Question SSD missing after reboot?

[martinlest]

This happened once several weeks ago, but as the SSD in question reappeared after I turned the PC off and back on again (though not after choosing 'restart'), and I had not seen the issue again (until today), I let sleeping dogs lie.

Again, today though, I suddenly noticed the whole SSD was missing in Windows Explorer and also in the Disk Management console. And as before, although a restart did not bring it back, turning the PC off, waiting a minute and then starting it up again from the switch on the PC itself did the trick. And the drive is fortunately still there after a number of restarts. So what might be happening?

I ran Diskcheck - no errors were found. I installed Samsung Magician (the disk is a 2GB EVO 870) and ran a full scan on the SSD. Came back an hour or so later 100% clear: 'the disk is in good condition'. I also ran the SM quick SMART test, which was clear too. I checked the temperature of the disk, which is around 30degs C and stable and also the connections inside the PC, which are solid. I haven't run the long SMART test yet as it predicts 3 hours...

If my memory serves me correctly, this happened both times (certainly today) after I put the PC into standby mode and later 'woke it up'. Could be a red herring, and as I ssay, I only have two incidences to go by. But could that be a trigger somehow? The other two SSDs are not affected.

Are there any entries in Event Viewer that might give a clue? I can't see anything 'unusual'; there are always errors logged in Event Viewer, but I don't see any that would relate to a hard drive issue like this. What should look for there?

Thanks for any ideas. I have the drive contents (all data, it's not a drive with an O/S on it) fully backed up to an external HDD, by the way, just in case.

Thanks.

Martin

 

[SkyNetRising]

I suddenly noticed the whole SSD was missing in Windows Explorer and also in the Disk Management console.
restart did not bring it back, turning the PC off, waiting a minute and then starting it up again from the switch on the PC itself did the trick.
So what might be happening?

It's failing. Replace.

Or have backup for data on your disappearing drive and wait until it doesn't reappear after a restart anymore.

 

[martinlest]

Well, I shan't replace it until it fails for good - I'd need a 3 or 4TB drive, and they don't come cheap. I wonder, if it's failing, SM gives it a clean bill of health.

Or have backup for data on your disappearing drive and wait until it doesn't reappear after a restart anymore.

Yes, that's my current plan!

 

[steveb1976]

install "crystaldiskinfo 9" it will tell you if your ssd is good "healthy" or "bad" (in %).

 

[fzabkar]

Samsung 870 Evo -- is it a dud model?

https://forum.hddguru.com/viewtopic.php?p=300604#p300604

 

[LordVile]

Check it’s plugged in correctly. If not it’s failing

 

[martinlest]

I think it's a bit more complicated than 'it's failing'. The disc only disappears if I try to put the PC in standby mode. For some reason, over the past few days, it won't do that any more: it looks as if the PC is entering standby mode, but just as the discs and fans would normally turn off, the screen comes back to life with the desktop. And then the SSD in question has gone - not every time, I think (not 100% sure about that).

It's happened enough times now that there certainly seems to be a link between going into standby mode (or trying to) and the disc vanishing like this. If I shut the PC down and restart it, the disk is back, and seems to work fine, and remain visible to Windows until I try sleep mode again.

 

[martinlest]

Check it’s plugged in correctly. If not it’s failing

I am not sure that it is...

I just tried something that I should have thought about days ago: the PC is dual boot Windows 10/Windows 11. If I boot into Windows 11, put the PC into standby, wait a little (it doesn't immediately auto-start in Win11 as it does in Win10) and then wake it up, the SSD in question is still there in Explorer ,and behaves normally.

Seems reasonably safe to conclude that the issue is with Windows 10, rather than the SSD itself, no?

 

[martinlest]

I may have solved it.. I have unchecked all my hardware from being able to wake up the PC in Device Manager.

With all the devices thus disabled, when I now put the PC into standby, it remains in standby until I press the PC power button. Even better, if the SSD drive was missing before I went into sleep mode, it reappears shortly after waking up the PC again.

Simply put - if the PC does not immediately wake up from standby (wake up only triggered by user input) the SSD does not disappear.

It would now be great to know why that is (was?) the case, but that may be hard to ascertain now.