Disappearing HDD's reappear on restart. Are HDD's outdated or prone to faliure?

[Rade155]

So I've been having this issue for a couple months already. Started with occasional blue screens that started happening more and more often. I tried upgrading Windows from 7 to 10 and that didn't help. My 4 drives started disappearing when I go to My Computer they are not there. Sometimes 1 is missing sometimes 3 are missing and it all happens randomly over time. But on restart they all come back until the next time they start disappearing. Drive that I have Windows on usually stays there until I get blue screen and that crashes too. I tried downloading SeaTools and Quick Generic test could not complete on any of the drives.

My 4 drives are:

1. Windows: https://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136218 (9+ years old)
2. Games: https://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236339 (pretty old)
3. Files: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136769 (pretty old)
4. Files: https://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148262 (pretty old)

Blue screen messages include:

KERNEL_SECURITY_CHECK_FAILURE
CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED
UNEXPECTED_STORE_EXCEPTION
IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

I even bought a Samsung SSD 850 EVO to speed up my Windows but I didn't configure it correctly. I just connected cables and it didn't show up in My Computer. So I started Samsung's Data Transfer software and in the middle of it the system crashed and I could not boot it up again. I keep trying to reinstall windows, tried on SSD tried on drive 1 and never can completely install it. Now PC only goes past starting screen and never into Windows, cause it isn't installed properly.

My system specs are:

• i7-4790K with Noctua NH-D15
• MSI GTX 970
• Asus Z97-A
• EVGA SuperNOVA G2 750W
• G.SKILL Ripjaws 16GB

I will be taking the PC into service to let them deal with it cause I don't have the nerves anymore. But I am asking you fine people if you have any insight into what might be causing these issues? Could it be the MOBO? It's strange that they all start disappearing at the same time. Should I just say goodbye to all the HDD's and just get one 3TB drive? That's what I'm thinking to do. Any recommendation on a 3-4 TB HDD?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Johan45]

It's possible the board is failing could be a bad storage driver or even in need of a BIOS update.
To get Windows back try disconnecting all drives except the one you want to install Windows onto.

 

[HankB]

9 years on a drive seems like a long time. However if you only have it turned on a couple hours a day it may not have that many hours on it.

I agree with Johan's suggestion to unplug all other drives and try to install to the SSD. Once you get something working, install something that will show you the SMART diagnostics for your other hard drives. If there is a problem with any of the drives that should show up there.

As a Linux user, I would suggest booting Linux from a USB thumb drive (or even a CD ROM) and using that to check out the drives. Of course if you don't have access to a different computer to prepare boot media or don't look forward to trying something new, it might not be a good option. If there is a MoBo issue, Linux might not run either.

Good luck!

 

[Rade155]

Thanks for the tips guys. I did as you suggested - disconnected all drives except for SSD and I managed to install Windows on it with no issues, and it works now. What kept confusing me is in the boot option there is 2 options to boot from. The normal SSD and same SSD with the prefix of Windows Boot Manager. What is that all about?

I then connected 3 of the drives (I will toss drive #4 that is only 250GB) and started SeaTools disk checker. All 3 of them passed the SMART test. Short Generic passed yesterday but today sometimes fails sometimes passes. Long Generic fails on all 3 of them and sometimes the test just freezes with no movement. I also tried PassMark's Disk Checkup - SMART says everything ok, but Short and Extended checks always stop saying that "test was interrupted by host with a hardware or software reset". Does this mean the drives are on their way out?

Side note: SeaTools showed my SSD only first few times I opened it. After that every time i open it the 3 drives are there but not the SSD. Maybe nothing to worry about but seams a little off to me... (PassMark does show the SSD)

 

[don256us]

Hard drives are generally reliable for 3 - 5 years in my experience. They may last longer and we've all seen them not make it that long but after that 5 year mark, you're living on the edge. The fact that you had blue screens on the same drive that you list as 9+ years *and* that it started out slow and increased in frequency seals the deal for me. Archive everything that you need and look for a replacement.

 

[trents]

Hard drives are generally reliable for 3 - 5 years in my experience. They may last longer and we've all seen them not make it that long but after that 5 year mark, you're living on the edge. The fact that you had blue screens on the same drive that you list as 9+ years *and* that it started out slow and increased in frequency seals the deal for me. Archive everything that you need and look for a replacement.

Also my experience, at least with consumer level drives. I start seeing a lot of failures at about 35,000 run time hours which is about 4.5 years of 24/7 use.

 

[MaddMutt]

The appearing and disappearing of the drives, clearly shows that they are going BAD.
Here is a link to an excellent program that will tell you the health of your HDD https://www.hdsentinel.com/
The drive that had windows on it, could be suffering from multiple problems. It could be : Having a spinup problem, Bad Sectors on the HDD, BAD Read/Write Heads...

 

[Rade155]

I tossed all 4 drives and will be buying a new one. Thanks for all the help and advice guys!

EDIT:
Looks like I am not done yet. All 4 drives disconnected only the brand new SSD with fresh Windows on it and just now I got a blue screen "UNEXPECTED_STORE_EXCEPTION".
I guess I can try updating my BIOS and SSD firmware...

EDIT2:
BIOS updated, Firmware was up to date according to Samsung Magician. I'll go from here, see if there are any more crashes...

 

[Rade155]

Yeah this blue screen still keeps happening with a message "CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED". It happened couple of times already. Tested CPU, brand new SSD, new HDD on the way. At this point all it can be is a MOBO right? Should I just buy a new MOBO and that should fix the problem?

 

[HankB]

Bad RAM? I'd run the memory test that comes with any Linux install/live CD image.

Bad connection in one of the cards? Have you tried reseating all cards? RAM? Does anyone ever reseat the processor?

Failing PSU? This may be the most common source of problems.

Deteriorating (swollen) caps on the MoBo?

I'd want to rule out as much as possible before buying a new MoBo.

 

[Rade155]

Ok this is not going to be as easy as I hoped. I don't want to just give up and take it to service. I guess I'll have to research how to check all those components individually and do the reseat on the whole system. But for now I know it's not the Hard Drives and it's not the CPU.

 

[trents]

Take all the RAM out but one stick and test each stick of RAM one stick at a time in each slot you use.

Windows has a built in memory tester. Type "Windows Memory Diagnostic" in the Search Window. It will restart the machine and commence the diagnostic. As I said, do this one stick at time for each slot you use.
Another tool you can use for this is Memtest86 that burns to a self-booting CD and runs from the optical drive outside of Windows.

You might also try a fresh SATA cable.

It sounds more and more to me like you might have failing motherboard.

 

[Rade155]

Update time! I ran a bunch of tests - SeaTools for Drives, Intel Processor Diagnostic Tool for CPU, Windows Memory Diagnostic and MemTest86 for RAM, and they all said everything is ok.

So then I reseated everything. No blown or leaking capacitors on MOBO. Cleaned all the dust (there was good amount on some parts). New thermal paste on CPU. Put in a brand new SATA cable. Connected back one of the drives (WD10EZEX) cause this issue is not drive related I would think. Left PC on overnight and it did not reset on it's own. So far working properly. I will follow up over the next week or so, hopefully it is fixed now.

 

[Rade155]

1 week update! Everything working fine now, no crashes since. So it had to do either with new SATA cable or it was dusting off and reaseating everything. Either way thanks to all of you for the help and advice!

 

[HankB]

Thanks for getting back to us. Glad to hear all is good.