Hard Drive Died?! - Or Mobo Failure?

[Dante_Caligari]

I have a Hitachi Deskstar 250GB Hard Drive that I recently removed from my computer and brought to a friend's house. We regularly swap hard drives as slaves in our systems to share files. The Hard Drive worked perfect while we were there. I bought a new case (Thermaltake Armor Jr.) when I was there, so when I got home I moved all of my parts into the new case. I hooked up my hard drive and booted up.

The hard drive is not being detected at all. I tried a different IDE cable; that did not matter. However, an alternate Hard Drive was detected.

Another problem that I find odd is that since the 680i motherboard only has one IDE channel, so I was using this for my optical drive:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16812206002

It worked fine until I moved my parts, now the optical wont detect as a SATA drive. I swapped SATA cords; no go. I also moved the optical to the IDE channel; then it detects.

So what is going on here? Is there a problem with my IDE & SATA controllers on my motherboard, or did my hard drive die?

 

[Dante_Caligari]

Does anyone have any idea. This is the only computer I have, and my parents will not allow me to buy a new one if I cannot get it fixed. I am out of ideas....

 

[Ethereal_Dragon]

Perhaps there was a static discharge that may have damaged something.

Does the HDD still work in other machines, or is it dead in all machines? I couldn't imagine that taking it out and transporting it time and time again would be very good for the HDD, as 3.5" aren't made to be mobile... Not that moving it alone would do it in, but over time, it might have a detrimental effect on the lifespan. Also, I seem to remember in the past seeing references to the Hitachi Deskstar line as 'Deathstar', meaning they go belly up fairly quickly. I don't know from experience though, only what I have seen on the boards.

When you moved your sata connection for the optical, did you try different sata ports on the motherboard, as there are 6 ports, or simply swap the cable and try a different one?

You can always use them both on the IDE channel, HDD as master, optical as slave.

 

[Dante_Caligari]

Hopefully, I am going to try it in another machine next hour, and I will be able to tell you. This is only the third or fourth time transporting the drive. I have always been careful with the drive, putting it in an anti-static bag and such.

"Deathstar." *laugh* I hope not. I have no money for a hard drive.

I tried different SATA ports. This is the part that I am really worried about since nothing is making a difference.

"You can always use them both on the IDE channel, HDD as master, optical as slave." Doesn't that degrade performance? That is why I bought the adapter in the first place.

 

[turtile]

The quality of the Deskstar drives are much better now that Hitachi took it over. It was called the "deathstar" while the original owner, IBM, was designing them.

As said above, static charge can kill the drive. You should put it in an external enclosure if you want to bring it around. Get eSATA if you want speed.