Windows 7: got two harddrives one disappeard

hi,I have a Dell studio 1749 and it has two harddrives (500 gb each SATA) my c: drive is fine but the second harddrive (d:) all of a sudden disappaerd.I no longer see it in windows explorer or the disk management mmc snapin even this commandlists only one disk diskpart rescan doesn't get it back either also "Dell diagnostics" also shows drive instead of two.My bios sometimes shows 2 sometimes it shows "fixed hdd" (whatever that means) where did my harddrive go??

Since you have two hard drives, I'm going to assume that your computer is a desktop.

Turn the power off.
Take the cover off.
Blow out all of the dust in the computer.

Remove and reseat, on at a time, each and every connector and each and every add in board.

Leave the cover off.

Turn on the computer.

Are all fans running? Yes or No.

If possible, put you hand on the top,side, or bottom of the defective drive. Feel any vibration? Yes of No.

Disk unit working now? Yes or No.

I'm looking forward to three answers.

thanks,
karl

Studio 1749 is a latop but i'll try those suggestions i did forgot to merntion that harddrive whas starting to show smart errors so ... we all know how late it is when smart errors appaer...

My goof.

In my own instructions for filling out the specs I specifically ask for the word laptop or desktop to be added to the computer mfg and model info.

Of course, best would be if the "fill in the blank" area simply had a checkbox where one could indicate laptop or desktop.

Point a desk/table/floor fan directly at the laptop.

Install CoreTemp (link in my sig) to keep an eye on your temps.

I also install the Coretemp gadget.

A friend of mine who does very intensive graphics work on his Dell laptop has a fan/cooler setup that he sets the laptop on. I'll probably see him in a couple of hours and ask him for info. I believe the cooler is from Dell.

hi,Allright i just run Dell diagnostics it shows me errorcode "2000-0146" previous log contains errors hard disk 1 that is the second according to Dell the solution is to reinstall the harddrive hmmm hard to believe

Perhaps the Dell support and/or forums can explain the specific error code you've received.

hi,yeah i'm gonna wait until monday and then have a chat with Dell because if you open your laptop yourself it waives your guarantee they will fix it but i'll have to pay.My laptop is working fine only that second drive is hidden (death i think) no data whas on it so i'm lucky

Let us know what they say/suggest.

will do but according to this Dell webpage the solution that might help is to remove and reinstall the harddisk hmmm yet they say "open it yourself and your guarantee is gone" confusing

If opening, disconnecting, and reinstalling does not involve breaking a seal, then you are ok.

I'm not familiar with that laptop, however, on my Toshiba, removing and reinstalling the drive is a piece of cake (as long as you have the correct size Phillips screwdriver.