Problem with my 320gb Western Digital Hard Drive

[AndyGray88]

Hiya,

I am having some problems with my Western Digital 320gb hard drive. When i load up the pc, windows starts and the desktop loads up etc. I then go into "My Computer" and the drive is present, i can access it and brouse through files. But it disapears from 1 minute to 20 minutes after complete load up. I currently have 2 hard drives in the pc, a 40gb master (containing windows) and a 120gb slave (containing programs and media). I attached the 320gb onto my other IDE cable and set it as master and connected it to the end IDE connector. I did this just so that i can transfer all my files on my 120gb over to my 320gb.

Does anyone know why the drive is simply disapearing without warning?

If you need any further information please let me know and i will help as much as i can.

Many Thanks,
Andy Gray

 

[FlashDude]

That should work, humm with the hdd as the master I assume you are setting the jumpers on the cd/dvd drive as the slave? If so try making the cd/dvd drive the master. Some burners are picky they have to be the master and the third hdd as the slave. Just because it is the slave you still should be able to transfer files to it with no problems.

Edit - something else to consider maybe the PSU can't handle the load and is crapping out.

 

[AndyGray88]

I currently have a 500W "BigFan" PSU so i dont see why it can't support it.

I have set all the jumpers corectly and the problem persists. I am currently running a bad sectors test to see if thats what is causing the problems.

I havnt tried switching the dvd drive the master etc. just yet, but if the sectors test fails, that will be my next cause of action.

Thanks for the help,
Andy

EDIT: I have completed the bad sector scan and disconnected the dvd drive. Loaded up pc and tried to access a folder on the 320.

The mouse always freezes for about 5-10 seconds before the hard drive disappears.

 

[AndyGray88]

UPDATE:

I believe i have narrowed it down to what the problem is.

Please see the attached image.

It looks as though the Seek Error Rate test failed. The results can be seen on the attached image. Everything else passed.

Is there any way i am able to fix this problem, as i would really rather not send it off to be replaced as i would lose all my data on it and have to pay for postage.

Thanks,
Andy