Question PC does not find hard drive via mobile rack

[Jackwolf99]

Hi, Have a W10 can with HDD slot, for quick change. The other day I took out the one I usually have and then drove without any problems. Then I put it back in and now it is not found in explorer. WTF? I have used this to quickly switch between different HDDs for many years and now all of a sudden it doesn't work. If I check in the device manager, I don't see it and it doesn't seem to be possible to connect to it. Tried an external HDD holder and then it worked, when it appeared. Then tested both with USB and SATA. Tested two different HDDs and both work via the external one, so the disks are ok. It also seems that the hard drive is powered via the mobile rack, as I think it sounds. That should then rule out the cable's power supply.
Also tried connecting without a mobile rack and directly to the HDD (see picture), but no luck.
Could something in Win, BIOS etc have changed? The SATA cable can't just give up, can it? Anyone have any good tips, before I start tearing the crap down....

 

[hedwar2011]

1) Yes, SATA cables can fail. Any mechanical device can including cables.
2) Start simple and get a replacement SATA cable and try it first.
3) BIOS settings won't change unless you did it or you updated the BIOS recently and it changed something.

 

[Jackwolf99]

Ok. Moved the SATA cable to another jack at the motherboard. Didn´t work.
Switched SATA cables between BlueRay and Mobile Rack. Success!
But, now the bleray doesn´t work. I guess that the cable is corrupt. Thanks for the help!

 

[fzabkar]

You didn't say whether the drive still spins up in the rack, but I'm assuming it doesn't, in which case you may have two issues/problems.

The rack appears to have a DPST switch which switches the 12V and 5V power to the drive. The 3.3V supply is not used.

When installed inside a USB enclosure, the 3.3V supply would also remain unused.

However, when connected directly via SATA, the Power Disable feature (SATA power pin #3) may be active.

https://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=2094

To circumvent the Power Disable issue, just cut the 3.3V wire in the power cable.

To troubleshoot the rack, get hold of a multimeter and measure the voltage between case ground and each of the wires in the 4-pin connector going to the key-switch. If the switch is working, you should see 12V going in and coming out, and the same for the 5V supply.

 

[hedwar2011]

Ok. Moved the SATA cable to another jack at the motherboard. Didn´t work.
Switched SATA cables between BlueRay and Mobile Rack. Success!
But, now the bleray doesn´t work. I guess that the cable is corrupt. Thanks for the help!

Good job fault testing!
Yes, it sounds like the cable has went south for the winter. Time for a replacement. Thankfully they aren't as expensive as they used to be.

 

[fzabkar]

https://goughlui.com/2023/03/11/notes-when-sata-cables-go-bad-or-rogue/

https://forum.hddguru.com/download/file.php?id=22311&mode=view