2nd Hard drive... where are you?

[blackjk143]

I have a 2 month old desktop with 80gig, and 30 gig hard disk.  On the primary IDE I have the 80 gig, and a CD-RW connected.  On the secondary IDE I have the 30 gig hard disk by itself set as master.  I've been using this configuration for the past 2 months,  then suddenly this morning, my system could not detect my smaller hard drive.  I switched cables and ide channels but the bios still could not detect my hard disk.  

The 30 gig is around four years old.  My system suddenly cannot detect this hard drive but it detects my bigger hard drive.  By the way, my bios is set on auto.

Can anyone help???  If it is a hardware issue, how can I recover the files that is in my problem hard drive, when it cannot be detected by my system?  

I appreciate any suggestions...

[merlin_2]

change the 30gig to slave drive..

[MalikTous]

Is the 30GB detecting in BIOS?

if not, try reconfiguring:

First see if the secondary controller will see the CDROM drive alone, set as either Master or Slave. If it does, your IDE channel is probably OK.

Next, see if the 30GB will recognise as slave to the 80GB. If so, run it like that, the CDROM should never be on the primary channel anyway...

If the 30GB balks at recognising in BIOS (either channel) but the CDROM works on second channel, try removing the 30GB drive and tapping it sideways against your hand, not too roughly, to unjam the platters and/or head servo. If it runs now, copy everything off it or remount it upside down to prevent further damage to worn bearing surfaces.

BTW, configuring so your CDROM is not on the primary channel with your boot HD should speed the HD response significantly.