Computer forgets 2nd HDD

[Mici]

Seems random when it happens, and a few restarts normally fixes it, but as of late its giving me a delayed write failed error and crashing alot of programs.
I think the HDD is dieing and maybe it should be replaced, or maybe just the cable.
Edit: by forget I mean it will not show in explorer and I can not access anything on it.

Real question here is are there any programs I can use to test the HDD or cable to see which one needs to be replaced? Did not see anything in the free apps list. The HDD in question was made Jun of 01
Thanks in advance.

[Cephius]

The drive is probably dying. Do you hear any clicking noises from it, or does it sound like it's struggling to spin up?

Try the disk's manufacturer website, I know western digital has their own disk testing utility. If not, try this or this (HDD health at bottom of page).

[Mici]

Makes some clicking sound but very feint, I have to sick my ear to it to hear them.
As for the testing program I used the first
The block scan came back with 0 bad
The SMART info had
Raw read error rate : Value100 Rawvalue0 worst253 Threshhold6 Status100%

Spin up time : Value98 Rawvalue0 worst97 Threshhold6 98%

Reallocated sector rate : Value100 Rawvalue0 worst253 Threshhold6 Status100%

Seek errror rate : Value100 Rawvalue0 worst100 Threshhold36 Status79%

Spin up rety count : Value75 Rawvalue0 worst60 Threshhold30 Status100%

UDMA CRE error rate : Value100 Rawvalue0 worst100 Threshhold97 Status100%

Total health status listed at 79%

I have no idea what any of this means lol, and the site has nothing to explain it. From what I see it looks fine.
Only other this is Temperature is 111F, that seems a bit high

Thanks again for any info!

[Gippo]

basically it means everything has passed except the seek value, however, imo, it really doesnt matter that 5 other tests pass.

delayed write failure means the pc cannot access the sectors on the hd its trying to write to, i predict mechanical failure within 3 months. back that data up and replace it before its too late.

dont do like a customer of mine did and ignore it then QQ when it fails.

[Reality]

not to derail, but any particular reason why a raid 0 array i have setup occasionally says the disk is write protected and i can't delete/add files to the volume? the way i've been fixing it is opening a command prompt and /chkdsk g: /f and then the volume is fine

[Maiev]

not to derail, but any particular reason why a raid 0 array i have setup occasionally says the disk is write protected and i can't delete/add files to the volume? the way i've been fixing it is opening a command prompt and /chkdsk g: /f and then the volume is fine

I had that problem back then (with my mylex raid 0), a driver update corrected it. I know some are on-board raid and works without driver, but in my case installing the 3rd party driver from the developer helped. Have you tried that?

To the OP. Yea that's a failing drive. If your "2nd HDD" happens to be an external hard drive, then a write delay could also mean your hard-drive is not receiving enough power to operate normally. In that case, try plugging into another USB port since some USB port are not fully 5v powered.

[Spekkio]

if you think the drive is failing, replace it now. the minute you think you're in the clear is the minute your drive will fail with your only copy of your term paper due in 6 hrs.

[Evelyn]

definitly second the replace now opinion. lost my storage hdd with about 30 GB of music on it that I didn't bother to backup. Now I'm pulling all the music off my iPod and manually changing all the song titles, because Apple is retarded like that. 40 folders x 20 songs per folder = lots of fucking filename changes.

[Mici]

Ok well I seem to have gotten things backwards on the HDD's
The new one, from 07, is the one that is being forgotten.
So the new question I have is, if the OS on the old HDD is fucking up, could that be what is causing the errors? The errors being, not being able to access the 2nd HDD and write errors.