HDD disappearing problem - heat? - PC Forums

jakejm79 · 08-16-2009, 12:31 PM

I have an old (gateway with a slot 1 celeron 400) system that I use mostly for a file server (media files to two xboxes). It had a WD 8GB drive in it (came from one of the xboxes) with windows XP on it and then a maxtor 500GB drive on the 2ndry IDE channel that has about 300GB of data on it. Recently while adding some data (via uTorrent) I had several CRC errors (on the 500GB), I reforced the download and eventually everything downloaded fine. I then ran a check and found several bad sectors. Here is where the strange stuff happens, recently I went to connect to the 500GB drive via the mapped network drive on my laptop, and it wouldn't connect, a reboot of the old desktop didn't solve anything, so I broke out the monitor, keyboard and mouse (primarily I use RDP to do anything on the desktop) and checked the bios and the 8GB drive was not recognized (tho if I left it in the auto position it would still boot windows tho the POST would take much longer) anyway thinking that could be the problem I cloned that HDD to a 10GB Seagate I had laying around and that worked fine, recognized in bios windows boots quickly. But I am still having issues with the 500GB drive disappearing, I have checked and swapped IDE cables and power cables. If I leave the computer off for a bit and turn it back on all is fine for a while. I am suspecting heat to be an issue, the 500GB gets considerably hotter than the other, plus this old system only has one fan (temp controlled) that cools both the little PSU and the CPU. and the HDDs are installed in the 5.25 bays (its a small case with only one 3.5" bay) and dont get direct air flow. Any thoughts, is my 500GB over heating because of impending failure (supported by the CRC errors) and once it gets too hot it shuts down and disappears?
Thanks in advance for any advice, I am pretty savvy with computers and trouble shooting, but before I go and by another HDD (I'm actually thinking whole new computer since 500GB+ IDE drives are harder to come by) I wanted to know if there is anything else I should do?

Sprint · 08-17-2009, 01:24 AM

Try leaving the case side open and see if they disappear then too.
If they do then its most likely not heat, either MB or busted HDD.

jakejm79 · 08-17-2009, 01:51 AM

I have left the front bay covers off and it doesnt make any difference (actually they were never on there). I have mostly noticed it when I have been connected fine to it has a shared drive and then I use a 3rd computer (or xbox) to read data from it, it will freeze up and then when I check back it has disappeared. I was also thinking the IDE controller on the mobo since there were issues with the other smaller HDD. I will see if I can do some more test and pinpoint anything. The only reason I suggested heat was since it was a lot warmer than the other HDD, this one was very hot whereas the other one was just warm.

K-TRON · 10-15-2009, 10:28 PM

check the connections
I sometimes loose drives on my SCSI 320 array. All it takes is one of the 68 pins to fail to connect and the array will fail.

Try getting new cables, and ensure all of the drives are connected.
If your running SATA, you are kinda out of luck, with SCSI, you can buy cables which tell you which drive is active, and which is not. - Its easy to problem solve

K-TRON