 05:25 AM

Ive just installed Vista again after going back to XP. XP i found was a lot faster for gaming but im kind of moving on.
However since ive formatted and installed Vista some bugs have been plaguing me.

1) Two of my HDD's will disappear when i try to access them. They will be initially in My Computer but as soon as i access them they disappear with the message "E:/ or F:/ Path could not be found". Both HDD's dont even show up in Device Manager. Its fixed by restarting but its annoying. (None of this happend in XP)

2) One of my HDD will have its write privileges removed restarting doesn't fix this it seems to just come and go. Even the System doesnt have write access to the HDD. So i cannot edit Security to enable Write because i can't save the changes. lol a bit of a conundrum
(This also didn't happen in XP)

Systems specs are on the Left..

Thanks

**Aus_Karlos** · 09-13-2008, 04:48 AM

bump!!

**nickster_uk** · 09-13-2008, 05:07 AM

Hi Aus_Karlos...

have you run any diagnostics on the drives...things like chkdsk or manufacturers tools?

Are the drives which are affected part of your RAID setup?

Are there any errors in your Event Log/Device Manager consoles which may help pinpoint the problem?

**Dunedin** · 09-13-2008, 05:43 AM

Hello Aus_Karlos

I think the scarcity of replies means that we don`t know what the problem is. I have never seen it before and have just spent time searching for a solution. There seem to be lots of people with this trouble and no real fixes.

I did find that it can be caused by a PSU which is too small. Not so in your case, but check your PSU anyway to see if it is performing properly.

Also I came across this. Can you check that out too.

Check that the drive letters are not being taken over by an optical drive or a plug in USB device.

Quote:

have you run any diagnostics on the drives...things like chkdsk or manufacturers tools?

I was thinking of that too, but it seems too much of a coincidence for 2 drives to have gone bad at the same time.

.

**Aus_Karlos** · 09-13-2008, 05:48 AM

Quote:

have you run any diagnostics on the drives...things like chkdsk or manufacturers tools?

Ive got the Western Digital's diagnostic tool and it doesn't report anything even on the long test.

Quote:

Are the drives which are affected part of your RAID setup?

No problems with them.

Quote:

Are there any errors in your Event Log/Device Manager consoles which may help pinpoint the problem?

Nope. Nothing related to HDD apears in the event logs between specified dates.

Ive just noticed something as well all my HDDs apart from the 2 in RAID are listed under Removable Hardware. Very strange as when i first started Vista the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon on the task bar was not there. And this problem started after i restarted from installing SP1.

**Dunedin** · 09-13-2008, 06:00 AM

SP1 again!!

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/948187

.

**Aus_Karlos** · 09-13-2008, 06:01 AM

The Article you pointed me to was some help. I have confirmed that my HDD's are in order.

Quote:

You have two Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) hard disks attached to channels SATA0 and SATA1 on a Windows Vista-based computer. However, Disk 0 may not be assigned to the hard disk on SATA0, and Disk 1 may not be assigned to the hard disk on SATA1.

Looking into my BIOS my WD 3200AAJS (320GB HDD) is located in SATA0, under the device manager its located in Port0 (under Nvidia nforce Serial ATA Controller #1)
Its the same for every HDD SATA1 is in Port1..

**Aus_Karlos** · 09-13-2008, 06:08 AM

ok ive just re-installed my SATA drivers and nforce controllers unfortunately i have no way of recreating the problem it just comes and goes.

09-12-2008, 05:25 AM	#1 (permalink)
Aus_Karlos Moderator, Games Team Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Western Australia Posts: 3,428 OS: Vista Ultimate x64, Windows XP 32-bit/64-bit, Ubuntu x64, Windows 7 x64 Beta My System Blog Entries: 2	Disappearing HDD's and Write Errors Ive just installed Vista again after going back to XP. XP i found was a lot faster for gaming but im kind of moving on. However since ive formatted and installed Vista some bugs have been plaguing me. 1) Two of my HDD's will disappear when i try to access them. They will be initially in My Computer but as soon as i access them they disappear with the message "E:/ or F:/ Path could not be found". Both HDD's dont even show up in Device Manager. Its fixed by restarting but its annoying. (None of this happend in XP) 2) One of my HDD will have its write privileges removed restarting doesn't fix this it seems to just come and go. Even the System doesnt have write access to the HDD. So i cannot edit Security to enable Write because i can't save the changes. lol a bit of a conundrum (This also didn't happen in XP) Systems specs are on the Left.. Thanks __________________ MemTest86 / Nvidia Drivers / ATI Drivers / DirectX 9.0c / Sys Requirements / Everest Folding@Home Last edited by Aus_Karlos; 09-12-2008 at 05:31 AM.

09-13-2008, 04:48 AM	#2 (permalink)
Aus_Karlos Moderator, Games Team Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Western Australia Posts: 3,428 OS: Vista Ultimate x64, Windows XP 32-bit/64-bit, Ubuntu x64, Windows 7 x64 Beta My System Blog Entries: 2	Re: Disappearing HDD's and Write Errors bump!! __________________ MemTest86 / Nvidia Drivers / ATI Drivers / DirectX 9.0c / Sys Requirements / Everest Folding@Home

09-13-2008, 05:07 AM	#3 (permalink)
nickster_uk Moderator, Microsoft Support, Happy to support TSF! Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 7,043 OS: XP Pro SP3, Windows 7 Ultimate, Ubuntu v8.04 My System	Re: Disappearing HDD's and Write Errors Hi Aus_Karlos... have you run any diagnostics on the drives...things like chkdsk or manufacturers tools? Are the drives which are affected part of your RAID setup? Are there any errors in your Event Log/Device Manager consoles which may help pinpoint the problem? __________________ My system: ASUS P5K-E WiFi \| Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz (OC 3.60GHz) \| 4GB Corsair DDR2 XMS2-6400C4 RAM (4-4-4-12) \| PowerColor ATI Radeon HD 3850 Pro Xtreme 512MB GDDR3 GPU \| Maxtor DiamondMax 22 500GB, Maxtor DiamondMax 23 500GB & 2xMaxtor DiamondMax 21 250GB SATA HDDs \| Thermaltake CL-P0114 Heatsink + 6 LED Case Fans \| Corsair HX620W Modular PSU \| Enermax Black Knight (CS-527) Case \| Pioneer DVR-216 SATA 20x20 DVD±RW In a world without walls or fences - who needs Windows and Gates?

09-13-2008, 06:00 AM	#6 (permalink)
Dunedin Mentor Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Over the Forth from Edinburgh, Scotland Posts: 3,582 OS: WinXP Pro/Windows7 RTM Ultimate	Re: Disappearing HDD's and Write Errors SP1 again!! http://support.microsoft.com/kb/948187 . __________________

09-13-2008, 06:08 AM	#8 (permalink)
Aus_Karlos Moderator, Games Team Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Western Australia Posts: 3,428 OS: Vista Ultimate x64, Windows XP 32-bit/64-bit, Ubuntu x64, Windows 7 x64 Beta My System Blog Entries: 2	Re: Disappearing HDD's and Write Errors ok ive just re-installed my SATA drivers and nforce controllers unfortunately i have no way of recreating the problem it just comes and goes. __________________ MemTest86 / Nvidia Drivers / ATI Drivers / DirectX 9.0c / Sys Requirements / Everest Folding@Home