HDD disappears until I rescan the hardware from device manager

Started happening recently.

I have 5 drives in my computer. One of the them recently started disappearing. It doesn't show up even if I restart my computer. When I scan for new hardware in device manager, it shows up only to disappear right after within the next 15 seconds. No errors in event viewer. I have all the data backed up. Its a *data* drive that was being backed up every day to a backup drive before this started happening so I am not worried about losing anything. I am not entirely sure if its a dying drive or an issue with the controller or cable. Any ideas?

One simple test would be to disconnect one of the other drives and connect the problem drive to a different interface connector and cable. If the drive shows up and does not vanish again, it is probable either the original cable or controller port. If the drive shows up and vanishes, it is probably the drive.

Did you make any type of change to the pc prior to this starting? Is there maybe a new flash drive plugged in?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Steve R Jones

Did you make any type of change to the pc prior to this starting? Is there maybe a new flash drive plugged in?

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No

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jdc2000

One simple test would be to disconnect one of the other drives and connect the problem drive to a different interface connector and cable. If the drive shows up and does not vanish again, it is probable either the original cable or controller port. If the drive shows up and vanishes, it is probably the drive.

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I saw a very strange behavior from trying to change the controller on the HD in question.
So lets say, I played with 3 HDs
A: Good HD
B: Good HD
C: Vanished HD

Switched C with A: Both completely disappeared. Scanning for new HD wouldn't bring any of them back.
Switched A with C: (Original Configuration): A came back, C is back to vanishing
Switched C with B: They are both up and running, neither is disappearing.
Switched B with C: (Original Configuration): B came back, C is back to vanishing
Switched C with B Again: They are both up and running, neither has disappeared at least for last couple of hours.

This test was simple, but the results are obviously not simple to digest. I have no clue what to conclude from this. I swear I had them plugged in all they way. Ran these tests multiple times with same results. I was scratching my head and cursing the whole time.

What interface are the drives using?

Old style PATA?
Old style SCSI?
New SATA?
New SAS?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jdc2000

What interface are the drives using?

Old style PATA?
Old style SCSI?
New SATA?
New SAS?

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SATA

If the drives are all SATA, then that is a strange issue. PATA drives had jumpers for primary and secondary, and SCSI drives had jumpers for drive number, but SATA drives should not have these issues.

Are all drives connected to the motherboard, or are they all on the same SATA controller card?

They are all on the motherboard. I am not using any custom configuration (i.e. mount a drive on a pci-express with SATA input ports of something, if thats what you mean). When I bought the motherboard, I picked one that allows that many SATA inputs. I do not however know if the MB has one or two SATA controller cards on the MB. I can check once I am back home.

Post the make and model of the motherboard and we may be able to check on what it has.

MSI Z97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150

That motherboard appears to have one onboard SATA controller. The only way to test to see if one of the SATA ports has an issue would be to try the drive in another computer, or on a PCIe SATA card to see what happens.

Ok, I have a SATA/USB external enclosure. I will try the drive with that and see if it works. On an unrelated note, I have looked into NAS Servers to keep my drives out of the main computer that I use day and night but have them accessible over the network. Most 4-6 bay servers are in the north of $500. As I am about do a new build, Is there a cheaper way to have my data/storage/backup drives not part of the main computer (to avoid clutter in the case and messy cables always getting in the way, creating bad airflow, etc.) and have them accessible over the network? I am not a network/IT expert and have always been on the software side of things. Is NAS the only way to go?

You can get USB external enclosures for SATA drives, but the access speed would likely be a lot slower. A Synology 4 bay NAS may be less expansive, but a 6 bay would be pricey. A better solution might be to spend a little extra money and time on cables of the correct length and some velcro cable ties to assist in routing them out of the way in a decent PC case with drive bays located properly.

https://www.amazon.com/Synology-bay-...075N17DM6?th=1

https://www.amazon.com/Synology-Bay-...07V6CC4M2?th=1