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So I'm having a nice one. Two drives in the machine. I use the second for media and some software. This morning, comp didn't recognize it. It didn't show up at all on the device list. I shut down, checked the connections, rebooted, all seemed good. About 5 mins later, I was accessing a file on it, it quit on me. Disappeared from the list. I shut down, checked again, booted up, it worked. Then cut out again.
posted
That seems most likely unless you're also hearing unusual sounds like clicking coming from the drive.
Posts: 1945 | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
I assume that the drive worked for a while before showing this symptom?
You might try replacing the cable...I assume it's SATA, so that would be an easy thing to try.
If that's not it...
It could be a drive controller that's overheating or failing in some way. That's the circuit board part of the hard drive, so it wouldn't generate any noise. Generally speaking, it's not likely to fail, and if it does, it's usually lights out, not flipping off and on.
Posts: 1813 | Registered: Apr 2001
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posted
It's worked for years. I've rechecked the connections and everything seems solid, but I guess it could be the cable itself. If the drive controller is overheating, then it'd need to cool off for it to work when I boot it up for it to work again, right? I haven't been letting it sit for more than a couple minutes while I checked the cables. And yes, it's a SATA drive. I'm looking to see if I have any spare cables.
Posts: 354 | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
Hate to say this, but it is probably near the end. It could be a loose connection, but that is not very likely, as long as you have checked that out.
If you have an external enclosure I would try pulling the HDD out of your computer and throwing it in there. Plug it in through USB/esata, and see what happens. If you can see your data, I would make a backup of anything you want to save. Then try to plug it back in to your machine using a different cable and Sata/IDE port. (Whichever you are using)
You may not hear any clicking or loud noises, it may have just gotten really old. Depending on who made the HDD, you may be able to get a replacement. Seagate and Maxtor have a 5 year warranty, and they are really good about sending you a replacement with little to no hassle.
Posts: 1937 | Registered: Nov 2006
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OK, fun update. I got an adapter so I could plug it into a USB port instead of the SATA port. It didn't help. Now what happens is a plug it in, it works for about 15 sec and then quits, as though I unplugged it. If I unplug it and plug it in again, same thing happens. I'm pretty sure it's not a heat issue, because I chilled it in the freezer, and it's still cold. Any thoughts?
Posts: 354 | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
You don't need to put a hard drive in the freezer. It's probably not a good idea, because various parts will contract when they freeze, and that might cause a variety of issues, since it's a mechanical device designed to operate at near room temperature.
Plus, it's entirely possible that the problem is a worn out circuit or chip. It doesn't necessarily have to overheat for a chip failure to occur.
Since it appears to be a problem with the hard drive itself, you need to backup the data on it and replace it. Maybe try using the internal SATA connection and see how much time you get between 'failures'. Perhaps you can salvage at least some of the files?
Posts: 1813 | Registered: Apr 2001
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posted
The freezer was suggested by several tech support people (independently). It didn't work, but it didn't seem to hurt anything either. I'm now getting less than a minute of working time between failures, so getting files off it is pretty much not happening (it's mostly media, so big files). May have to write it all off. Nothing essential, but really annoying.
Posts: 354 | Registered: Jan 2006
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