re: My hard drive disk disappeared!
Sunday, July 19, 2009 at 6:20 pm
Windows XP Annoyances Discussion Forum
Posted by C K
(6910 messages posted)
The problem with running programs in safe mode is that the system is doing a lot
more work due to the generic legacy drivers that are loaded in safe mode. The hardware
can't run in it's fastest and most efficient mode. Freezing and then losing the
drive is indicative of a hardware issue. It could be a corruption issue or since
the drive is working a lot harder, it could have exposed a weak or failing drive
since it will be running hotter with more head activity.
Either way, you need to find out the manufacturer of the drive and see if there is
a diagnostics program available for it. OEM only manufacturers like Fugitsu do not.
They are covered by the big computer manufacturers diagnostics checks. Seagate
will have one that covers their drives as well as Maxtor drives. Western D will
have one for theirs, and Hitachi will have one that check their drives. No one manufactures
utility will check the others drives effectively no matter what anyone tells you
and some not at all.
If you have been around the forum long enough, then you know that when it comes to
hardware and especially HDD's, it is a matter of "when" not "if", and many times
there is no warning. I've been there and see it a lot. Check the device manager.
If it isn't there, then most likely, the HDD has or is failing or at the very least
corrupted. Just because the drive is seen in the BIOS, doesn't mean that part of
it hasn't failed so don't count on that..
I assume this drive is an additional physical drive seperate from the one Windows
is installed on? If it is a logical drive on the same physical drive, then you could
have physical damage, but most likely corruption.
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