Lost drive

[Antares 531]

I have a homebuilt computer with an ASUS P7P55D motherboard and three
Western Digital 500 GB hard drives. I built this computer a few years
back and it has worked very well until recently when one of the drives
"disappeared" and I can not get it to come back from ghost land.

The three 500 GB hard drives are set up with C: being used for the OS
and my client software. D: is used for all my documents, etc. F: is
used as a backup. All the drives show a large amount of free space and
all the checks like defrag, bad sectors, computer memory check, etc.,
indicate no problems at all.

A few days ago drive D: disappeared and I can not figure out what
happened. I bought a new Western Digital hard drive and put it in the
same slot, after removing the old one but it also is not discernable
in any way. I can't format it or even find anything that indicates its
presence.

I can switch the SATA connections that normally connect to D: and put
them onto F: and this drive seems normal in every way. This seems to
indicate that the motherboard circuits for the drive are functioning
okay.

If I put the SATA connector that normally goes on F: onto D: I still
can't find a trace of D: and none of my software can locate their
files that are stored on drive D: This same SATA connection will work
as it should when connected to either drive D: or F:

What could cause a drive to go into hiding like this, and what can I
do to rectify the situation?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions...other than for me to go jump
off a bridge. Gordon

 

[Char Jackson]

I have a homebuilt computer with an ASUS P7P55D motherboard and three
Western Digital 500 GB hard drives. I built this computer a few years
back and it has worked very well until recently when one of the drives
"disappeared" and I can not get it to come back from ghost land.

The three 500 GB hard drives are set up with C: being used for the OS
and my client software. D: is used for all my documents, etc. F: is
used as a backup. All the drives show a large amount of free space and
all the checks like defrag, bad sectors, computer memory check, etc.,
indicate no problems at all.

A few days ago drive D: disappeared and I can not figure out what
happened. I bought a new Western Digital hard drive and put it in the
same slot, after removing the old one but it also is not discernable
in any way. I can't format it or even find anything that indicates its
presence.

I can switch the SATA connections that normally connect to D: and put
them onto F: and this drive seems normal in every way. This seems to
indicate that the motherboard circuits for the drive are functioning
okay.

If I put the SATA connector that normally goes on F: onto D: I still
can't find a trace of D: and none of my software can locate their
files that are stored on drive D: This same SATA connection will work
as it should when connected to either drive D: or F:

What could cause a drive to go into hiding like this, and what can I
do to rectify the situation?

Some of your information is confusing and contradictory, so I'll speak
in general terms.

You may have a problem with the drive, with the SATA cable, or with
the motherboard. Narrow it down by swapping SATA connectors at the
drives. Does the problem follow the connector that moved? Next, swap
SATA connectors at the motherboard. Does the problem follow the
connector that moved? By now you know whether the problem is the
drive, the cable, or the motherboard.

If it's the drive, it's very likely the small circuit board on the
bottom of the drive. Temporarily swapping circuit boards with another
identical drive will allow you to recover the data before you replace
the drive.

If it's the SATA cable, replace it. SATA connectors aren't designed
for a lot of remove/replace cycles and wear out easily.

If it's the motherboard, see if you have an unused SATA port. If so,
just move the SATA cable there.

Drive letters are assigned to drive partitions, not motherboard ports,
so changing to another motherboard port won't affect the drive letter.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions...other than for me to go jump
off a bridge.

That would just shift this problem to someone else.

 

[Paul]

I have a homebuilt computer with an ASUS P7P55D motherboard and three
Western Digital 500 GB hard drives. I built this computer a few years
back and it has worked very well until recently when one of the drives
"disappeared" and I can not get it to come back from ghost land.

The three 500 GB hard drives are set up with C: being used for the OS
and my client software. D: is used for all my documents, etc. F: is
used as a backup. All the drives show a large amount of free space and
all the checks like defrag, bad sectors, computer memory check, etc.,
indicate no problems at all.

A few days ago drive D: disappeared and I can not figure out what
happened. I bought a new Western Digital hard drive and put it in the
same slot, after removing the old one but it also is not discernable
in any way. I can't format it or even find anything that indicates its
presence.

