Disappearing internal HDD when eSATA dock used

mconway

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Here goes. A year ago or so I built a new machine for a friend. The mobo is a Z77A-GD65, a CM 690 II advanced case with the integrated eSATA dock, a 256GB Samsung 830 SSD as the C drive and a Caviar black as the D drive. The dock was connected to SATA4 with hot plug enabled and used extensively with no issues. A few days ago the computer was dropped off with a 500GB 840 Evo to replace the 830. This is the only hardware change. I installed Win7 x64 with zero issues and sent the computer back. I did update the BIOS and ran into a bad flash but was able to recover ok. Version 10.11 is on the A BIOS with 10.5 on the B. So my friend calls me up and says the external dock is giving him issues. When he plugs in a HDD, the internal Caviar black disappears. A scan for hardware changes brings it back (most times) but it shouldn't be disappearing. If the computer is booted cold with a drive in the dock everything is good until physically removed and reattached. When booted cold and attached, I can safely hotswap the drive. As long as I don't physically remove it, I can then scan for hardware changes and it comes back every time like it should. If I physically remove it after safely disconnecting and reattaching, the D drive vanishes every time. The pagefile is also on D. This has me completely baffled. I moved the internal connector to SATA6 and SATA8 on the AsMedia controller (enabling hot plug as I did so) with the same issues. I booted to the backup 10.5 BIOS and have all the same issues as described above. As I said, this has me completely stumped and is not something I've ever seen and God knows I've built dozens of machines and installed Win7 probably hundreds of times. Any ideas? TIA.
 

My Computer My Computer

OS
Windows 7 Ultimate x64
To eliminate any BIOS related issues I would first do a ClearCMOS procedure with only the SSD attached. After successful ClearCMOS I would add back the HDD and check for correct drive letter, reboot and then try the dock.

If that was unsuccessful I would then try DriveCleanup, a program recommended by one of our members here. You can find a link to it in this thread:
http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware...-intermittently-disappears-2.html#post2740737

Let's see if either of those help.
 

My Computer My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Home Built - Jan 2013
OS
Windows 7 64 Bit Home Premium SP1
CPU
i7-3820
Motherboard
Asus P9X79-PRO - Bios 4608
Memory
GSkill F3-14900CL9Q - 16GB
Graphics Card(s)
EVGA GeForce GTX660 - Driver 352.86
Sound Card
On board Realtek ALC898
Monitor(s) Displays
Acer S271HL
Screen Resolution
1920 x 1080
Hard Drives
#1- Samsung 840 Pro Series
#2- Western Digital WD1002FAEX Sata3 Black
#3- Western Digital WD1002FAEX Sata3 Black
PSU
Corsair CMPSU-850TX-V2 - 850 watt (by Seasonic)
Case
Corsair Obsidian 550D
Cooling
Standard 3 120mm case fans, Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
Keyboard
MS KC-0405
Mouse
Intellimouse 5-button
Internet Speed
56 Mbits/Sec (on a good day)
Antivirus
Avast & Malwarebytes
Browser
Firefox
Other Info
Asus DVD - DRW-24B1ST 24X
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