Hard drives wiped on their own?

Thorn92 · 12-02-2007, 07:06 PM

Hello, this is my first post here, so i'll try to be as clear as possible. One of my desktops is running XP pro...two maxtor 300 GB EIDE drives running in RAID. About two months ago my system would not boot. I tried to use the repair console but it wouldn't detect any hard drives. A friend said it was as if everything was just lost and the hard drives were not even formatted? I had to start from scratch again a load the OS and so forth. Today, the same thing happened out of the blue. Has anyone experienced this before? Could one of my hard drives be going bad? Any ideas?? Thanks!

MatrixEVO · 12-02-2007, 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thorn92

Hello, this is my first post here, so i'll try to be as clear as possible. One of my desktops is running XP pro...two maxtor 300 GB EIDE drives running in RAID. About two months ago my system would not boot. I tried to use the repair console but it wouldn't detect any hard drives. A friend said it was as if everything was just lost and the hard drives were not even formatted? I had to start from scratch again a load the OS and so forth. Today, the same thing happened out of the blue. Has anyone experienced this before? Could one of my hard drives be going bad? Any ideas?? Thanks!

It could be your motherboard using RAID. The drivers may be buggy. I suggest updating the RAID drivers, or not using RAID at all.

Thorn92 · 12-02-2007, 07:51 PM

Thanks for the response. I was hoping the hardware wasn't defective. I'm going to install Visat now ...not in RAID though. Hopefully, that will solve the problem. If not, who knows. Thanks again.

paratwa · 12-02-2007, 08:00 PM

Ahh, the joys of RAID.

When certain types of raid arrays go down, it can wipe things out across multiple drives. If for instance your raid controller or driver goes bad, you have lost all your info on all drives.

There are different types of Raid that you might consider for important data. That way if one drive goes down, everything is backed up on the other drive and is still readable.

Unless you need to keep certain data safe, I don't see a need for a raid array. You don't see that much of a speed difference by using a raid setup for gaming, at least nothing worth the cost of a duplicate drive.

I would rather use a WD raptor 10,000 rpm HDD for gaming and the OS. And a seperate drive for data and such. But that's just me, others see things completely different.

Thorn92 · 12-02-2007, 10:53 PM

Well, I just finished installing VISTA not in RAID this time. On second reboot, the same thing happened? It was wiped clean, so it appears. This time it wouldn't even recognize the drives. Possibly a bad hard drive???

paratwa · 12-02-2007, 11:12 PM

Do you have another system you can put your hard drive into just to see if there is any data on it?

I am thinking its your IDE controller. If you can see that hard drive in a different system, then that's what it could be. But if you do not see it, then yeah it's probably the HDD.

Have you tried installing windows on your other HDD yet?

shenry · 12-04-2007, 10:26 AM

Just a random guess but you wouldn't happen to have any magnets near the drive? I can never remember whether magnets are bad for floppys or hard drives.Its plugged in properly, nothing loose? Thats all I can think of.

PohTayToez · 12-04-2007, 02:43 PM

When the hard drive is not recognized, is it still spinning up? Making any unusual noises?

brycematheson712 · 12-04-2007, 02:52 PM

What about ESD? Have you been messing around inside of your case a lot recently without Electro-static discharge protection? Even if you don't notice or feel a shock the machine could have been badly damaged.

Just touch the power supply every so often to equalize yourself with the electric charge of the computer case.

12-02-2007, 07:06 PM	#1 (permalink)
Thorn92 New Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 5	Hard drives wiped on their own? Hello, this is my first post here, so i'll try to be as clear as possible. One of my desktops is running XP pro...two maxtor 300 GB EIDE drives running in RAID. About two months ago my system would not boot. I tried to use the repair console but it wouldn't detect any hard drives. A friend said it was as if everything was just lost and the hard drives were not even formatted? I had to start from scratch again a load the OS and so forth. Today, the same thing happened out of the blue. Has anyone experienced this before? Could one of my hard drives be going bad? Any ideas?? Thanks!

12-04-2007, 02:43 PM	#8 (permalink)
PohTayToez Diamond Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Illinois Age: 19 Posts: 2,592	When the hard drive is not recognized, is it still spinning up? Making any unusual noises? __________________ Desktop / Laptop ASUS A8N-E / Compaq Presario v6420us AMD Athlon 3200+ @ 2.50Ghz / AMD Athlon X2 TK-53 @ 1.70Ghz MSI GeForce 7800GT / GeForce Go 6150 2 x 512MB DDR / 2 x 1GB DDR2 250GB SATA II / 80GB 5400RPM SATA 2 x DVD Burner / 8X DVD±R/RW

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12-02-2007, 07:51 PM	#3 (permalink)
Thorn92 New Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 5	Thanks for the response. I was hoping the hardware wasn't defective. I'm going to install Visat now ...not in RAID though. Hopefully, that will solve the problem. If not, who knows. Thanks again.

12-02-2007, 08:00 PM	#4 (permalink)
paratwa Diamond Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Arizona Posts: 1,969	Ahh, the joys of RAID. When certain types of raid arrays go down, it can wipe things out across multiple drives. If for instance your raid controller or driver goes bad, you have lost all your info on all drives. There are different types of Raid that you might consider for important data. That way if one drive goes down, everything is backed up on the other drive and is still readable. Unless you need to keep certain data safe, I don't see a need for a raid array. You don't see that much of a speed difference by using a raid setup for gaming, at least nothing worth the cost of a duplicate drive. I would rather use a WD raptor 10,000 rpm HDD for gaming and the OS. And a seperate drive for data and such. But that's just me, others see things completely different.

12-02-2007, 10:53 PM	#5 (permalink)
Thorn92 New Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 5	Well, I just finished installing VISTA not in RAID this time. On second reboot, the same thing happened? It was wiped clean, so it appears. This time it wouldn't even recognize the drives. Possibly a bad hard drive???

12-02-2007, 11:12 PM	#6 (permalink)
paratwa Diamond Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Arizona Posts: 1,969	Do you have another system you can put your hard drive into just to see if there is any data on it? I am thinking its your IDE controller. If you can see that hard drive in a different system, then that's what it could be. But if you do not see it, then yeah it's probably the HDD. Have you tried installing windows on your other HDD yet?

12-04-2007, 02:52 PM	#9 (permalink)
brycematheson712 Silver Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: C:\Windows\System32\ Posts: 203	What about ESD? Have you been messing around inside of your case a lot recently without Electro-static discharge protection? Even if you don't notice or feel a shock the machine could have been badly damaged. Just touch the power supply every so often to equalize yourself with the electric charge of the computer case.