I can switch the SATA connections that normally connect to D: and put
them onto F: and this drive seems normal in every way. This seems to
indicate that the motherboard circuits for the drive are functioning
okay.

If I put the SATA connector that normally goes on F: onto D: I still
can't find a trace of D: and none of my software can locate their
files that are stored on drive D: This same SATA connection will work
as it should when connected to either drive D: or F:

What could cause a drive to go into hiding like this, and what can I
do to rectify the situation?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions...other than for me to go jump
off a bridge. Gordon

Check the BIOS screen at startup. That will
eliminate the OS from the picture, as well as
whether the file system has a problem.

The BIOS has a certain key you press, to enter BIOS setup. On
an Asus, it would be the "Delete" key. Disk detection might
be on the main screen in the BIOS.

If the disk can respond, and return it's brand name
and serial number, that will show up in the BIOS.
Seeing such a thing, means you might be able to "recover" the thing.

When a drive cannot identify itself, then it could be:

1) Bad motherboard SATA port.
2) Bad SATA data or SATA power cable. Try new ones of both.
Verify SATA power, by listening for spinup sounds or a click
when the head unlocks, that sort of thing.
3) SATA Port disabled in the BIOS.
This can include a corrupt CMOS RAM, which can be corrected
by "Clearing CMOS" and entering all the custom BIOS settings again.
4) Hard drive can no longer do it's internal bootup properly.
The hard drive gets some of its critical data, right off the
platter. If it fails to do that, the drive will not identify itself,
even at the BIOS level. To get back the data at that point, would
require a data recovery company.

You should Google the model number. A few drives have failed, because
of internal firmware issues. You should determine whether you've bought
one of those. When I buy drives now, I don't buy them until I
Google the model number, and check for problems. I avoided a couple
models when I bought my last drive, based on reported bugs.

Paul

 

[Antares 531]

Some of your information is confusing and contradictory, so I'll speak
in general terms.

You may have a problem with the drive, with the SATA cable, or with
the motherboard. Narrow it down by swapping SATA connectors at the
drives. Does the problem follow the connector that moved? Next, swap
SATA connectors at the motherboard. Does the problem follow the
connector that moved? By now you know whether the problem is the
drive, the cable, or the motherboard.

If it's the drive, it's very likely the small circuit board on the
bottom of the drive. Temporarily swapping circuit boards with another
identical drive will allow you to recover the data before you replace
the drive.

If it's the SATA cable, replace it. SATA connectors aren't designed
for a lot of remove/replace cycles and wear out easily.

If it's the motherboard, see if you have an unused SATA port. If so,
just move the SATA cable there.

Drive letters are assigned to drive partitions, not motherboard ports,
so changing to another motherboard port won't affect the drive letter.


That would just shift this problem to someone else.

Thanks, Char. I've tried the things you suggest. That is, I powered
down then swapped the drive power connectors and SATA connectors
between the F: drive to the D: drive (the one that isn't working) then
powered back up. The F: drive showed up as expected but the D: drive
didn't. I've tried putting the defective drives on another SATA
connector but still didn't get either of them to show up on the
computer's screen.

I just bought a new Western Digital 500 GB hard drive at the local
Best Buy Computer Store and had it formatted and my old drive's files
copied onto it. The Geek Squad person there says that both drives were
readable and seem to be functioning normally in all respects.

I'm now wondering if there is some way that my computer could have the
D: drive hidden or otherwise obscured from being visible.

There's another puzzling thing here...my computer's screen has changed
its appearance in many ways. I think this was the result of a recent
on-line upgrade or some such. I'm running Windows 7 Home Premium with
SP 1. It automatically updates from time to time.

Anyway, the screen that shows the drives is now labeled "Libraries"
then I have to click on a tab that brings up the "Computer" screen
showing the drives and removable storage devices.

Okay, I won't go jump off a bridge, yet. This troublesome drive has
all my accounting, genealogy, health info., etc., files on it. I do
have some backups on CDs and Thumb Drives. All is not lost but I will
have to get this drive D: problem resolved before I can use any of
these backup files.

