Hard drive keeps disappearing from Windows 7?

[IndirectHero]

Hey guys, my second hard drive that I use for steam games and misc keeps on disappearing after I use it for quite awhile and end up making application unfinable.

So the only way I manage to temporally fix it is by restarting and the hard drive pop right back up on Windows. So my question is, why is it doing that? Any help on this would be much appreciated.

P.S. Hard drive was working fine for over a month till this happen today. It a 10k RPM 120gb hard drive.

 

[Wamphryi]

Well it would be helpful if you listed your system specifications. Based on the very limited information you have provided I am assuming that your HDD is losing contact with the controller at a BIOS level. When you reboot then it establishes communication again. Here are three possibilities.

1) Your Motherboard needs a BIOS update
2) Your HDD needs a Firmware update
3) Both of the above

Also if you have a Gigabyte motherboard I have noted that there are issues with the HDD losing contact with the SATA controller. I fixed this by RMAing the board. There is some issue with the south bridge on certain Gigabyte boards in my experience.

The HDD will work fine for a while so that has been noted. Mine did not show problems for almost two years.

 

[roald]

More likely to me it may be a construction defect of the HDD that is now becomming apparent or the drive may also be overheating. It may have a failsafe that shuts it down and it get's reinitialised upon reboot. Check if it gets very hot.