Hard Drive Is Being Weird


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My Secondary Hard Drive is being really weird, sometimes it doesnt seem to be starting up, when my computer boots up it will say that the drive is not OK but turned on. Other times it will say SMART failed. Also while running windows the Hard Drive seems to just crash or something, and then my computer becomes very unstable.

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My Secondary Hard Drive is being really weird, sometimes it doesnt seem to be starting up, when my computer boots up it will say that the drive is not OK but turned on. Other times it will say SMART failed. Also while running windows the Hard Drive seems to just crash or something, and then my computer becomes very unstable.

Bad or loose Ribbon cable. Might run Scandisk/Check disk on it. Most likely the cable came loose. Have you moved the PC lately?

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Bad or loose Ribbon cable. Might run Scandisk/Check disk on it. Most likely the cable came loose. Have you moved the PC lately?

I will try running that and see what happens

If your getting s.m.a.r.t errors get what you can off the drive now.

S.M.A.R.T. errors

Oh man, I really hope it doesn't fail on me yet. But I will definitely start backing things up.

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My Secondary Hard Drive is being really weird, sometimes it doesnt seem to be starting up, when my computer boots up it will say that the drive is not OK but turned on. Other times it will say SMART failed. Also while running windows the Hard Drive seems to just crash or something, and then my computer becomes very unstable.

Well the first thing I was going to say is that when a drive starts some times and not others it is generally going to be a failing power supply. The drive just is not getting up to speed in time due to insufficient power.

But when you get a SMART warning; that means it is time to go to the drive manufactures site and download their testing software and see if the drive is in fact failing.

It is also wise to immeadiately backup your data and prepare for catastrophic failure (make sure you have your windows cd, product key , and money to buy a new drive)

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werid thing is that it has stopped giving me errors. My computer is so weird with giving me errors and then stopping, it makes troubleshooting impossible. After you think you fix it it just comes back! ahg!

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werid thing is that it has stopped giving me errors. My computer is so weird with giving me errors and then stopping, it makes troubleshooting impossible. After you think you fix it it just comes back! ahg!

So did you check the cables?

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Being that it is the slave drive and that the SMART error has cleared I would suspect a power supply issue. The result is that sometimes there is not enough juice to get all the drives and fans and everything else spinning up to speed before the bios finishes the POST and the SMART evaluation tests the drive. Generally slave drives are the ones that do not get going fast enough and they either give a smart failure or fail to show up when you get to windows. Generally if this is the case; restarting the computer makes the drive show and error clear since things are already spinning and the power supply is warmed up.

Best to use something like Everest home to monitor your voltages and if you notice fluctuation or more than 5% low on any leg it is time to replace it before it fails catastrophically and takes out your motherboard and processor .

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A failing psu as mentioned will cause an unstable buggy system. I've seen newly replaced motherboards on Dells not have network access because the onboard nics didn't get enough power to work and after replacing the psu all was fine. Booted quicker, was stable, and all functioned properly. Many people don't realize how important the psu is till it is too late. The psu's were failing because they were overworked by the bad capacitors on the old boards.

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