if one of my sata drives just happened to disappear when i left my pc for like 30 minutes?

and then i did a soft reboot (without powering down completely, just pressing the reset button on the case) and it still didn't find the drive.

then i powered down and powered back up and then it found it.

should i be concerned?

1/28/2007 1:07:35 AM

short answer: "yes, with an if"
long answer: "no, with a but"

1/28/2007 1:32:45 AM

maybe a cable is loose

1/28/2007 9:49:39 AM

Check the molex

1/28/2007 11:30:01 AM

its one of the signs that the hard drive is failing (usually the motor that drives the arms goes bad). What sata drive do you have? If the drive isn't important (i'd assume not since the os was still working with the drive down) just disconnect the drive totally (power and sata connector) until you can troubleshoot the problem on the manufacturer's website. Usually it takes some 5-7 years of normal use for the motor to go bad, unless you have the drive working 24/7 for the past 2-3 years, similar like a server setting. Heat could also contribute to failing drives. I had a drive fail in a year, but there was no cooling for the drive in my old dell case years ago.

I'd 1st check the cables to see if they have good fit. If its sata, are you using the new power connector or using the old standard molex? If you are using the new power connector, are you using an adapter off the molex connector? molex tends to have a bad connection sometimes since they are flimsy. If the power connectors seem good and cables all good, I'd definately copy what ever data you have on the drive to someplace else for good measures.

I believe you can run a program to diagnosed the mechanical well being of the drive. I know that Western Digital had the program given out for their hard drive. I think the S.M.A.R.T program was enabled, but If I remember correctly, that program is in other drives too and is more of a feature/firmware then an actual software. Someone chime in on that. The hard drive and mobo will pause or delay the bootup process to give you a warning about the hard drive failing. I had that happen on two hard drives.

1/28/2007 12:19:41 PM