HD failure imminent?

[Ablang-Duff]

I'm still using my old P-133. It has 3 HDs (all WDs): 6.4GB, 2.1GB, and a
850MB (all internal IDEs). The smallest HD shows up about 75% of the time upon
bootup. So about 25% of the time it is not detected.

Does this mean HD failure is imminent?
--
View the countdown for when Hilary Duff turns 18 (I know you're waiting for
it):
http://www.timeanddate.com/counters/customcounter.html?day=28&month=09&yea
r=2005&hour=00&m

The next T-shirt slogan (seriously): "Is it chicken or is it tuna?"

 

[Arno Wagner]

I'm still using my old P-133. It has 3 HDs (all WDs): 6.4GB, 2.1GB, and a
850MB (all internal IDEs). The smallest HD shows up about 75% of the time upon
bootup. So about 25% of the time it is not detected.

Does this mean HD failure is imminent?

Not necessarily. It could, e.g., also be a failing power supply
and the smalles Disk is just the most sensitive. Hdds will monitor
voltage levels and refuse to start if they do not become stable
fast enough. It could also be that the HDD has a problem.

Arno

 

[Rod Speed]

I'm still using my old P-133.

I've reported you to the RSPCPPODBSW

It has 3 HDs (all WDs): 6.4GB, 2.1GB, and
a 850MB (all internal IDEs). The smallest HD
shows up about 75% of the time upon bootup.
So about 25% of the time it is not detected.

What happens if it isnt seen, and you do a
red button reboot ? Is it usually seen then ?

Does this mean HD failure is imminent?

Thats just one possibility. The drive may be taking a bit
longer to spin up than the other drives, and the dinosaur
doesnt wait very long when checking for what drives are
visible. Some of those older dinosaurs dont wait very
long for the drives to spin up in default config. Thats
the reason for the question about the red button
reboot, in that situation the drive is sure to be spun up.

It can be a weak power supply too. Some of those
old dinosaurs can have rather puny power supplys.

It can also be something as basic as the power
connector used on that drive. The metal tunnels
the pins go into can open up over time and not
make very reliable contact. The quick check for
this particular possibility is to swap the power
connectors between a couple of the drives and
see if a different drive isnt visible all the time.

It can also be a flaky ribbon cable too.
The easy check for that is to swap the ribbon
cables and see if the symptoms change.

It can be a dying drive too, the bearing friction
has increased so it takes longer to spin up and
the motherboard bios gives up before its spun
up. The red button reboot will check this one too.