Solved Internal drive disappears when trying to copy LOTS of files TO it

[TheAncient]

I am trying to copy a large number of files (500GB) from one internal drive to a partition on another internal drive. Unfortunately, the copy operation will copy a few files <very very slowly> but after a short while the target drive will "disappear" and the copy operation will crash. I have tried using TeraCopy and FreeFileSync but the same problem occurs with those alternatives. (After a restart, the drive will again be available in Windows)
Suspecting a hardware problem on the target drive, I ran chkdsk X: /F which found no problems. Both drives are 3TB GPT formatted HGST (Hitachi/Western Digital) drives so I also ran WinDFT which is Western Digital's tool to check their HGST drives. Again, no errors were found on either the short or long tests on either the source drive or the target drive.
Drivers are supposedly ok. Another suspect would have been some sort of a faulty SATA controller driver. To test this, I connected the drive externally via a USB3 connected toaster where I encountered the same problem.
I am out of ideas. Any ideas what might be going on here? Any other suggestions what troubleshooting steps I can take?

 

[CKWD]

Hello TheAncient!

These are large files that you are trying to copy!
My advice would be to reseat the SATA cables of the second drive (target drive), and even using new ones, if you think you should – also different ports.
Then try and copy the files again but this time not all at once. Depending on how full, old and healthy your drive is, the large copying at once could be making it malfunction.
Do you have any other information on that drive? I suggest, just in case, you back it up somewhere else!
If you have the opportunity, after backing up the information of that drive, write full zeros to it and repartition and reformat it. The problem could also be that the partition tables is experiencing some issues.

Hope any of this helps!

CK_WD

 

[TheAncient]

@CKWD: There are numerous files in this "package" of 500GB I am trying to copy: Many of them are small files (MP3s) and quite a few are large (Movies). Since my original post I have tried copying smaller chunks - i.e. sub-directories - and it appears that the smaller files copy fine (although slow) but the larger files are giving me grief. In my original post I mentioned that I had removed the drive from its bay and had instead connected it via USB3 but encountered the same problems. Encountering the same problems when the drive is connected in a completely different way, pretty much eliminates the possibility of flaky ports or flaky cables etc. Further info on the drive: its a 3TB HGST drive, model: HUA723030ALA640 (3Tb drives haven't been around all that long so this drive is relatively new). The drive is formatted with 2 partitions; Partition 1 = 600GB (works fine), Partition 2 = 600 GB (this is the target partition), the rest is free space. I really don't want to wipe the drive as it would mean first copying Partition 1 to some other place. Besides, if the drive seems healthy in all other respects and both, WinDFT and Chkdsk declare it healthy, chances are, it really IS healthy.

 

[TheAncient]

Update: I have now copied all files to the new partition and verified it against the original using FreeFileSync. I then started moving the files from the new partition to an entirely different drive - subdirectory by subdirectory, and intermittently attempted to back up that new drive to yet another partition i.e. M=>N (COPY:first post) N=>Q (MOVE) Q=>T (Acronis Image Copy) - Now the drive that is supposed to store the backup ("T") keeps disconnecting. (of course the image of the drive is still a very large file - or will be a very large file if the backup ever finishes). The fact that I now get an entirely different drive disconnecting tells me that this is likely NOT a hardware problem. Unfortunately, it doesn't tell me what else it could be. Any ideas anyone?

 

[DavidE]

Have you looked in Event Viewer to see if there is any error listed ?

Maybe you have a corrupt file(s) causing the issue.
Does FreeFileSync have an option so you can create a log, and possibly see what file is causing the problem.

Robocopy (built into Windows) has an option to create a log file showing the files being copied.

