Hard drive spins down and then disappears from the computer

[Zepher]

One of my drives, a Western Digital 1TB Black, will just spin itself down and disconnect from the PC.
If I reboot, it will be there but then it will go away.
It is Disk 2 when it still shows up, the screenshot was taken a few minutes ago since I don't feel like rebooting at the moment.

 

[bassfisher6522]

It sure sounds and acts like a power issue.
Have you checked the cables to make sure that the connections are firmly seated? You could also try a new cable...they've been known to cause issues like your experiencing, either by vibrating loose or have been damaged.

 

[Zepher]

The drive was an rma from a month ago, old drive was making a grinding sound when reading.

I just got this email from Western Digital Support,

Please accept our apologies for the inconvenience you are experiencing. We will create another RMA and of coarse you wont pay for it. But first let me tell you that the drive model WD1001FALS is not in stock at the moment. If you don't mind we can upgrade it to a 2 TB model WD2002FAEX that is in stock.

Let me know so we can start the process.

If you have any further questions, please reply to this email and we will be happy to assist you further.

So they are replacing the drive with a 2tb black model and paying for the return of the failed one.
It cost $12 to ship the first one back and I didn't want to pay again to ship this one back.

 

[TVeblen]

That sounds like a good deal for you. I would still check the cables and run a diagnostic (if possible) on it before sending it back. Even if it turns out to be a bad cable I might still send it in for a bigger one!

 

[Zepher]

Well, the new one came today. I started copying my games over from the old drive, I just hope it stays running for the entire process, it's 513GB of games.