This is a problem with a PC I built myself this winter, a desktop. I run windows XP, the CPU is a dual core 3.0 ghz pentium 4. I also have 4 GB of RAM in the form of two 2GB sticks. There are two 500GB Seagate harddrives, one with my OS on it and another that I use for storage. Shortly after downloading and trying to install a foreign game and attempting to do some stuff with Applocale (at least I think this is where it started), my secondary drive disappeared (this is the drive the game and such had been saved onto). My computer had been working with complete normalcy for the last 6 months. The secondary drive is the only "old" internal part of the computer, having been bought in the summer before I built the PC (which was built in January)
I naturally went to the Malware guys here who had helped me with a very similar problem before involving undetectable/failing HDs and some java exploit virus, but this time I've been told that it doesn't appear to be a malware issue: http://forums.whatthetech.com/HDD_Undetectable_t104861.html
No hardware has been added to this computer since it was built. The computer WAS infected once before, but the malware forum here completely cleaned it. I assume they're still looking at the same way, either that or this thing is real sneaky, so maybe I flipped the wrong switch and now my HD is undetectable. I haven't tried anything to make the HD appear again since I honestly have no idea where to begin. I assumed this was simply a malware issue so that's the route I went for.
Any suggestions towards making my HD appear and be usable again are appreciated!
First things first…
Open Disk Management…
Right-Click My Computer, click Manage. When the computer management console opens, in the left pane, find "Disk Management." Click on it. In the Right Pane, at the bottom of the window will be the various storage devices you have in your computer. Both 500GB HDs should be listed. Please identify what is listed there and see if the drive is listed. If the drive is listed try to give as much detail about what it says about that drive in that section. Such as partitions and their size.
Secondly, go into device manager (Right-click My Computer, click Properties. Click the Hardware tab, then click Device Manager), see if anything has a yellow exclamation point.
The second HD is not listed (it would be D: drive and only C: is there) when I go into disk management. In device manager, nothing seems to have a yellow exclamation point.
Actually.. The drive letter is associated with the partition that is on each hard drive. So, just because you don't see D: doesn't mean the drive isn't there.
What I'm getting at.. If you look in Disk Management again, the hard drive that contains the C: partition will probably be labeled Disk0. The hard drive that should contain the D: partition will probably be labeled Disk1. Do you see Disk1 listed in there?
If you had only one hard drive with two partitions on it, each one could be labeled C:, and D: respectively although it is all on one hard drive. That's why I have to make sure we are talking about the same thing here.
Hopefully that explains it a little more clear.
If you don't see Disk1 in there then the drive probably isn't being detected at all.
That means your next step is to go into your BIOS configuration and check to see if the BIOS even recognizes the hard drive. If it isn't listed in there then you need to see if the cables are all plugged in and if the drive is spinning up. The drive may have failed.
To enter the BIOS configuration you will need to press a certain key almost immediately after the computer is powered on.
You should see a very brief prompt about pressing F1 to enter setup, or pess DEL to enter setup, etc. It will vary from computer to computer. If Windows starts to boot, it is too late, you need to restart and try again.
One secret to know when trying to enter CMOS setup is that you need to wait until the keyboard lights (num lock, caps lock, etc.) flash on your keyboard when you power the computer on. Then you can press the key that you need to press to enter BIOS. If you press a key before the lights flash then you will get a keyboard error and it may not work at all. This may not work the same with a USB keyboard, but just so you know.
Alright, so I switched the SATA port from SATA1 to another one (SATA3 or something)
And the drive is being detected at last! Shows up in My Computer and everything.
However when I click on D: drive, it won't open. As well my computer slows down massively when I try to interact with it. When I double click on the drive it says "D:\ is not accessible. The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error."
Any ideas? It seems impossible that a drive I bought no less than a year ago from a reliable company like Seagate would be completely busted somehow already. Maybe I can format it and it will work?
Thanks,
Raptor
EDIT:
Well I turned on Seatools to see if I could do anything to D: and saw that it was no longer there. Then I went back to My Computer, and sure enough, the drive was completely gone again. What the heck is going on…?
You need to try and perform a chkdsk on the drive.
click start -> run -> type cmd and press ENTER.
At the command prompt type, chkdsk D: /r and press ENTER.
Allow chkdsk to unmount the drive if required.
Be patient while chkdsk checks for bad sectors and file system corruption. Keep your eyes open for messages about, "windows replacing bad clusters…," during stages 4 and 5. This is a sign that the drive could be, and most likely is, failing.
On a side note, the line of Seagate Barracuda hard drives since the 250GB range have been some of the most notoriously un-reliable hard drives I have ever worked with to date. So much so that I have vowed I will never use another Seagate hard drive again. So, trust me, it is not impossible.
With the new information provided in your edit, I would say that the drive is faulty. Luckily, it should be under warranty.
Ofcourse, it could be a SATA cable or power connector.
Oh well. Thank you for your help, I'll try and see what I can do with different cables/a power connector before I throw this piece of junk away.
EDIT: I think I've found the issue. There is some major flaw in a large number of Seagate drives, which they've released a firmware fix for. My drive types happen to be one of them. Drives already affected by the problem however have no solution. I guess I'll create the bootable CD and apply the firmware to my remaining drive, and pray that it keeps working. The other drive just goes in the trash I suppose. Thanks Seagate :/ I guess I'll have to hunt for my warranty.
