HDD Becoming Unrecognized

[Slaybel]

Hello tech forum users, this is my first post on this website and I hope you guys can help me out with this one.

Currently, I have a computer installed with an SSD and HDD. I installed windows 7 onto my SSD and I store most programs, games, music, pictures, etc on my HDD.
My SSD has about 60 GB of memory and my HDD is 1 TB.

So, here's the problem: My HDD becomes unrecognized while my computer is turned on.
I could be playing a game, playing music, or using Adobe Photoshop, which is installed on my HDD, and suddenly something stops working, due to my HDD's existence vanishing into thin air. Quite troublesome. I have also gone to My Computer and see my HDD vanish before my eyes.

So far, my only solution is to restart my computer or sleep, then wake back up. Typically it will reappear after doing so.

Could this be caused by a loosely attached SATA cable or faulty SATA cable or something else?

Thank you in advance for any help!

 

[carnageX]

Could be a SATA cable or port issue, but I'd firstly check the Advanced Power Settings for your currently selected Power Plan, and look under the "Turn HDD off after X minutes". See if that option is set to something other than 0 (0 will not turn it off).

 

[-RockMan-]

I could be playing a game, playing music, or using Adobe Photoshop, which is installed on my HDD, and suddenly something stops working, due to my HDD's existence vanishing into thin air. Quite troublesome. I have also gone to My Computer and see my HDD vanish before my eyes.
So far, my only solution is to restart my computer or sleep mode.

What make and model hard drive do you have by chance ?
I need those details, there are some hard drives on the market that are pre-configured to save on power.

 

[Joe C]

I had a 3 tb drive that did the same thing, it would vanish and then return upon a reboot. I re-adjusted and re-seated the sata cable and it has not disappeared since then.

 

[-RockMan-]

I had a 3 tb drive that did the same thing, it would vanish and then return upon a reboot. I re-adjusted and re-seated the sata cable and it has not disappeared since then.

If you don't mind, tell me what brand and type of hdd you have ?
What is the hard drive meant to do besides storage ?

 

[Joe C]

I have a 3 tb WD black

You can look it up, WD3003FZEX-00Z4SA0
I use this drive for just back ups only