HDD question

The second HDD in my computer started to disappear occasionally. When
it was present in Explore it seemed to act normally, but the several
disk checking programs found no problem with it. The disappearances
from Explorer got more frequent so I replaced it with a new drive.
There have been no problems with the computer since. The computer has
also stopped rebooting without warning several times a day as it had
been for a few weeks. I had tried swapping power supplies with another
computer but that did't stop the rebooting.

I put the HDD in an external caddy and started copying files to the
new second internal drive. After transferring files for a while it
started giving the error message <can't read from drive>. Switching it
off and on sometimes allowed the files to be copied. I eventually
transferred all the main files to the new drive.

Then I plugged in another drive in an external caddy that had been
used in the computer for a while but had been used as an external
backup drive for over a year, so rarely accessed. Previously it had
worked ok but this time it also was detected by Explorer eratically
and I eventually got a lot of the files off it using RecoverMyFiles. I
reformatted both drives and they seemed to work for a while but the
same problems returned.

Next I plugged in a 2.5 inch external that I used on a trip last year
that was less than a year old. It hadn't been a problem but now it
couldn't be detected by my main computer. Another computer said it had
an i/o error.

The other drive with unuisual behaviour was a 500 GB MyBook that was
only used to bakup digital photos and had been stored in its box for
several months. It still hasn't shown any problems with unreadable
files but occasionally shows the main direstories in Explorer but
occasionally the directories appear empty. If I switch it off and back
on again the files are listed, but after being on a while they are
sometimes gone again, though the main directories are still there.

Other internal and external drives haven't shown any of these
behaviours and seem to be working properly.

Does this sound like coincifence that all 4 drives showed similar
problems at the same time, 2 are ex-internal drives and 2 are less
than 1 year old and have never been used as internal drives. Or does
it indicate there is a problem somewhere in the system that I should
be looking for.

Thanks
Mike

"MikeM" <mmo45018@bigpond.net.au> wrote in message
news:j2bhs3l3o0seacj2nshscduq8gnqglknnb@4ax.com...
> The second HDD in my computer started to disappear occasionally. When
> it was present in Explore it seemed to act normally, but the several
> disk checking programs found no problem with it. The disappearances
> from Explorer got more frequent so I replaced it with a new drive.
> There have been no problems with the computer since. The computer has
> also stopped rebooting without warning several times a day as it had
> been for a few weeks. I had tried swapping power supplies with another
> computer but that did't stop the rebooting.
>
> I put the HDD in an external caddy and started copying files to the
> new second internal drive. After transferring files for a while it
> started giving the error message <can't read from drive>. Switching it
> off and on sometimes allowed the files to be copied. I eventually
> transferred all the main files to the new drive.
>
> Then I plugged in another drive in an external caddy that had been
> used in the computer for a while but had been used as an external
> backup drive for over a year, so rarely accessed. Previously it had
> worked ok but this time it also was detected by Explorer eratically
> and I eventually got a lot of the files off it using RecoverMyFiles. I
> reformatted both drives and they seemed to work for a while but the
> same problems returned.
>
> Next I plugged in a 2.5 inch external that I used on a trip last year
> that was less than a year old. It hadn't been a problem but now it
> couldn't be detected by my main computer. Another computer said it had
> an i/o error.
>
> The other drive with unuisual behaviour was a 500 GB MyBook that was
> only used to bakup digital photos and had been stored in its box for
> several months. It still hasn't shown any problems with unreadable
> files but occasionally shows the main direstories in Explorer but
> occasionally the directories appear empty. If I switch it off and back
> on again the files are listed, but after being on a while they are
> sometimes gone again, though the main directories are still there.
>
> Other internal and external drives haven't shown any of these
> behaviours and seem to be working properly.
>
> Does this sound like coincifence that all 4 drives showed similar
> problems at the same time, 2 are ex-internal drives and 2 are less
> than 1 year old and have never been used as internal drives. Or does
> it indicate there is a problem somewhere in the system that I should
> be looking for.
>
> Thanks
> Mike

You need to clearly, concisely explain what's happening. You don't expect
the reader to decipher your message. Having said that, I guess you should
look at your motherboard. It seems like the hdd controller is dying or
faulty.