Is the problem my harddrive?

Zer0-101 · December 30, 2014

I recently built my first computer and am having problems with my hard drive. I am have an SSD as my boot drive and it is working fine but my hard-drive is only being seen in windows sometimes but it is still being recognized in the bios. I did format it in the beginning and it was reading and writing fine but then it just stopped being recognized. It will come back and go away and is just not functioning correctly. I have switched sata cables and ports that is is in and it is still not functioning properly. I am pretty sure this is just a hard drive issue but want to make sure before going through the hassle of exchanging it. Please help, thank you.

Godlygamer23 · December 30, 2014

Any other PC to put the drive in?

Nicodemus · December 30, 2014

I might check to see if there are any strange powersaving features on that HDD, i have a harddrive that goes into a powersaving mode if it is not used for a certain amount of time and when i open "my computer" my SSD is recognized but shows nothing else plugged in, after a few seconds the drive shows up (can hear it spin up too) If there are some power saving mode on that drive i might see if there is a way to disable it and that might help you out. Cheers!

Captain_WD · December 30, 2014

I recently built my first computer and am having problems with my hard drive. I am have an SSD as my boot drive and it is working fine but my hard-drive is only being seen in windows sometimes but it is still being recognized in the bios. I did format it in the beginning and it was reading and writing fine but then it just stopped being recognized. It will come back and go away and is just not functioning correctly. I have switched sata cables and ports that is is in and it is still not functioning properly. I am pretty sure this is just a hard drive issue but want to make sure before going through the hassle of exchanging it. Please help, thank you.

Hello Zer0-101 and welcome to Linus Tech Tips Forum

What brand/model is your HDD (size, format, partitions)? When it disappears from Windows, do you see it in device manager or disk management? How does it reappear (restart, wait a bit, start transferring data, etc.)?

You could try plugging it in another SATA port to see if this persists (it could be a bad cable or SATA port). I would second

@Godlygamer23's suggestion of trying it on a different computer. Also you could try plugging it externally with a SATA to USB cable, enclosure or a docking station.

What @Nicodemus suggested is true. Some HDDs have features that allow them to spin down or even power down after a certain time of not using them in order to save power. If you post your drive's model I can look that up for you.

When the drive disappears, can you hear or feel it spin inside your case or is it turning itself off? Do you hear all your other fans spin up or your computer overheating?

Happy Holidays!

Captain_WD.