hard drive recycles ?

[sixpack]

My second hard drive started what sounds like its shutting down and
restarting and it does it over and over again, its a click and the sound of
the disk spinning over and over. Nothing shows up on screen and not sure
where or what to check. I unplugged the second drive and the problem goes
away so I'm sure that the problem drive.

Any Ideas ?

Thanks

 

[Paul]

My second hard drive started what sounds like its shutting down and
restarting and it does it over and over again, its a click and the sound of
the disk spinning over and over. Nothing shows up on screen and not sure
where or what to check. I unplugged the second drive and the problem goes
away so I'm sure that the problem drive.

Any Ideas ?

Thanks

It could be a power problem. A bad power cable (burned pins on the Molex)
is one way. Having too many loads on a length of cable from the power
supply, is another way (I got the spin down/spin up when I had my video card
and a hard drive, on the same power cable.) A bad power supply is another
possibility (+5V or +12V, on the low side, will trigger HD restarts).

It could also be a defect in the disk itself, such as an inability to get
key information below track 0. The drive has some information, such as
the spares tables and the like, which are stored on the platters (in a
non-user area). An inability to access those areas, could cause the drive
to repeatedly restart. It is unfortunate that disks won't respond, unless
they are a little bit functional, because if the drive did respond at all
times, it could be telling you right now, what it is having trouble with.
But they don't design IDE disks that way.

To eliminate power as an issue, try the disk on another computer. Or, if
you don't have another computer, a less useful test case is using a USB
enclosure with the drive, if you have one. I'd prefer though, to connect
the disk to an internal cable on the second computer, as more diagnostic
programs may work with an internal hookup. If it stops the spin down/spin up
thing, you can download a disk diagnostic program from the disk manufacturer's
web site. Not all manufacturers provide software, but some do.

Paul

 

[choro]

My second hard drive started what sounds like its shutting down and
restarting and it does it over and over again, its a click and the
sound of the disk spinning over and over. Nothing shows up on screen
and not sure where or what to check. I unplugged the second drive and
the problem goes away so I'm sure that the problem drive.

Any Ideas ?

It goes into automatic power saving mode, does it? ;-)

Get another one and let it gracefully retire before it does on you!

We have a fable which goes...
The joker thought he could teach his donkey to survive on less fodder and
kept reducing the animal's fodder until one day the animal just went legs
up. "Oh, no" said the joker, "don't die on me now that I have nearly taught
you how to live on nothing!"

 

[Jim]

My second hard drive started what sounds like its shutting down and
restarting and it does it over and over again, its a click and the sound of
the disk spinning over and over. Nothing shows up on screen and not sure
where or what to check. I unplugged the second drive and the problem goes
away so I'm sure that the problem drive.

Any Ideas ?

Thanks

Could be on its way out .

 

[Ben Myers]

My second hard drive started what sounds like its shutting down and
restarting and it does it over and over again, its a click and the sound of
the disk spinning over and over. Nothing shows up on screen and not sure
where or what to check. I unplugged the second drive and the problem goes
away so I'm sure that the problem drive.
Any Ideas ?

Click "Start", "Control Panel", double-click "Power Options" and on the
"Power Schemes" tab, make sure "Turn off hard disks" is set to "Never". If
it
isn't, change it and click "OK".

Ben

 

[sixpack]

OK, I removed the drive and put it in a USB external encloser, so far after
many hours of being on last nite and today it has not started its crap. The
only thing on that power line was my main drive and a floppy drive that was
not in use so should not have used any power. Would haveing 2 hard drives on
one power line be a problem ? It will take some moving stuff around to put it

 

[sixpack]

And now I put a old 40G drive where the problem drive was and after 2
days...no problem ! WEIRD !