Thanks, Gordon

 

[Char Jackson]

Thanks, Char. I've tried the things you suggest. That is, I powered
down then swapped the drive power connectors and SATA connectors
between the F: drive to the D: drive (the one that isn't working) then
powered back up. The F: drive showed up as expected but the D: drive
didn't. I've tried putting the defective drives on another SATA
connector but still didn't get either of them to show up on the
computer's screen.

Maybe you should quit while you're ahead. You started with just one
drive that may have had a problem and now you've got two drives that
you're calling defective. Things seem to be getting worse.

I just bought a new Western Digital 500 GB hard drive at the local
Best Buy Computer Store and had it formatted and my old drive's files
copied onto it. The Geek Squad person there says that both drives were
readable and seem to be functioning normally in all respects.

That's a very good sign, from the drive's perspective.

I'm now wondering if there is some way that my computer could have the
D: drive hidden or otherwise obscured from being visible.

I had assumed that you checked Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc) to see
if the drive was present and accounted for. If it's there, but doesn't
have a drive letter assigned, assign a drive letter and it'll show up
again.

There's another puzzling thing here...my computer's screen has changed
its appearance in many ways. I think this was the result of a recent
on-line upgrade or some such. I'm running Windows 7 Home Premium with
SP 1. It automatically updates from time to time.

Anyway, the screen that shows the drives is now labeled "Libraries"
then I have to click on a tab that brings up the "Computer" screen
showing the drives and removable storage devices.

Some people in this newsgroup have admitted to being easily confused
when it comes to Libraries, and I suppose you've just given them more
ammunition.

At any rate, if you don't like the Win 7 Library concept, just don't
use it. You don't have to change anything; you don't have to hide or
remove anything; just don't use Libraries if you don't like what they
do for you. Click anywhere else in the hierarchy tree, outside of the
Libraries, and you'll be back to familiar territory. For example, look
for the entry called "Computer". All of your drives will be listed
there.

Okay, I won't go jump off a bridge, yet. This troublesome drive has
all my accounting, genealogy, health info., etc., files on it. I do
have some backups on CDs and Thumb Drives. All is not lost but I will
have to get this drive D: problem resolved before I can use any of
these backup files.

It sounds like the Geek Squad copied everything, so now you've got two
copies of all of that useful information.

Say, what about asking them to look at this problem for you? It's not
easy to go back and forth in a newsgroup, especially compared to being
able to see directly what's going on. The big downside, of course, is
that it's the Geek Squad. They aren't always equated with excellence.

 

[...winston]

+1 to Paul's comment.

Does the drive show up in the BIOS.
- if not, Windows is unlikely to see it.



--
....winston
msft mvp mail


"Antares 531" wrote in message
I have a homebuilt computer with an ASUS P7P55D motherboard and three
Western Digital 500 GB hard drives. I built this computer a few years
back and it has worked very well until recently when one of the drives
"disappeared" and I can not get it to come back from ghost land.

The three 500 GB hard drives are set up with C: being used for the OS
and my client software. D: is used for all my documents, etc. F: is
used as a backup. All the drives show a large amount of free space and
all the checks like defrag, bad sectors, computer memory check, etc.,
indicate no problems at all.

A few days ago drive D: disappeared and I can not figure out what
happened. I bought a new Western Digital hard drive and put it in the
same slot, after removing the old one but it also is not discernable
in any way. I can't format it or even find anything that indicates its
presence.

I can switch the SATA connections that normally connect to D: and put
them onto F: and this drive seems normal in every way. This seems to
indicate that the motherboard circuits for the drive are functioning
okay.

If I put the SATA connector that normally goes on F: onto D: I still
can't find a trace of D: and none of my software can locate their
files that are stored on drive D: This same SATA connection will work
as it should when connected to either drive D: or F:

What could cause a drive to go into hiding like this, and what can I
do to rectify the situation?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions...other than for me to go jump
off a bridge. Gordon

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Some people in this newsgroup have admitted to being easily confused
when it comes to Libraries, and I suppose you've just given them more
ammunition.

bang! Bang! BANG!

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

I had assumed that you checked Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc) to see
if the drive was present and accounted for. If it's there, but doesn't
have a drive letter assigned, assign a drive letter and it'll show up
again.