 

[TheAncient]

@DavidE: There is no one single file causing the problem - rather if there is lots of activity i.e. large files are being copied (or created as was the case when I tried to create a backup), the target drive (and that may be one drive today and a different one tomorrow) seems to get overloaded somehow and just disconnects. FreeFileSync does create a log but there is no file that stands out. As I described above, I eventually managed to copy all files - I just had to take smaller "chunks"
The Event log has a few interesting entries: There are about a gazillion entries "The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Ide\IdePort0." - unfortunately that does not mean much to me. There are also a gazillion entries "The device, \Device\Harddisk3\DR3, is not ready for access yet." (This could be any disk number) - this entry makes sense: once the drive disconnects, it is obviously "not ready yet" to be accessed.
Since there are a LOT of entries in those logs, I will wipe all logs. Once they are cleared, it should be easier to figure out what is happening right now. In the meantime, if anyone has any thoughts about that controller error, it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[DavidE]

I would run a System File Check to see if that finds any errors.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1538-sfc-scannow-command-system-file-checker.html

There are a lot of Google hits for "The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Ide\IdePort0."
https://www.google.com/search?as_q=...r+on+\Device\Ide\IdePort0"&as_qdr=all&start=0

Looks like many people have this issue, but there doesn't seem to be one solution for everyone...
Lots of reading...

 

[profdlp]

Good advice given. I'd check my hard drive with the manufacturer's diagnostic utility as well. Making sure your hardware checks out is never a bad idea. It makes it easier to work on Windows problems too, since you know you're not chasing ghosts.

 

[CKWD]

Perhaps a useful tip would be to check your controller chip on the motherboard, see if you need to download the latest drivers from the motherboard's site.
Also, make sure that you have checked the Disk Health, S.M.A.R.T. Parameters and also have a software test the file data transfer rates across the disk.
In Event Viewer you could double click on the error to see if it would bring up any specific detail on it so that you'd know how to better proceed.

CK_WD

 

[TheAncient]

@DavidE: I ran the System File Checker before I ever posted here (and just ran it again): No problems found.
As for googling the controller error, there are dozens of suggestions (most of which I have already tried) but, as you pointed out so diplomatically: "there doesn't seem to be one solution for everyone". There is no common thread to the suggestions either: it seems like the people answering, are "flailing at windmills". They might as well be saying "try everything". I am hoping to narrow things down a bit.
@profdlp, @CKWD: In my original post I stated: "I also ran WinDFT which is Western Digital's tool to check their HGST drives". WINFDFT also checks the SMART parameters and did not reveal anything useful. (I also ran CrystalDiskInfo which also did not provide any useful information). The original post also states: "Drivers are supposedly ok" i.e. I tried updating the drivers via SystemMangler and was informed I already had the latest drivers. I also ran SlimDrivers which did not find any outdated drivers.
Checking the Eventviewer was suggested by DavidE before, but googling the controller error I found, unfortunately does not come up with any sort of common thread.
@Everyone: The errors I am getting are cropping up on various drives (about four of them so far) at various times. Those drives may be inserted into any one of 3 externally accessible drive bays or an external USB3 "toaster". I have switched out ALL SATA cables just in case: no difference. Trying to track down this problem is like playing whack-a-mole! Since the problem is occurring on different drives, on different ports, using different cables, I do not believe there is a problem with any of the drives. The only common denominator I have found is, that the disconnects always happen when dealing with large amount of data/large files. I suspect there must be something "systemic" that affects ALL drives/ports/cables.
One suspect was heat but CrystalDiskInfo confirms, none of the drives has any heat problems (none of the drives is over 40C) At this stage the only other suspect of a "systemic" nature is power. I will have to open up the machine and check the power supply and turn off some of the drives and see if the problem keeps reoccurring - although, 4 internal hard drives and 2 SSDs isn't really excessive (I am running the on-board graphics only - no fancy graphics setup). I'll post when I know more.

 

[DavidE]

I feel your pain on this one.
The suggestions of things to try are all over the place, with no common solution.

Have to wonder if it isn't some type of Motherboard issue, but I have no idea how to test that.

What you could consider is:
Create a System Backup Image (hopefully you can do that).
Do a Clean Install of Windows and see if that fixes the problem.
If you're interested, here's a tutorial by gregrocker with everything needed:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219487-clean-reinstall-factory-oem-windows-7-a.html

 

[profdlp]

Oops - sorry I missed your mentioning the drive tests.

Have you tried closing all non-essential services and programs? Perhaps one of them is causing a conflict somewhere.

