PC disks

[Djogos]

Hi, there.

My PC ( Windows 7 ) has two disks, ( C: ) and ( D: ) with the partitions D: , E: , and F:
But sometimes the partitions D: E: and F: disappear ( their icons ) and I must restart Windows
to access them again.

Why this? What can I do?

Thanks for your help.

[Baldrick]

Portable HDD/disk?

[Djogos]

No.They are internal disks.

[Cauptain]

Probably the power suplly is gone.




Claudio

[jan5678]

Could be a faulty sata cable.
Replace it with a known to be good cable and test if it happens again, if not the cable was the problem.

[jagabo]

The very fist thing you should do is back up everything on the drive that you don't want to lose.

[cornemuse]

On my 'new to me' Toshiba 505, one partition is toshiba recovery, the second partition is empty, dont know why its there.
They only show up in 'computer management -> disk management' on mine.

-c-

[SameSelf]

Hi, there.

My PC ( Windows 7 ) has two disks, ( C: ) and ( D: ) with the partitions D: , E: , and F:
But sometimes the partitions D: E: and F: disappear ( their icons ) and I must restart Windows
to access them again.

Why this? What can I do?

Thanks for your help.

Ooh, ooh. Multiple partitions on modern drives? That is really a no-no these days.

[Cornucopia]

No no? Maybe for user data organization. Quite common & expected, however, for recovery/safeboot options.

Scott

[SameSelf]

No no? Maybe for user data organization. Quite common & expected, however, for recovery/safeboot options.

Scott

Recovery partitions are usually hidden from the user. Given that he can see those partitions tells me he is using them for organizing his files. Again, I repeat without going into the technical reasons, using partitions to organize files is a no-no on modern drives. Partitions are a thing of the past when hard drives were small, and you only had a couple of IDE connectors.

[Cornucopia]

Meh. Maybe not recommended, but if a user wants it that way, it's not necessarily going to hurt their setup.
Plus, partitioning is still useful for getting the most speed efficiency from HDDs, large or small, old or new.

But I don't think these are how the user is setting up the disks.

Regardless, whether many partitions or few or one, if it is intermittently disappearing, that is a fundamental problem (usually of the physical/electrical sort) that needs to be addressed first, rather than dwell on organizational strategies.

Back up all your valuable data to external media (hdd, optical discs, cloud, etc), and then see if reseating/reconnecting and (for PATA) resetting for proper master/slave configuration will do the trick. Maybe you will have to do a full wipe & reinstall, maybe not.

Scott

[SameSelf]

You yourself once told me:

Ask yourself: would the pros do that? and if so why? and if not, why not?

[KarMa]

You yourself once told me:

Ask yourself: would the pros do that? and if so why? and if not, why not?

When I first got my 4TB HDD (3rd in the case), the very first thing I did was create a 250GB partition. This partition in effect reserves the fastest part of the drive, the outer part. So I can record record high bitrate content to this partition. Leaving the rest of the drive for long term data storage which rarely gets touched.

This is my attempt at a cheap alternative to a SDD.

[SameSelf]

You yourself once told me:

Ask yourself: would the pros do that? and if so why? and if not, why not?

When I first got my 4TB HDD (3rd in the case), the very first thing I did was create a 250GB partition. This partition in effect reserves the fastest part of the drive, the outer part. So I can record record high bitrate content to this partition. Leaving the rest of the drive for long term data storage which rarely gets touched.

This is my attempt at a cheap alternative to a SDD.

CrstyalDiskMark scores please

[usually_quiet]

Again, I repeat without going into the technical reasons, using partitions to organize files is a no-no on modern drives. Partitions are a thing of the past when hard drives were small, and you only had a couple of IDE connectors.

Of course you won't go into the technical reasons, because aren't any compelling technical reasons why someone should not partition a regular mechanical hard drive that is not in a RAID configuration to better organize their files.

When there is just one ordinary hard drive (as is usually the case in an inexpensive consumer laptop), partitioning it into a data section and an OS section is still an accepted practice for making backups easier.

[jan5678]

Nice talking but will this solve the problem posted?

Eliminate the problem by swapping parts like cables en try the disk in another pc.
Then you know where the problem lies an you can deal with it accordingly.

But like jagabo already mentioned back up the drive while it is still accesable

[usually_quiet]

Nice talking but will this solve the problem posted?

This is what typically happens when the OP does not stay involved in his thread.

Eliminate the problem by swapping parts like cables en try the disk in another pc.
Then you know where the problem lies an you can deal with it accordingly.

But like jagabo already mentioned back up the drive while it is still accesable

If there is no indication that the OP has missed something, repeating advice that has already been given isn't particularly helpful either.

[SameSelf]

When there is just one ordinary hard drive (as is usually the case in an inexpensive consumer laptop)

The OP has a W7 PC with multiple drives

[usually_quiet]

When there is just one ordinary hard drive (as is usually the case in an inexpensive consumer laptop)

The OP has a W7 PC with multiple drives

Those are still not compelling reasons in and of themselves for avoiding partitions, let alone an explanation as to how partitions are causing the problems described. We are waiting for an explanation as to how partitions caused the OP's problems.

[jan5678]

@usually_quiet
Fair enough, you're right

[SameSelf]

Those are still not compelling reasons in and of themselves for avoiding partitions, let alone an explanation as to how partitions are causing the problems described.

You are the master of strawman arguments.

[usually_quiet]

Those are still not compelling reasons in and of themselves for avoiding partitions, let alone an explanation as to how partitions are causing the problems described.

You are the master of strawman arguments.

We are trying to solve a problem here. I merely ask for an explanation as to how merely making multiple partitions on a hard drive would cause the problem the OP was experiencing, and all I get is an ad hominem attack. Perhaps I was mistaken in assuming that you were trying to help the OP, and not screwing up another thread for your own amusement.

Personally, I would make sure the data on the problem physical drive was backed up, and check the data and power connections, but others already suggested taking those steps.

[Cornucopia]

You yourself once told me:

Ask yourself: would the pros do that? and if so why? and if not, why not?

Yes, but I've told you much more that you've chosen to ignore, so why this? Could it be, you can spin it to support your argument?

As a media+IT professional, I'm saying: "there's no problem with partitions if done properly"
I already gave a few examples of why PROs might do partitioning, even today. But pros also have different priorities and constraints than consumers.
We don't know the circumstances of the OP's choice of partitions, so don't assume.

Again: this does not sound like a partitioning issue. I think it would make the most sense to solve a CURRENT ACUTE PROBLEM rather than proselytize about possible failings from best practices.

Scott