That's what I've been thinking from the start, but I too was confused,
both by Antares 531's description *and* by his later explanation

 

[John Ferrell]

If bios don't see it, neither will windows.
If sector 0 is un readable, bios won't see it. The disk might be
recoverable with something other than a PC but data recovery from an
injured NTFS drive is no small task.

+1 to Paul's comment.

Does the drive show up in the BIOS.
- if not, Windows is unlikely to see it.

John Ferrell W8CCW

 

[Paul]

Thanks, Char. I've tried the things you suggest. That is, I powered
down then swapped the drive power connectors and SATA connectors
between the F: drive to the D: drive (the one that isn't working) then
powered back up. The F: drive showed up as expected but the D: drive
didn't. I've tried putting the defective drives on another SATA
connector but still didn't get either of them to show up on the
computer's screen.

I just bought a new Western Digital 500 GB hard drive at the local
Best Buy Computer Store and had it formatted and my old drive's files
copied onto it. The Geek Squad person there says that both drives were
readable and seem to be functioning normally in all respects.

I'm now wondering if there is some way that my computer could have the
D: drive hidden or otherwise obscured from being visible.

There's another puzzling thing here...my computer's screen has changed
its appearance in many ways. I think this was the result of a recent
on-line upgrade or some such. I'm running Windows 7 Home Premium with
SP 1. It automatically updates from time to time.

Anyway, the screen that shows the drives is now labeled "Libraries"
then I have to click on a tab that brings up the "Computer" screen
showing the drives and removable storage devices.

Okay, I won't go jump off a bridge, yet. This troublesome drive has
all my accounting, genealogy, health info., etc., files on it. I do
have some backups on CDs and Thumb Drives. All is not lost but I will
have to get this drive D: problem resolved before I can use any of
these backup files.

Thanks, Gordon

Before jumping off a bridge or anything, I'd also be mildly
curious about the drive letter choice. Is it possible
something else wants to use D: ?

You'd think though, that running "diskmgmt.msc", you'd see
the drive, if it was physically available to you. Even if some
other things were screwed up, the drive might still show up there.

Paul

 

[Char Jackson]

bang! Bang! BANG!

You might be pleased to know that I was thinking of you, specifically,
when I wrote that. ;-)

 

[Char Jackson]

That's what I've been thinking from the start, but I too was confused,
both by Antares 531's description *and* by his later explanation

I kept thinking that Andy Griffith would say Antares took the long way
around the barn. In addition, he might have stepped in something while
he was back there.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

You might be pleased to know that I was thinking of you, specifically,
when I wrote that. ;-)

Somehow I had guessed that...

I hope my above reply was more fun than you expected

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

I kept thinking that Andy Griffith would say Antares took the long way
around the barn. In addition, he might have stepped in something while
he was back there.

Meanwhile, ISTM that there's been enough cogent advice here that Antares
531 has a decent chance that one of the ideas will fix his problem.

 

[Char Jackson]

Somehow I had guessed that...

I hope my above reply was more fun than you expected

It was the desired response, yes.

 

[Wolf K]

On 12/09/2012 9:44 PM, Paul wrote:
[....]

You'd think though, that running "diskmgmt.msc", you'd see
the drive, if it was physically available to you. Even if some
other things were screwed up, the drive might still show up there.

Paul

If it doesn't show up in disk management, then there's a hardware
problem. Others have indicated how to find it. Info provided by OP so
far suggests a fault in the drive itself. He may have to take the drive
to a tech.

Good luck.

 

[Char Jackson]

On 12/09/2012 9:44 PM, Paul wrote:
[....]

You'd think though, that running "diskmgmt.msc", you'd see
the drive, if it was physically available to you. Even if some
other things were screwed up, the drive might still show up there.

Paul

If it doesn't show up in disk management, then there's a hardware
problem. Others have indicated how to find it. Info provided by OP so
far suggests a fault in the drive itself. He may have to take the drive
to a tech.

Good luck.

He says he took the drive to Best Buy's Geek Squad and they had no
problem copying everything over to a new drive. To them, the drive was
fine, though I agree that the rest of the story makes it seem like a
drive problem.