 

[TheAncient]

@DavidE: I do nightly backups of the system drive and the data drive to NAS which has no problems. If I absolutely HAVE to re-install, I will likely go straight to Win 8.1 if the board allows that. I do have 2 system drives on SSDs: One is the "regular" "C" drive and a second SSD drive is reserved for trouble-shooting and "playing" with things. (Of course you have to explicitly boot into the drive (F8) or change the boot sequence in the BIOS) It should be very easy for me to load a fresh operating system on the secondary boot drive and try things out from there. Loading a system from scratch is a rather time consuming effort, though. It's scary how much stuff you accumulate over the years: According to SUMo, I currently have 159 programs installed - and,of course, nobody takes the time to document each and every settings change they make. As for motherboard problems: Yes, that's a possibility but just like you, I have no clue how to test that.

 

[TheAncient]

@profdlp: Tried the easy stuff (besides, one would think there would be an entry in the event log if there was a conflict). What I have NOT tried so far is, to shut down things like the Comodo firewall and/or Microfluff's anti-virus program. To test if any of those are causing trouble, I, of course, have to disconnect from the internet. I have to confess though, that I have never heard of any software conflict causing trouble copying large files to different drives. There is one exception: If I had multiple AV programs set to do 'real-time' virus checking, they could well clobber each other. I am reasonably sure this is not happening on my machine - although Comodo has a habit of trying their very best to sneak in their AV components even if all you want is their firewall.

 

[DavidE]

If I absolutely HAVE to re-install, I will likely go straight to Win 8.1 if the board allows that. I do have 2 system drives on SSDs: One is the "regular" "C" drive and a second SSD drive is reserved for trouble-shooting and "playing" with things. (Of course you have to explicitly boot into the drive (F8) or change the boot sequence in the BIOS)

Are you saying you have another OS installed now on your second SSD?
If you do, boot that up and see if you have this issue.

If not and you do want to test a clean install, I would not spend any time loading all your programs and making configuration tweeks, etc.
Just Install the OS, install MSE, and test your copy to see if it fails or not.
If it works that way, then you decide if you want to spend the time setting up the new OS, or continue trying to find the cause with your current OS.

If you do a clean install and you're interested in 8.1, you can get a free Enterprise Evaluation version that is good for 90 days.
That way you would know if everything works with 8.1.
As far as I know, you can't change the Enterprise Evaluation version to a licensed version, you would have to purchase 8.1 and clean install.

 

[TheAncient]

@DavidE: I can easily restore an older backup (I think I have backups going back 3 months or so) onto the secondary boot drive and give that a shot. As for 8.1, I downloaded a full copy from MS Technet through my subscription before they pulled the plug on Technet so I'm good on that front. For now though, I have other things to do and I won't be able to work on this problem until Monday.

 

[TheAncient]

Update:
I re-loaded the oldest Full backup of my system drive (Jan03, 2014) onto my secondary boot SSD and tried to create a large file (Acronis image) from there. The target drive disconnected again. Since I definitely did NOT have this problem at the beginning of the year, this effectively proves that my problem is not caused by any software, including drivers or any settings in Windows. I downloaded and ran the latest version of memtest86+ to rule out any memory problems: that wasn't it either.
I downloaded and ran SpeedFan which, among other things, lists voltages. Since those where pretty close the "nominal" voltages, the power supply is probably ok as well. (That's a wild guess only. Just looking at a one-time measurement certainly doesn't qualify as proper trouble-shooting but I do not have the knowledge or the equipment to find out more)

I have now ruled out pretty much everything. The only suspects left are the CPU (highly unlikely) and the motherboard. Both of those suspects will require buying replacements as I have no way of testing them.
I am marking this thread "closed" since there really isn't anything else that can be done and I will start shopping for a new motherboard. Thanks to everyone for your help and for pointing out different avenues to explore during the trouble-shooting process.

 

[DavidE]

Sorry to hear that
The only other thing I can think of is, if there is a reliable PC repair shop in your area, talk to them and describe your problem.
Maybe they have some type of test equipment that can verify if it is or is not a MB issue.
You would have to make sure the cost of them testing it is less than the cost of a new MB or it wouldn't be worth it.

Best of luck!

 

[CKWD]

I am sorry to hear that too! I hope you manage to identify the problem quickly and that it wouldn't be something hard to handle!

Good luck!

CK_WD

 

[Chris Nicola]

I had a similar problem and discovered the drive was faulty. I replaced the drive with an identical one and now it works fine.

Kind regards
Chris