Question Hard drive is failing to mount

[Bgommel4]

Hi,
So my computer runs Ubuntu and has a SATA SSD as boot and an additional HDD which contains the /home partition. About a week ago, I was having problems with my HDD not mounting when the computer booted which resulted in me not being able to use my computer. I would get an I/O error and the partition on the disk would not mount. The drive would sometimes work and sometimes not. I tried re-plugging the SATA cables from the motherboard and the drive and using different SATA cables. The HDD power cable goes from my PSU into my SSD then out of my SSD into my HDD. I tried re-plugging the power cables also from the PSU and drive. Today, I can't get the drive to work at all. When the computer boots, the drive makes a spinning/grinding noise on boot for about 5 seconds then stops spinning all together and turns off. When I was able to get the drive to work, I ran a test for bad sectors and bad blocks and they both passed with no errors. I also tried to run a S.M.A.R.T Self Test but it would hang on 10% and never finish. The drive and computer itself is only about a year old.

I would think it is either the PSU isn't giving enough power to the drive, the HDD power cable is bad or the hard drive itself is failing. Any ideas on what to do?
Is there a way I can test if it is the drive or the power supply that is failing?

Thank you! Let me know if I can provide any more information.

 

[Bgommel4]

Hi,
I thought I solved this issue but it is coming back to haunt me again. To re-cap: my hard drive is failing to mount on boot and is causing my computer to be unusable. My system first boots my SSD with Ubuntu then needs to mount my /home partition which is located on my HDD. The problem was eventually resolved by adding a boot delay to give time for my HDD to spin up before the OS started to look for my /home. The problem mainly seemed to occur when it was cold outside and my drive has been sitting off for a period of time. Sometimes I would have to re-boot a couple of times until the drive warmed up and then it worked.
Today, I can not get it to work at all. The drive was only off overnight and it is not cold where my system is. I tried re-plugging the SATA cable on the header and drive, and re-plugging the power cable for the drive. The SATA cable is also brand new. The health of the drive itself is fine, as last time I ran a S.M.A.R.T test and it came back with no immediate issues and the drive is only about a year old.
I am at a complete loss for what could be going on and what else to try. Any ideas would be much appreciated.
Thanks!

 

[Grobe]

https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/hard-drive-is-failing-to-mount.3678763/#post-22156778