Sata HDD disappears?

Gilletter · Apr 20, 2011

Hi all I'm having a problem with one of my SATA HDD disappearing at random times. I've already changed out the cable thinking that might be the problem, but it's doing the same thing with the new cable. Has anyone experienced this before, or does anyone have a clue on how to stop it from happening?

scaminatrix · Apr 20, 2011

Hmmm... maybe a power-saving feature in Windows is causing it...
Is it definitely at random times, or could it be happening a certain amount of time after the rig's turned on?
What software have you got installed on your rig? Any 3rd party power-saving/HDD tools?

micropage7 · Apr 20, 2011

sata or e-sata?
first check the sata power, does it run well?
what about change it, i mean plug it on other sata port, does it work?

cheesy999 · Apr 20, 2011

Gilletter said:
Hi all I'm having a problem with one of my SATA HDD disappearing at random times. I've already changed out the cable thinking that might be the problem, but it's doing the same thing with the new cable. Has anyone experienced this before, or does anyone have a clue on how to stop it from happening?

i got this on a old mobo where the gfx card rested on top of the sata port, the cable eventually twisted and started to fall apart, so it may well be your cable - it wouldn't hurt to try another one their about £1 each adn their given away free with most mobo's and hard drives

swap the cables over to another drive and see if the hard drive that fades away is a diffrent one

lilhasselhoffer · Apr 20, 2011

I second Scaminatrix. There is a well known problem with windows putting larger hard drives to sleep, then not being able to wake them up.

Microsoft has released a patch, assuming you want to e-mail them and ask for it. I am at work, but I will try to post a link to the download later tonight. I ran through a similar problem with a 2 tb hard drive, and that was the only thing that fixed the issue.

Gilletter · Apr 21, 2011

scaminatrix said:
Hmmm... maybe a power-saving feature in Windows is causing it...
Is it definitely at random times, or could it be happening a certain amount of time after the rig's turned on?
What software have you got installed on your rig? Any 3rd party power-saving/HDD tools?

as far as 3rd party - nothing... It just started happening over hte last 2-3 weeks. Nothing has changed, it just started doing it all on its own...

micropage7 said:
sata or e-sata?
first check the sata power, does it run well?
what about change it, i mean plug it on other sata port, does it work?

sata, sata cable is new (tried that first)

cheesy999 said:
i got this on a old mobo where the gfx card rested on top of the sata port, the cable eventually twisted and started to fall apart, so it may well be your cable - it wouldn't hurt to try another one their about £1 each adn their given away free with most mobo's and hard drives

swap the cables over to another drive and see if the hard drive that fades away is a diffrent one

see above

lilhasselhoffer said:
I second Scaminatrix. There is a well known problem with windows putting larger hard drives to sleep, then not being able to wake them up.

Microsoft has released a patch, assuming you want to e-mail them and ask for it. I am at work, but I will try to post a link to the download later tonight. I ran through a similar problem with a 2 tb hard drive, and that was the only thing that fixed the issue.

Well my 1tb hd doesn't go to "sleep" it's a 250 gb hd that is doing it... I would appreciate the link, that might help out... but not sure, I do have 2 sata hdd and 1 sata dvd drive and the only thing that disappears is the 250gb hd... :confused:

scaminatrix · Apr 21, 2011

And the only thing that gets it back is restarting the PC?

Gilletter · Apr 23, 2011

yeah restart and it comes back

scaminatrix · Apr 23, 2011

Then I'd say to check your Event Logs. Windows should show something in there.

Also, install CrystalDiskInfo and then monitor the temps. Could be overheating or something similar, so see what CrystalDiskInfo says about the state of your HDD.
I just had a problem with my backup drive: Every time I tried to copy over one certain file, Windows would freeze and I had to force a restart. Tried copying it over with Mini-XP, same thing. All other files were fine, it was just this one file. It had bad sector/s, I cleaned them and now all is well.
Maybe there's a bad sector on your drive, and it's causing your problem when it's indexing itself? That might be why it happens at random times. There's a chance that if Windows tries to index a file that's in a bad sector, it may cause the drive to dismount. I'm not 100% sure, as I'm just a theorist

But yea, IMO CrystalDiskInfo is your first port of call.

Gilletter · May 9, 2011

nothing I see in event logs points to why the disk would demount.... I've tried different cables, different port... still randomly doing it... disks are set to never sleep as well... any other ideas? The disk also shows everything ok in SMART and through crystaldiskinfo... :banghead:

Widjaja · May 9, 2011

Try it as a slave in another computer if you have one.
Keep it running, see if it cuts out, then you are certain despite there being no signs of hardware failure in whatever program you are using, that there is something wrong with the drive itself.

adanecito · Sep 4, 2014

Gilletter said:
Hi all I'm having a problem with one of my SATA HDD disappearing at random times. I've already changed out the cable thinking that might be the problem, but it's doing the same thing with the new cable. Has anyone experienced this before, or does anyone have a clue on how to stop it from happening?

Did you resolve this? If so how did you solve it? I am having the same problem.
Thanks!

FreedomEclipse · Sep 4, 2014

adanecito said:
Did you resolve this? If so how did you solve it? I am having the same problem.
Thanks!

make sure that you have the most upto date bios & drivers for your board otherwise just straight out replace the drive with a new one. I had a samsung drive do the same thing to me a few years back and the only option was to replace it.

