[Majin]

Ok i went through the process and added a slave drive YAY! it works great to a extent. The problem is the drive is good to go and after a while (couple Hours) it disappears. Its not in my computer or accessable through any of the windows folders. However when i restart it is there for a while and repeats the process i listed above. HELP! lol any help would be more than appreciated. And as always thank you for your time to help me out with my questions.

~Matthew

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Hmmmm... interesting!

Do you lose the hard drive while you're actively using the computer, or after it goes to standby/hibernate?

[makai]

Hmmmm... interesting!

Do you lose the hard drive while you're actively using the computer, or after it goes to standby/hibernate?

[Majin]

Ill be honest i have standyby/hibernate turned off, but most of the time it kicks it when i am right there on the computer.

[Kemasa]

You might want to check the jumpers on the drive to ensure that it is not set to power down when it is not in use. Do you know the make and model of the drive?

[Majin]

You might want to check the jumpers on the drive to ensure that it is not set to power down when it is not in use. Do you know the make and model of the drive?

Not quite sure how to check, and it is a fujitsu limited model number MPG3409AT -HP

Any helpo would be appreciated

[makai]

You might want to check the jumpers on the drive to ensure that it is not set to power down when it is not in use. Do you know the make and model of the drive?

Actually, I also don't know what he means by this. We might have to wait for Kemasa for his explanation.

In the meantime, it would be a good idea to check the jumper settings on the drive. You did set the jumpers, right? I'm going guess you did... but HERE is the jumper diagrams of your drive model just in case.

Also, when the drive disappears, does it show up in Disk Management? You get to Disk Management by going to Start>right click on My Computer>Manage>Disk management

Edited by makai, 22 December 2005 - 07:58 PM.

[Majin]

Yes it looks like according to the diagram i am set up correctly on both the master and slave drives. As far as the jumpers are concerned at least. And no it doesnt show in disk manager once it disappears.

[makai]

Are both drives running under the same file format... both NTFS or both Fat32? Sorry, I have to think this out slowly as this is a very strange problem! If they are different, you might try formatting the slave drive to whatever the master drive is.

You could also have a bad IDE cable. Do you have a spare one you can swap in?

By the way, are your drives jumpered master and slave... or are they on cable select? If cable select, change the jumpers to master and slave.

Edited by makai, 22 December 2005 - 09:12 PM.

[Majin]

Both are NTFS, delegated as one master and one slave. As far as another jumper, im afraid not. Should i pick one up and swop it out and see?

[makai]

Well, short of buying one, you could take the IDE cable from your CDRom drives and use that. Of course the CDRoms will be out during the test, but at least you could test before buying.

On a side note, I have an early day tomorrow, so I'll be leaving the forum for the night. I'll be back later to check the thread. I hope I read good news!

One more thing before I go... I have read that perhaps you could change the drive letter of the slave drive using Disk Management. Try changing it to a drive letter like X or something way out there. Restart the computer, and check to see if the drive letter stayed at X. If it did, then change it back to what it's was before you changed it to X and restart your computer again. Give this a try before you swap the cables... it might save you some effort.

Ok... Goodnight!

[Kemasa]

Some drives have the ability to power down when not in use, but it appears that this drive does not. I would check the BIOS setting to ensure that the power settings are not set to power down the disk. Also make sure that SMART is turned on.

You might also try downloading the diagnostics program as well as checking to make sure that the firmware is up to date:

http://www.fcpa.fuji..._utilities.html

[Majin]

this may sound dumb but
a: what is the best way to check in bios?
b: what is smart?

[Kemasa]

When the machines starts, press the correct key to enter the setup/BIOS. On many machine it is the "DEL" key. But it can be different on different machines.

Go through the settings and see what is there. Check specifically the power settings/power saving options. Also check the settings on the disks.

SMART - Self Monitoring Analysis & Reporting Technology.