Secondary Hard disk problem, Randomly disconnects.

[shuin]

Hi, this problem suddenly struck on my desktop a couple days ago. The problem is my secondary HDD (WD Green 2TB) suddenly disconnects and a couple of minutes (let's say like 3mins?) it reconnects like there's nothing happened.

And so, I brought it where I buy that HDD because it has it's own warranty and now they are fixing it. After I brought it to the store where I buy that HDD, I bought new HDD (WD Green 3TB) and a new SATA cable, thinking that might SATA cable is problem and not my HDD.

Then I plugged my new HDD to desktop, and after a couple of minutes tweaking my new HDD it suddenly disconnects and reconnects itself. Damn. I don't know what's the problem here. I even clean install from OS to drivers and even I updated my BIOS and still now luck.

I also confirmed/re-seat all plugs and cable on my mobo and still having this problem. I also noticed that when I plug my external USB HDD 1TB Toshiba I keep hearing click sounds from it and my windows didn't do anything (but I keep hearing from windows the sound of usb plugged)

Is my Mobo dying? My PSU (coolermaster 750w) is still new, almost 1 yr from now. Anyway I hope someone help me here.

Desktop specs:

Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
Motherboard: Gigabyte: Z68X-UD3H-B3
Processor: i7-2600
Memory: 8GB
Graphic Card: AMD R9 270x 4GB
PSU: Coolermaster 750w
Primary SSD: Samsung 250gb
Secondary HDD: WD green 2TB (this one I thought it that was going to die) and WD green 3TB (just bought it days ago)

 

[essenbe]

Hello, shuin and welcome to the forums. First the Toshiba drive. The clicking is a sign of a hard drive going out. As far as the other hard drive, the Green drives will go to sleep when not in use. They are designed to do that. So, are you sure that is not what is happening? You can also try connecting them to a different sata port and check if the same behavior exists. I would suggest you running the long and short tests with Seatools for DOS on all of those drives. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/313457-seatools-dos-windows-how-use.html#Part3 as well as check disk http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/433-disk-check.html

 

[shuin]

I'm using wd green 2tb almost a year now, and didnt have this problem until now.

My only suspect here is mobo taking its age now since I bought in 2011

When my desktop is booting, it successfully detects all my hdds and even my BD rom...

Problem almost lies when I tend to access my files to my secondary HDD and/or when I download something from internet that will save to that 2nd HDD.

 

[GokAy]

(My mobo is from 2010 summer, still ticking like a clock. And it has worked 15+ hours every day.) I hope yours is alright too.

Get CrystalDiskInfo - CrystalDiskInfo - Software - Crystal Dew World, Function - Advanced - AAM/APM - and see if settings are set to performance (all the way to right), APM may be greyed out.

Perhaps you can also download and make a bootable DVD/USB for Linux Mint MATE, and then boot with it. See if HDD gets disconnected there too.

Try another SATA port as Essenbe advised, also another power cable (say, BD cable). Is your HDD set to sleep after a certain time? Check Control Panel - Power options - go into details of selected power plan.

 

[shuin]

I tried putting my secondary HDD to other sata port from SATA2 to another SATA3 port and still experiencing the problem.

Gonna try to other advice you guys said to me and gonna update this post after I did your solutions...

 

[GokAy]

By the way does this happen in Safe Mode with Networking?

 

[shuin]

Hmm haven't tried turning to safe mode whil metworking... What if this doesnt happen in safe mode while networking?

 

[GokAy]

Maybe a software/driver is interfering? Also try a clean startup - http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...ation-conflicts-performing-clean-startup.html

Do I get you right that you re-installed Windows too? If so, did it have issues right away the first thing after logging in (no updates or drivers installed)?

 

[shuin]

Nope, it didnt get any issues.. I even updated my FFXIV but during that time or even other tasks I do, my 2nd hdd is still disconnecting and then reconnects.

All my SATA cables have pin on each side so that it won't took off when moving the desktop (like cleaning etc) and I assure that all cables are 100% intacted to SATA port of mobo. I even clean and reseated all cables in my mobo

 

[CKWD]

Hello shuin!

I would suggest checking the drive's health with WD Data Lifeguard, as it is a WD drive and is best analyzed with its respective software.

WD DLG:
Support Answers

How did you notice the drive is disconnecting and reconnecting on its own? Did it disappear from My Computer, Disk Management and other system locations, or did you just hear beeping sounds, or something else?

You mention you hear sound from your external drive too? Do you have another drive, a known-good working drive, even borrowed from a friend, that you can try internally on your motherboard, just to see the connection. How many drives in total do you have? Could you please post the exact model numbers of the WD drives, and your motherboard, also for how long you have been using it.

CK_WD

 

[shuin]

Ok this is kinda irritating because when I try to run diagnose to wd... My os is suddenly not responding i'm using my phone so I was able to reply to this thread...

I know my hdd is disconnecting itself because it is hotplug (?) supported. When hdd is disconnected windows will prompt that hdd is disconnected, and when reconnected windows reads that and give me options what should I do after hdd is connected ( the usual prompt when you insert a normal usb)

 

[GokAy]

It shouldn't be the case, but does it show in "Safely Remove" list like a USB drive?

Did you try loading defaults in BIOS?

 

[shuin]

Yeah already reset loaded the default settings on my mobo

 

[CKWD]

Is this your only drive? Please answer all my questions on post #10 so that I can know what I can suggest and what not. If this is a secondary drive and the system hangs when trying to launch WD DLG, then remove the Green drive and launch it again. If it works, connect the drive again but to a different port with a different cable, and launch the program one more time. If it hangs yet again, the drive is making it malfunction.

If you can, do what I suggested in post #10. Post back!

CK_WD

 

[shuin]

All drives are in good health sir.

I even did switching Sata slot and cables.

 

[shuin]

Just a quick update, I test my external drive to another computer (old desktop of my job's office, windows xp) and my external drive is running! It wasn't broken, so I think mobo is faulty here hmmm

 

[GokAy]

I am out of ideas other than:

Perhaps you can also download and make a bootable DVD/USB for Linux Mint MATE, and then boot with it. See if HDD gets disconnected there too.

 

[CKWD]

I apologize shuin, but:
How can you be certain that all drives are in good health?
How many drives are these?
You are speaking now of an external drive, when the case is about a Green (internal) drive. Do you mean you connected it externally to a Windows XP machine?

The best test is to either connect the Green drive internally on another PC, or connect another known good working drive to your motherboard on the place of the Green drive.

One of these will most probably not work. Depending on which one it is (you will need to observe for some time in which case which drive will start to disconnect and reconnect itself) you will know which part in your system is malfunctioning. Post back with these results!

CK_WD

 

[GokAy]

To the SevenForums experts Would removing upper/lower filters for Hard Drive Controllers or Hard Drives possibly fix this issue? What are your thoughts?

** I would first see if it is alright in Linux and carry out the tests CKWD put out though before going into registry.