System Name	Prebuilt - because covid...
Processor	Intel Core i7-11700F
Motherboard	Gigabyte b560 ds3h ac-y1
Cooling	Cooler Master 212 BE
Memory	16 GB
Video Card(s)	Asus RTX 3060 Ti
Storage	1 TB Wd, 500 SSD
Display(s)	27in Curved Samsung
Case	CyberpowerPC
Audio Device(s)	-
Power Supply	Antec NeoECO C 520 watt
Software	Win 8.1 Pro
Benchmark Scores	3DMark Score 7754.0 3DMarks Graphics Score 8392.0 Physics Score 6498.0 Combined Score 6062.0

System Name	Benny
Processor	Phenom II 1055t @ 3.3GHz; 300x11; 1.380v; NB 2700; HT 2400
Motherboard	ASUS Crosshair IV Formula (2002 BIOS)
Cooling	Thermalright TRUE 120 Black + 2 Xilence Red Wing PWM 120mm (push/pull) + polycarbonate fan holders
Memory	8GB GeIL Ultra 2133MHZ C9 running at 1600MHz @ 7-7-7-21 1T 1.5v
Video Card(s)	MSI Twin Frozr II GTX470 @ Stock w/CPU fan cable-tied on, as one of the GPU fans broke.
Storage	60GB OCZ Agility3 (OS);500GB WDC Grn; 1x1TB WDC Blk (Backup)
Display(s)	ASUS PA823Q
Case	Silverstone Raven 2 (all cables custom sleeved with velcro mod on side panel...)
Audio Device(s)	X-Fi (Onboard) + Harmon Kardon HK6100 amp powering JVC HA-RX700's with Zalman mic
Power Supply	Corsair HX650W
Software	Win7 Pro x64
Benchmark Scores	No benchies so making this space useful! Corsair M90, Logitech G19. Phobya FlexLight LED's (gawjus)

System Name	micropage7
Processor	Intel Xeon X3470
Motherboard	Gigabyte Technology Co. Ltd. P55A-UD3R (Socket 1156)
Cooling	Enermax ETS-T40F
Memory	Samsung 8.00GB Dual-Channel DDR3
Video Card(s)	NVIDIA Quadro FX 1800
Storage	V-GEN03AS18EU120GB, Seagate 2 x 1TB and Seagate 4TB
Display(s)	Samsung 21 inch LCD Wide Screen
Case	Icute Super 18
Audio Device(s)	Auzentech X-Fi Forte
Power Supply	Silverstone 600 Watt
Mouse	Logitech G502
Keyboard	Sades Excalibur + Taihao keycaps
Software	Win 7 64-bit
Benchmark Scores	Classified

System Name	PC
Processor	AMD Ryzen 3600
Motherboard	MSI B450 Mortar Max
Cooling	Phanteks PH-TC12DX, 3 x NZXT FN 140mm, 1x NZXT FV V2 120mm
Memory	32gb DDR4 3200mhz
Video Card(s)	ASUS R9 290 DCII-OC 4GB
Storage	corsair mp600 1TB
Display(s)	LG 27MB85Z 27" 1440p
Case	NZXT Source 340
Power Supply	Thermaltake 675w
Mouse	Logitech G500S
Keyboard	Logitech G510S
Software	Windows 8.1 64 bit

System Name	Prebuilt - because covid...
Processor	Intel Core i7-11700F
Motherboard	Gigabyte b560 ds3h ac-y1
Cooling	Cooler Master 212 BE
Memory	16 GB
Video Card(s)	Asus RTX 3060 Ti
Storage	1 TB Wd, 500 SSD
Display(s)	27in Curved Samsung
Case	CyberpowerPC
Audio Device(s)	-
Power Supply	Antec NeoECO C 520 watt
Software	Win 8.1 Pro
Benchmark Scores	3DMark Score 7754.0 3DMarks Graphics Score 8392.0 Physics Score 6498.0 Combined Score 6062.0

Sata HDD disappears?

Gilletter

scaminatrix

micropage7

cheesy999

lilhasselhoffer

Gilletter

scaminatrix

Gilletter

scaminatrix

Gilletter

Widjaja

adanecito

New Member

FreedomEclipse

~Technological Technocrat~

System Name	Darth Obsidious
Processor	Intel i5 2500K
Motherboard	ASUS P8Z68-V/Gen3
Cooling	Cooler Master Hyper 212+ in Push Pull
Memory	2X4GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600
Video Card(s)	ASUS R9 270x TOP
Storage	128GB Samsung 830 SSD, 1TB WD Black, 2TB WD Green
Display(s)	LG IPS234V-PN
Case	Corsair Obsidian 650D
Audio Device(s)	Infrasonic Quartet
Power Supply	Corsair HX650w
Software	Windows 7 64bit and Windows XP Home
Benchmark Scores	2cm mark on bench with a razor blade.

System Name	Codename: Icarus Mk.VI
Processor	Intel 8600k@Stock -- pending tuning
Motherboard	Asus ROG Strixx Z370-F
Cooling	CPU: BeQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 {1xCorsair ML120 Pro\|5xML140 Pro}
Memory	32GB XPG Gammix D10 {2x16GB}
Video Card(s)	ASUS Dual Radeon™ RX 6700 XT OC Edition
Storage	Samsung 970 Evo 512GB SSD (Boot)\|WD SN770 (Gaming)\|2x 3TB Toshiba DT01ACA300\|2x 2TB Crucial BX500
Display(s)	LG GP850-B
Case	Corsair 760T (White)
Audio Device(s)	Yamaha RX-V573\|Speakers: JBL Control One\|Auna 300-CN\|Wharfedale Diamond SW150
Power Supply	Corsair AX760
Mouse	Logitech G900
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