Hard drive disappears from computer after reboot (Unsolved)

alexhill850

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Sep 30, 2017
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My hard drive keeps disappearing from my computer ONLY after reboot (Never stops working while in windows). It seems to work again after i take out the power cord of my hard drive and plug it back in while im in windows and then reboot and my hard drive will show again in windows. Otherwise i keep rebooting and it still wont appear.

Specs

Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64-bit
CPU
Intel Core i7 6800K @ 3.40GHz 32 °C
Broadwell-E/EP 14nm Technology
RAM
32.0GB Unknown @ 1066MHz (15-15-15-36)
Motherboard
ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. X99-A II (SOCKET 2011) 36 °C
Graphics
XB252Q (1920x1080@240Hz)
HP 2311 (1920x1080@60Hz)
4095MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (EVGA) 39 °C
Storage
232GB Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB (SATA (SSD)) 35 °C
5589GB TOSHIBA HDWE160 (SATA ) 34 °C
931GB Western Digital WDC WD10EZEX-00BN5A0 (SATA ) 32 °C
5589GB Western Digital WDC WD6001FZWX-00A2VA0 (SATA ) 35 °C
Optical Drives
HL-DT-ST BD-RE WH16NS40
Audio
NVIDIA Virtual Audio Device (Wave Extensible) (WDM)
PSU
EVGA SuperNOVA 1300 G2 1300W

Heres some pics using ImgBB site. Hopefully to explain if i have my storage setup wrong or something

https://ibb.co/jzArDo

https://ibb.co/m102KT

https://ibb.co/jPrL68

https://ibb.co/hmgbeT

https://ibb.co/dC19zT

https://ibb.co/hhujYo

https://ibb.co/jQTYR8

https://ibb.co/kE5DR8

https://ibb.co/bVA2KT
 
Solution


A normal HDD temperature range is 32-42 C depending on your ambient temp. Usually 45-50 C should be considered the max allowed temp. It can still go above 50 C, but it shouldn't stay there for more than a couple...
Post your complete system specs especially the motherboard, HDD and PSU. Is the hard drive old? I've seen this exact same behaviour with old SATA drives used in newer motherboards. They only work during the power up phase, but disappear after a restart and require a shutdown in order to be seen again. You could also try to use another SATA cable and also check the various SATA settings in the BIOS. There should a setting that increases the compatibility between the hard drive and the motherboard. Finally you should check your drive with Crystal Disk Info just in case it is failing. Good luck.
 

alexhill850

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Sep 30, 2017
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Specs updated above, its the 6tb wd black hard drive im having this issue with. I purchased it on amazon Feb 6 2017. I havent had this issue until a couple months ago.
 
It seems that the system doesn't have enough time to detect the HDD during each reboot or your drive may have started having power issues. So first you need to test your drive and make sure that it's in good condition and that it isn't failing. So:

1)Download Crystal Disk Info and check your drive's health and smart status.
2)Download Data Lifeguard Diagnostic from the Western Digital's site. Run the 2 tests (Quick and Extended) and if the drive is able to complete successfully both tests then it's probably fine. Keep in mind that the extended test may take a lot of time (4-8 hours) to complete, especially in larger drives, and you can't use the drive while it's been tested. So plan ahead. Also disable any hibernation or suspend settings you may have if you are going to leave your system running untenanted for the test.

Finally try to use different power/sata cables and another sata port on the motherboard just in case you are dealing with a defective cable or sata port (it can happen). Good luck.
 

alexhill850

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Sep 30, 2017
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I dont know what a power cord for a hard drive is called i couldnt find one on amazon. Send me a link.
 
You don't need a new SATA power cable. Just use another one from the PSU. You current PSU model is modular and it should give you plenty of spare SATA power cables. Just unplug the power cable attached to your Hard Drive and use another similar one that isn't attached to any other device and is hanging somewhere inside your case. If you can't find a free one try to find one in the spare cables that you have stored which came with your PSU. Here is your PSU => https://www.evga.com/products/product.aspx?pn=120-g2-1300-xr and in the 3rd picture in the middle of the page you can see all the cables that came with your PSU.

Now if you don't know how a SATA power plug looks like here is a picture => http:// Keep in mind that your cables are black and they aren't colour coded. Good luck.
 

alexhill850

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Sep 30, 2017
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Ok i thought i fixed the issue in the motherboard and the hard drive was working fine for about 2 weeks sinse your last post in this thread and all i did was watch a video and was updating a program for Infinity Wemod which is a modding software but its not installed on that drive but the video i was watching was on the hard drive that i am having issues on. Once i reboot it took an unusual long time to boot i thought was kind of odd so when i booted in windows my hard drive wasnt in file explorer. And this time i booted several times unplugging my hard drive and it didnt work until the last time.
 
Have you tried different cables? Did you check your drive's health status with the software I previously mentioned? What was your drive's health status? Did you get any smart warnings? Have you done anything to fix the issue? Your drive could have been failing and now it may be dead.

If you thought that the drive was fixed by itself and stopped your troubleshooting efforts then you may have missed an opportunity to back up some important files and I'm afraid that your drive could simply be dead right now.

There is only one thing left to do. Remove it from your system and install it into another PC system. If it still doesn't work then it's dead and you should get it replaced, since it still is under warranty. Good luck.



