[SOLVED] My external drives keep disappearing

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johnr283

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I have 2 external drives. A few times a week one or both of them disappears from my PC. This only happens when the PC comes out of sleep mode.

The work again once I've unplugged them, plugged them back in and turned them back on. The external case has a power switch.

My PC is a Dell, only a few months old. The drives are 3.5's from, my previous PC. I put them in external cases made by Amazon Basics. They are connected using 6' USB cables.
 
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Daveyo

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Let me guess, you have 2 external Hard drives and its connected to your USB hub. Also I think both of your hard Drives are SATA. Had the same problem. Solution is Hard Drives must be connected directly to your SATA on Mobo. You can get a PCI-e x1 Sata Card and that will also work because its not on any USB. After I did that my problem was solved. Also be made aware Hard Drives last only half of its scheduled life span. Some are good for 5 years as they say, but they tend to fail after 3.5 to 4 years. To this day I run my system 16 hours 24/7 365 and mine goes out right around the 4 year mark. I usually transfer all my data to the new drive when it reaches the 3.5 year mark to be safe and put it aside until the old drive begins to fail, then I swap it and no problem

Good luck
 
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Deleted member 14196

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so then just test them on a different pc, if they keep disappearing, it's the enclosures or the drives themselves. if they don't it's your pc, software or hardware
 
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johnr283

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Daveyo said:
Let me guess, you have 2 external Hard drives and its connected to your USB hub. Also I think both of your hard Drives are SATA. Had the same problem. Solution is Hard Drives must be connected directly to your SATA on Mobo. You can get a PCI-e x1 Sata Card and that will also work because its not on any USB. After I did that my problem was solved. Also be made aware Hard Drives last only half of its scheduled life span. Some are good for 5 years as they say, but they tend to fail after 3.5 to 4 years. To this day I run my system 16 hours 24/7 365 and mine goes out right around the 4 year mark. I usually transfer all my data to the new drive when it reaches the 3.5 year mark to be safe and put it aside until the old drive begins to fail, then I swap it and no problem

Good luck
Click to expand...

I wanted to add the drives to my PC but there are no brackets to mount the drives in the PC. It's a Dell inspiron (3650 I believe). I discussed this problem in another topic and the conclusion was that external seemed to be the best way to go. The drives are both 3.5" 1TB SATA. Probably 3-5 years old. they worked fine inside my previous PC. I can buy new drives if needed. I just want to make sure that's the answer.
 
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Daveyo

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As to not having any brackets to mount it, then maybe look for a nice cheap mid full size tower and it should work that will support a good PSU and room for you to put in your mobo with space to spare and look for HDD slots to accommodate you and for future expansion.

Well believe it or not I am still using the old Dell Tower I got in 2000, and this is what I have looking at front of the case. The very top slot was for my floppy and its removed, next 2 slots on the top (going down) is my 2 DVD's, third slot is empty and I modified that insert plate to hold a Hard Drive, and inside near the bottom I have 2 hard drives. I have the Corsair 650 Watt PSU and heaps of connectors to use so that is not a problem.

So previously I had external Hdd box like you had ok, and it kept bouncing around giving me delayed write failures in that USB deal. So I got a PCI-e Sata card and stuck it in my system Ok. I then use the very top slot where the floppy was in, and connected that with a extra long blue Sata lead and that worked. This one I was using it for my Flight Sim Games.

On the third empty DVD slot now modified I put in my Back up Hard drive and did the same and hooked with a extra long Blue Sata Lead to my PCI-e card (routing it thru the open back space and that worked no problem

The other two hidden Hard drives is as follows: Windows 7 Ultimate, and the bottom is for my Windows XP. The DVD's and the 2 hidden Hard Drives are hooked to the mobo SATA connectors and my problem disappeared. Been running OK since. I can easily also switch the DVD Sata Leads and take them out of the Mobo Sata and put those on the SATA Card and use my other 2 HDD's into the Mobo SATA slots. Either way both will work fine.

On my Bios (Gigabyte) when I start it up I hit the F12 Key, then it shows a list and I go down to Hard Drive hit enter, and then choose which Hard Drive then hit enter, that I want to boot into and viola it comes up.

Result is no more delayed write failures and I avoid files and security descriptors getting corrupted. So...... now I just got rid of that external hdd box.

So try it both ways of mine and of Mandarks suggestion. Today one needs to be innovative to stretch the dollar a mile longer.
 
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Daveyo

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Mandark said:
so then just test them on a different pc, if they keep disappearing, it's the enclosures or the drives themselves. if they don't it's your pc, software or hardware
Click to expand...

Not sure if that is correct. If he has a USB problem first update the USB with the latest drivers. If it still continues, then I would look straight at either of two things. First is the MEMORY RAMS. If they start to fail, you lose data and it disappears and sometimes, the system goes blank suddenly, or have a hard time booting etc. The other one is the outside HDD box, and those fail a lot.

In his case he is talking about his outside HDD box and the system is losing its data per se via his USB connection. I tested it myself having the same problem too. Took out the HDD and hooked it straight to the Mobo and it worked fine. No delayed write failures or blackouts. That led me straight to that HDD outside box being the culprit. Keep in mind my system is 11 years old, and my symptoms started just recently. Quite frankly knowing my system being 11 years old, I am worried now since small signs begin to show up here and there etc. That is why I am moving fast to replace the aging components here to be on the safe side.
 
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johnr283

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I don't have another PC to try the drives on. I just bought this Dell Inspiron because I didn't want build a PC like I have done previously done. I will try different HDD enclosures first.
 
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