Update; Re: Second hard drive disappearing. new pc

[Elflan]

Sharon F > wrote in messa
>
> I can understand waiting on the reader. I would concentrate on that
> drive for now. I doubt the USB stuff is getting in the way.
> Good luck,
> Sharon F
> MS MVP [Shell/User]

I'm updating my problems with the disappearing hard drive.
After trying one more time to swap ATA cables and playing around with
the "cylinder limiting jumper" on my Maxtor hard drive, I still was
dismayed that these efforts were not helping and my 2nd hard drive
would still disappear shortly after plugging in the SanDisk card
reader. Oh, at first XP would recognize the 2nd hard drive, then it
would recognize the Card Reader and I was even able to transfer about
12 gigs of files over to my Master hard drive,(not taking any
chances), but eventually, I would look at "my computer" and my 2nd
hard drive would be gone.

I went to Best Buy and bought a 19.00,($9.99 w/rebate) PNY CF Card
Reader and plugged it in and it's working just fine and no conflicts
and my 2nd Hard Drive is STILL THERE.
YAY!
AND THANKS TO SHARON F. for advice on just replacing my Sandisk
Imagemate Card Reader with a cheap replacement card reader.
I learned that I should try the simplest stuff first!
Thanks to all who helped.

I'm sorry the SanDisk reader won't work but I can use it on my laptop.

[Sharon F]

On 17 Jul 2003 14:05:34 -0700, (Elflan) wrote:

>Sharon F > wrote in messa
>>
>> I can understand waiting on the reader. I would concentrate on that
>> drive for now. I doubt the USB stuff is getting in the way.
>> Good luck,
>> Sharon F
>> MS MVP [Shell/User]
>
>I'm updating my problems with the disappearing hard drive.
>After trying one more time to swap ATA cables and playing around with
>the "cylinder limiting jumper" on my Maxtor hard drive, I still was
>dismayed that these efforts were not helping and my 2nd hard drive
>would still disappear shortly after plugging in the SanDisk card
>reader. Oh, at first XP would recognize the 2nd hard drive, then it
>would recognize the Card Reader and I was even able to transfer about
>12 gigs of files over to my Master hard drive,(not taking any
>chances), but eventually, I would look at "my computer" and my 2nd
>hard drive would be gone.
>
>I went to Best Buy and bought a 19.00,($9.99 w/rebate) PNY CF Card
>Reader and plugged it in and it's working just fine and no conflicts
>and my 2nd Hard Drive is STILL THERE.
>YAY!
>AND THANKS TO SHARON F. for advice on just replacing my Sandisk
>Imagemate Card Reader with a cheap replacement card reader.
>I learned that I should try the simplest stuff first!
>Thanks to all who helped.
>
>I'm sorry the SanDisk reader won't work but I can use it on my laptop.

Glad to hear you have the drive and reader problem sorted. I don't
normally recommend solutions that cost money as I like to avoid that as
much as the next person. I'm glad you found a different use for the
Sandisk reader.

Sharon F
MS MVP [Shell/User]

[Elflan]

Sharon F > wrote in message >...
> On 17 Jul 2003 14:05:34 -0700, (Elflan) wrote:
>
> >Sharon F > wrote in messa
> >>
> >> I can understand waiting on the reader. I would concentrate on that
> >> drive for now. I doubt the USB stuff is getting in the way.
> >> Good luck,
> >> Sharon F
> >> MS MVP [Shell/User]
> >
> >I'm updating my problems with the disappearing hard drive.
> >After trying one more time to swap ATA cables and playing around with
> >the "cylinder limiting jumper" on my Maxtor hard drive, I still was
> >dismayed that these efforts were not helping and my 2nd hard drive
> >would still disappear shortly after plugging in the SanDisk card
> >reader. Oh, at first XP would recognize the 2nd hard drive, then it
> >would recognize the Card Reader and I was even able to transfer about
> >12 gigs of files over to my Master hard drive,(not taking any
> >chances), but eventually, I would look at "my computer" and my 2nd
> >hard drive would be gone.
> >
> >I went to Best Buy and bought a 19.00,($9.99 w/rebate) PNY CF Card
> >Reader and plugged it in and it's working just fine and no conflicts
> >and my 2nd Hard Drive is STILL THERE.
> >YAY!
> >AND THANKS TO SHARON F. for advice on just replacing my Sandisk
> >Imagemate Card Reader with a cheap replacement card reader.
> >I learned that I should try the simplest stuff first!
> >Thanks to all who helped.
> >
> >I'm sorry the SanDisk reader won't work but I can use it on my laptop.
>
> Glad to hear you have the drive and reader problem sorted. I don't
> normally recommend solutions that cost money as I like to avoid that as
> much as the next person. I'm glad you found a different use for the
> Sandisk reader.
>
> Sharon F
> MS MVP [Shell/User]

Well Sharon, I'm still declaring victory but not the way I thought.
I'm a little chagrined as once again I seem to have spoken too soon.
The problem recurred,(dammit). I was so sure that this time I had
solved the problem.
This time my drive letters behaved themselves for the longest time
ever. Long enough for me to confidently believe I had resolved the
issue, but once again I saw my 2nd hard drive letter disappear.
I called MAXTOR Tech Support and talked to one of their tech guys.
They were helpful and friendly and that's always refreshing.
He suggested I try the very last thing which was to move the 2nd HD to
the Secondary Cable. I had to take my hard drives out and move my 2nd
hard drive closer to my CDRW so the ATA cable would reach both devices
and still reach the motherboard. I also had to lower my CDRW to the
expansion slot.
I made the 2nd HD the Secondary Master and the CDRW the Secondary
Slave,(moving the jumper).
It's been 3 days,(fingers still crossed), and my problem seems to be
solved.
I still "expect" that HD to be gone each time I open "my computer".
So maybe my advice after so much trial and error is, do not put both
hard drives on the same ribbon.
I don't regret having two card readers, btw. :)
best regards,
elflan

[Sharon F]

On 20 Jul 2003 07:33:25 -0700, (Elflan) wrote:

>Well Sharon, I'm still declaring victory but not the way I thought.
>I'm a little chagrined as once again I seem to have spoken too soon.
>The problem recurred,(dammit). I was so sure that this time I had
>solved the problem.
>This time my drive letters behaved themselves for the longest time
>ever. Long enough for me to confidently believe I had resolved the
>issue, but once again I saw my 2nd hard drive letter disappear.
>I called MAXTOR Tech Support and talked to one of their tech guys.
>They were helpful and friendly and that's always refreshing.
>He suggested I try the very last thing which was to move the 2nd HD to
>the Secondary Cable. I had to take my hard drives out and move my 2nd
>hard drive closer to my CDRW so the ATA cable would reach both devices
>and still reach the motherboard. I also had to lower my CDRW to the
>expansion slot.
>I made the 2nd HD the Secondary Master and the CDRW the Secondary
>Slave,(moving the jumper).
>It's been 3 days,(fingers still crossed), and my problem seems to be
>solved.
>I still "expect" that HD to be gone each time I open "my computer".
>So maybe my advice after so much trial and error is, do not put both
>hard drives on the same ribbon.
>I don't regret having two card readers, btw. :)
>best regards,
>elflan

While most times you can put two hard drives on a single cable, having
problems with that arrangement is not unheard of. Since you experienced
a short reprieve of the problem when switching to a different brand of
readers, it's very likely the Sandisk reader was compounding the drive
arrangement situation.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you too. Good luck!

Sharon F
MS MVP
[Windows XP - Shell/User]