EDIT: After checking the pictures you posted, If I'm not mistaken, I can see that the drive is getting recognised by the BIOS. Also I saw that you are using the RAID setting on SATA controller 1 which is the controller that the WD drive is using. Do you have any RAID arrays in your system? If not change it to AHCI. If you do need the RAID setting then try to plug the WD drive to the SATA controller 2 which is already set to AHCI. Check your motherboard's manual in order to find which SATA ports belong to each SATA controller. This drive doesn't need the RAID setting unless it's of course been used in a RAID array.
 

alexhill850

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Sep 30, 2017
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I dont have any other cables and i need to buy a power cord for my hard drive seperatly from amazon i cant find anything. Can i use a TXM/HX Series on my current power supply?
 
Your PSU should have more than enough cables. It supports 12 SATA devices. Unless you have 10+ hard drives and SSDs you won't have a shortage of spare SATA cables.

No you can't use cables from another PSU since they aren't usually compatible and you risk frying/killing your drives and the PSU. Have you lost the spare cables of your PSU? Also if you don't have any spare SATA cable, try to use the cable of another SATA device just for testing purposes. Having said all that I don't think you have a SATA cable problem and you don't seem to need another cable. As a last resort, you can take your drive to a friend and test it in his PC system. If it works there then the issue lies in your system.

Finally again I'm asking you some questions and you aren't answering them. Have you done anything from what I said in my previous posts? Have you previously checked your drives health? Have you changed the BIOS settings? Have you tried to connect the drive to the 2nd SATA controller. I can't help you if you aren't following my suggestions. I don't have any access to your system. You do, but you don't seem to follow my instructions. If you have a limited PC hardware experience, I think it'd be best to either find someone who has more experience than you, call a technician or take your system/hard drive to a repair/service shop and have them check it for you. Good luck.
 

alexhill850

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My hard drive came with that many cables but not that many power cables i cant try another cable i already tore my room apart thats all i have
 

alexhill850

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My psu only came with 2 power cables 1 that can use up to 3 power connections so im using the 3rd connection on the hard drive and its much smoother il keep you posted. And give me some time to run a could tests. Right now im running a extended test in Western Digital Data LifeGuard Diagnostics. Ok i just clicked ok to run the diagnostics and my hard drive just disapeared from file explorer thats why i never retested the hard drive. Is that normal? Is the program just doing that to block my access?
 
Yes, it's normal. During testing the drive is locked in order to protect it from file corruption. Leave it alone until the test is finished. Keep in mind that the extended test will take many hours to complete.

As for the cables, if your PSU model number is correct (EVGA SuperNOVA 1300 G2 1300W), it should come with a big bundle of spare cables. Where did you get your system? They should have provided you with a lot of extra accessories, including those spare PSU cables.
 

alexhill850

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Sep 30, 2017
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Il get back to you withing the week i have to go through alot of stuff to find them and i work. And my power went out right when i was almost done the scanning.
 

alexhill850

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Sep 30, 2017
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It seems the new power cord seems to help with my solution il repost if i have issues again. Thanks for the help
 

alexhill850

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Ok i had no issues on my current hard drive until today using a power cord that i have had no issues on with my other hard drives. A new windows 10 update came out and my hard drive disappeared after boot.
I just unplugged it and plugged it back in while i was in windows and it reappeared in my file explorer.
 
1) Don't unplug the power from hard drives while the system is running. You can easily damage them. There is a different procedure for removing drives while the system is on but that requires different configuration settings.

2) As I have already told you, your specific drive is currently connected to SATA controller 1 which is set to RAID mode. This may be causing all those issues. So you have 2 options. Either plug the drive to SATA controller 2 which is in ACHI mode or get into the BIOS and change the SATA controller 1 to ACHI mode too. However I don't know whether or not your other drives require the RAID mode so be careful otherwise you risk losing access to your RAID array if you do happen to have one. Read your motherboard's manual which SATA ports belong to each SATA controller and act accordingly. Good luck.
 

alexhill850

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Sep 30, 2017
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This method appears to be the only one working i have no issues now.
 

alexhill850

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Sep 30, 2017
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Just scanned for viruses and removed some files that arent viruses but deleted them anyway did a reboot and the hard drive disappeared again. Unplugged and plugged back in and its working. It seems when i put the hard drive on heavy load this type of issue will happen. I dont know what keeps causing this problem. A different power cord seems to fix the issue i just still cant figure it out.
 
Maybe the drive is defective or it is overheating. Monitor it's temperature with software like CPUID Hardware Monitor. Crystal disk info can also do that. You should also consider RMAing it since it's relatively new and still under warranty. However I don't know whether they will replace it since this issue is very peculiar and rare but you have to try it since you don't want to have a defective drive (that could fail in the future), holding your files. Good luck.
 

alexhill850

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Sep 30, 2017
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Whats the safe temperature range for a hard drive?
 

nick_v15

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Its probably a SATA communication problem.I had the same problem recently and it was solved by switching the ahci controllers.Go to the ASUS site (if this is your motherboard and download the latest chipset and SATA drivers.After installation go to device manager under "ide ata/atapi controllers" make sure it shows Intel AHCI/RAID Driver.In case they dont appear right click on whatever driver you have ( for example "standard ahci drivers) and click "update driver software".Then choose "browse my computer for driver software">"Let me pick from a list...blahblah".Finally from the "Select the device driver you want to install for this hardware" UNCHECK the box "Show compatible hardware".From the list choose the intel ahci one.
 


A normal HDD temperature range is 32-42 C depending on your ambient temp. Usually 45-50 C should be considered the max allowed temp. It can still go above 50 C, but it shouldn't stay there for more than a couple of hours. Anything above 52-55 C can cause damage to the drive. In your case if you do see temps above 50 C then it's possible that the drive is overheating if not, you should look elsewhere for this strange issue. Good luck.
 
Solution