HDD failure, help diagnosing.

[daveworm]

In all likelihood my HDD has failed, but I ran into some odd things.  The problem happened when I was alt tabbing from firefox (installed on SSD) into a program installed on my HDD, the screen froze and I powered down (probably a mistake, but I gave it 5 minutes and nothing).  I don't know if where the programs were installed matters but figured I'd mention it anyway.

When I rebooted, the system did not recognize my SSD, which has the windows install, so I rebooted and opened boot menu and surprisingly my SSD showed up, but the HDD didn't.  I ran a windows repair program and it said it found a fault but could not recognize what the fault was and could not fix it (I think, I honestly couldn't understand any of the info anyway..).  I have re-attached and visually checked the HDD cord at both the motherboard and the HDD itself, though I did not swap this cord to test on my SSD, so this cord could have an issue potentially.  The PSU wires are fine, as I tested my SSD on all slots and there were no issues.

I disconnected the HDD and my computer boots up in a matter of seconds, yet with the HDD connected it takes over 2 minutes, I assume the computer is perplexed and checking things during this time. 

I recently swapped my PSU, about 3 weeks ago.  I am wondering a few things.

Could the PSU swap have caused an issue?  is it at all likely that the cord from mobo to HDD is faulty?  Why did the SSD not get recognized on the first reboot, does this offer any insight?  What could the start up delay mean, if anything?

I am not looking for solid answers, I am just looking to hear opinions because I understand none of you are here to look at things directly.  If there is anything else you guys would like to know, I will find that info for you.  Thanks for reading .

[Geek-9pm]

No solid answer will be given.
First, the make and model of the motherboard, please.
Why did you replace the PSU?  Did it really fail?
Can you verify the old PSU was weak?
Make and model of your SSD? How old is it? Did you do the configuration.

Wild guess. Your graphics card is pulling  too much power and the SDD does not work right because of weak power. Yeah, wild guess.  What I mean to say is that something else could make the SSD fumble.

Some things to try Go back to using the built-in video and remove the graphics card. Also, disconnect the DVD drive. And remove  one stick of RAM. Many boards  can run on a single stick. And swap sticks too.

How old is the SSD?

One more wild idea. Install the OS twice.
First on the HDD by itself.
Second on the SSD.
The install should create a dual boot menu.
Now you can select which OS to test.
The above dis a way to isolate the a problem with the SSD.

[daveworm]

The motherboard is hidden, but it is a dell XPS studio computer.
I replaced the PSU when I replaced the video card, upping the wattage.  I have the old working PSU right now, and I had considered putting it back in for testing but I realizeed that isnt necessary.  The old PSU ran the current video card, but I replaced it anyway just to avoid the risk as it was under the recommended wattage.

I may have misguided you in my post, however, because the SSD is working fine, it is the HDD that doesn't work. Regardless, the SSD is a CT128M4SSD2 from a few years ago.

I will consider removing the CD/DVD drive, as I have never used it once anyway, just to do some more testing.  As an aside, is it alright to simply disconnect the wires at the device end, or is it important to disconnect them from the MOBO as well?

[Geek-9pm]

Disconnect power and data cables from the DVD drive.
The cables can remain connected no the motherboard.
Of course, you must work with the power cord disconnected from the main on the wall. Otherwise you run the risk of the thing starting up while you are working inside the box.

Did you say the computer would not boot and the OS was on the SDD?
Does your system boot up with the SSD omly?

The BIOS should boot either device even if the cables are swapped. Wait, not knowing what motherboard you have I an guessing.

Recommendation: Get a free download of EVEREST Home Edition from the
soft32 web site.
Here is the link:
http://everest.soft32.com/free-download/

That will help identify what kind of computer you have. It may even find the number of the motherboard. Also, it will give the BIOS name and version and date.
BTW: Don't buy anything or download anything else.
Just get the Everest Free Edition.

[camerongray]

What make/model and wattage of power supply did you install?

[Lisa_maree]

Hi

Your 2nd drive has a problem and you have 2 options. Either diagnose the problem and try and fix it or just replace the drive.
If you want to diagnose the drive you should make a backup first as hard drives seem to fail quickly once the early signs are there.
There are lots of disk backup programs, I use Paragon home backup free or Easues partition manager.   
Once you have a complete backup then you can run the manufactures diagnostics to find what is wrong with the drive.
The above programs will also transfer the old drive to the new one if you decide to replace it.

[daveworm]

Hello, back with an update.  I used a PSU calculator and my rig came up to about 400 watts (not sure of motherboard though..), my PSU is rated for 520.  The HDD works, but having it recognized on boot up can be an issue.  I think the problem may be with the connectors because I ran into issues getting my SSD recognized on certain wiring configs.

EVEREST can not recognize my mobo or bios.  The new PSU (currently not even using as I am testing) is a Dynex dx520wps.

Currently I only have my SSD and video card plugged in to the computer, and aside from all the bull I have to deal with missing links to my HDD the computer seems to be working as normal.  I may just forget about the HDD and give it to a friend to avoid the hassle as my SSD should be enough to cover my purposes.