3TB Hard Drive (GPT) not recognized in Windows 8.1 Pro x64.

[Guest]

ASUS Z97 MB with bios set for UEFI.
Samaung 850 Pro SSD Boot Drive
WD Black 3TB HD (GPT format) used for data storage is frequently not recognized by Drive Manager or File Explorer. I would appreciate any assistance you may have. Thanks.

 

[Solandri]

Disappearing and intermittent drives are usually due to a bad SATA cable or poor connection to the SATA cable. Try resetting the cable firmly into both connectors (drive and motherboard). Or try replacing it with a new cable (I recommend the ones with retaining clips - most of my disappearing drive problems went away after I switched to those).

 

[fzabkar]

I would examine the SMART report with a tool such as CrystalDiskInfo.

http://crystalmark.info/software/CrystalDiskInfo/index-e.html

Look for reallocated, pending, or uncorrectable sectors.