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Thread: Intermittent hard drive problem

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    Intermittent hard drive problem

    Hi, I have an intermittent problem with my hard drive setup.

    I have 2 identical Seagate hard drives, and 2 identical ide cables connecting them to the motherboard. One a boot drive, the other just for storage.
    The bios always detects them OK but every now and then the second storage drive isn't recognised by WindowsXP and says it's not formatted when I try to access it. If I switch it off and reboot, sometimes it takes a few tries, but it sorts itself and it'll work perfectly for days or weeks... then for no apparant reason it'll go again. I'm a bit worried it'll pack up all together at some point although the drive itself appears to be functioning OK, there's no errors or curruption after a failure.

    Anything I can do to work out what the problem is? On the face of it there doesn't appear to be any pattern to it not working. Thankyou.

  2. #2
    honed at getting pwned
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    Is there a CD/DVD drive connected to either of these IDE cables?
    (Don't really have any suggestions yet, just digging for clues...)

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    Sukiyaki Western! notsobig's Avatar
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    Do you have any spare PC? If your Seagate behave similar in your other PC then it's likely your HD is faulty/dying so I would take backup asap and RMA it if I were you. If it works Ok then problem is down to somethingelse like bad IDE cable(like abeacock said above), or bad mobo or not enough power from PSU...etc.

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    honed at getting pwned
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    Another thing to check would be the drive's SMART settings to see if there are any clues about the condition of the harddisk compared to the good one.

    Something like HDDScan - http://www.benchmarkhq.ru/english.html?/be_hdd.html could display the SMART details

    NOTE: I've not used this program so please do so at your own risk!

  5. #5
    Splash
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    Doesn't Speedfan read SMART and HDD temps? Have you tried a chkdsk of the drive? When it stops showing in My Computer what does it show in Disk Management?

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    Actually I described it wrong, both drives are on the same cable. A DVD ROM is connected on the other ide cable. I've used Seagate's checking program and Windows chkdsk everything reports OK, including the smart details.

    When it doesn't show up in My Computer, disk management recognises the drive's there and it's the right size but no partitions show up and it says the space is unallocated if I remember rightly.

    I don't have another PC to try it on and the way it happens randomly it might not occur for weeks anyway. I suppose I could swap the 2 ide cables over and see what happens?

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    Sounds like the drives on its way out.. I'd suggest you backup any valuable data on the drive if you get the chance, and then goto Seagates webpage and d/l one of there diagnostic tools, and test the drive.

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    Sukiyaki Western! notsobig's Avatar
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    I suppose you've already updated your motherboard bios to the latest one? If you haven't, then maybe it's time to do so.

    Yeah change your IDE cable to something like this,
    (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=129203) and see if that makes any difference. It doesn't cost you much and it's more HQ and good for your system airflow anyway.

    If you still encounter same problem, then I believe your HD is faulty one so make a backup of important files and contact manufacturer asap to get a replacement.

  9. #9
    adam1701
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    My main hdd didnt use to work as master, but i put it as slave.... in another pc and it worked fine....
    and btw,
    if the hdd's are intermittent, back up whats on them instantly.... if you have data you need, just get a new drive, its better to be safe!

  10. #10
    0iD
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    • 0iD's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Leave my mother out of it!
      • CPU:
      • If I knew what it meant?
      • Memory:
      • Wah?
      • Storage:
      • Cupboards and drawers
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Slate & chalk
      • PSU:
      • meh
      • Case:
      • Suit or Brief?
      • Operating System:
      • Brain
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      • I was 1 at skool
      • Internet:
      • 28k Dialup
    1. Make sure the drives are set to Slave & MAster & not cable select

    2. If you can see it in windows try using the 'import foreign disk' option.
    [
    Quote Originally Posted by Blitzen
    When I say go, both walk in the opposite direction for 10 paces, draw handbags, then bitch-slap each other!

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