Hello! Please help.

My slave drive always disconnects. Sometimes, it does not shows up upon start up. Sometimes it disconnects while the PC is on. When it suddenly disconnects, my pc hangs and the only way to shut it down is hard reset/shutdown.

I'm not good in computer so I don't know what other relevant information must I add here. Please help and bear with me.

Thank you in advance.Welcome to the CH forums.

Please read this..

What message do you get from the computer? What makes you think the slave disconnects?

Can you enable SMART in the BIOS and see what error messages you get from the drive on bootup?

Did you check the (S)ATA and power cables to make sure they are snug and in good shape?

RaydudeHi Dusty and RayDude,

Thanks for prompt reply. I'll try to give the specs of my computer.

I have winXP svcpack2, Pentium dual cpu, 1.62Ghz, 992MB of RAM, two HDD NTFS both 80GB. I have Avast, Spyterminator real time shield, and ZoneAlarm. I also regularly scan using SuperAntispyware. I dont know what else is needed to be posted.

I also tried going to BIOS but I didnt see the SMART. I remember before, that I always got IDE error (I hope I got it right, its been 4mons already)  for drive D (the slave drive) during start up but no errors found always. I googled the error and I found an instruction to disable the startup scanning and done that. Sorry I forgot already what I did.

I'll try to gather some courage to check the cables again. I did visual CHECKING before but my inexperience eyes cant find anything amess.

I know that the slave disconnects because sometimes the computer stops or hangs. Also, I cant find drive D in My Computer. My Document folder is in drive D that is why its easy to know that the drive D disconnects. No error messages, I just hear a "click". But I wonder why drive D never disconnects when I am in safe mode.

Thanks againPlease, when the computer is cool, make a backup of that important data! To keep the drive alive as long as possible open the side of the case and put a fan blowing directly across the hard drive.

Copying the data onto drive C is going to save you headaches. Better to copy it to C and then burn a CD or DVD if you can.

It sounds like the hard drive itself is dying. I'd guess that the power connector or ONE of the on board regulators is fractured or has a cold solder joint, but that's just a guess.

Its critical you act as soon as possible to back up your data!

Once that's done, consider buying a new hard drive. The 80GB COULD still be in warranty, check that first, but a new drive will be bigger and faster.

Thanks RayDude,

I'll do what you suggested. That harddrive is from my old computer, so you could be right that it is already dying ( it could be 4yrs old already). I'll also replace the cables just to make sure. I'll post back once I've done them.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.