Win 10 PC: no disk found on reboot...sometimes

[DokkenVersusChicken]

I have an i7 PC running BI. It sits in a closet unattended and I remote into it periodically for updates, etc.

Yesterday I restarted it to install windows updates. It never started back up, so I went to check on it. It was stuck on the BIOS screen with a 'no disk found' or 'no device detected' message. I opened the case, unplugged/replugged the SATA drive connector, and it boots up. This is not the first time this has happened, but it is intermittent.

Is this likely a sign of a HDD problem? Or other ideas?

 

[w1zofaz]

I would be making a disk image and start with regular total backups just in case.

 

[Zorac]

had that happen to me twice before, in both cases, the hard drive was starting to fail. i would back up anything important asap if you haven't already.

 

[jasauders]

Whenever that happens I boot into an Ubuntu LiveUSB flash drive. This launches the computer to boot into a Linux environment. From there I open up the applications dash and type in "Disks". The disk utility will show up. If you highlight your drive it'll read the SMART data on your HDD. You can even do short or extended tests on the drive to help determine if it's on its way out.

Once done you can shut down (gear, upper right corner). This will at least give you a non-intrusive way to help identify if that hard drive is fried/on its way out.

Other alternatives would be yanking the drive and hooking it in to another computer (via adapter may be necessary) and running tools from the working system. If you determine it's bad, there's things you can do to try and recover it, but it's not always guaranteed as it depends on the condition of the drive. Sometimes you can salvage them, other times not so much.

Your BIOS may also have a hardware test function to see if the hard drive is bad, but I've had them come back "clean" before when the system was clearly exhibiting issues and the Disk Utility mentioned above confirmed that the HDD was toast.
(in short, I don't trust the BIOS scanners when it comes to identifying bad hard drives, but if it's there perhaps it's worth trying)

Good luck!

 

[pozzello]

dokken, how old is your PC/drive? I had a similar thing happen to my win 10 Dell PC last week. it was stuck at the Dell splash screen with the windows boot loader "Please wait, i'm doing something" thingee spinning away forever. I ran all the Dell disk tests and they found no problem. I tried doing a windows revert (to previous snapshot from a few days before) and it failed. I ended up re-installing windows
and losing all my apps (kept files tho,) so had to re-install BI from scratch with 12 cams. thought I had previously exported the config, but couldn't find it again to re-import. P.I.T.A

This was a brand new system in November, and pretty much runs nothing but BI. I understand BI can be hard on drives, but could it kill a new drive in 6 months?

I also had BI accessible on a port thru my router/firewall. So maybe something got in and nuked me? VPN from now on...

 

[Zorac]

This was a brand new system in November, and pretty much runs nothing but BI. I understand BI can be hard on drives, but could it kill a new drive in 6 months?

Yes. I was getting roughly 10 months out of seagate 3tb consumer drives wtih 24/7 recording (gave up after 2 of them). Went with a better hard drive and I'm over a year now and still going! (WD Reds)

 

[jasauders]

dokken, how old is your PC/drive? I had a similar thing happen to my win 10 Dell PC last week. it was stuck at the Dell splash screen with the windows boot loader "Please wait, i'm doing something" thingee spinning away forever. I ran all the Dell disk tests and they found no problem. I tried doing a windows revert (to previous snapshot from a few days before) and it failed. I ended up re-installing windows
and losing all my apps (kept files tho,) so had to re-install BI from scratch with 12 cams. thought I had previously exported the config, but couldn't find it again to re-import. P.I.T.A

This was a brand new system in November, and pretty much runs nothing but BI. I understand BI can be hard on drives, but could it kill a new drive in 6 months?

I also had BI accessible on a port thru my router/firewall. So maybe something got in and nuked me? VPN from now on...

I'd be very skeptical of the accessible port being the reason that your hard drive tanked. Hard drives used in CCTV applications, by nature alone, tend to see a higher load of activity than any other computer. They are literally writing around the clock in some capacity, whereas a drive in a desktop computer sees far less with your average amount of use.

Hard drives have moving parts. They can die at any time. The different brands may factor in as well since some are more reliable than others. I've had brand new drives pop just a few weeks after unboxing them. Then again I've had other drives last yeeeears. A massive HDD study not too long ago suggested that the most likely time for drives to fail is when they are very young or very old. The in between area is the sweet spot.

I don't know if it matters, but I've been focusing on WD Purples for my CCTV setup. It sounds like WD engineered them to uphold the constantly-writing activity that CCTV systems employ. I haven't used them long enough to bet the farm on them, but so far, so good. (then again I've always had good luck with Western Digital, so there's that)

 

[pozzello]

So maybe a Raid 1 (mirrored) array of drives is in my future... glad i have SD cards in most of my cams as backup.

What mystifies me tho, is why it wouldn't boot off the drive multiple times (i must have powered down and restarted a few dozen times trying to get it working), yet after i nuked & paved windows 10 onto it again, it booted fine and hasn't hiccuped since then...

 

[fenderman]

Drive failure is very rare..I have many oem supplied drives in BI machines that have no problem...In fact, I have only had a single failure and that was after the user moved the pc to refinish the floors...

 

[pozzello]

yah, i really think the issue I experienced had something to do with the windows boot loader...

 

[jasauders]

So maybe a Raid 1 (mirrored) array of drives is in my future... glad i have SD cards in most of my cams as backup.

That's certainly an option, yes. I guess it depends on your angle and intended use. Speaking from a homeowner standpoint (i.e., exact opposite of security manager @ a large hotel, casino, or something like that), I don't hold my video footage to that much value to warrant the extra cost involved in RAID. The chances (knock on wood) of a hard drive failing at the *exact* moment that something happens in my podunk town is slim/none. As a result, I just run a single drive for the footage. I do however keep my OS drive and CCTV data drive separate. That way if my OS drive were to tank, I could redeploy Ubuntu Server + Bluecherry in about 20 minutes time (or pull an image backup, which I take monthly via Clonezilla Live). But in that case, the feeds are fine. If my data drive were to die, it'd be a "meh whatever" thing and I'd slap a spare drive in and let it continue.

But like I said, it depends on your angle. If you want the best chances, RAID 1 isn't anything to sneeze at. I'm just too cheap to do that.

 

[c hris527]

If this is a brand new computer with new cables I would be worried about drive failure, That being said I have seen this issue as of late with rebuilt or older machines that were upgraded and are using sata cables that are older. I have chased my tail on this issue, replace the cable, they oxidize and can cause just such issues as he is having. After re seating the cable it works?? Try using a different sata port or swapping cables with the DVD and see what happens. If your bios cannot see the drive, you will get that result. If you are having a physical failure, windows will let you know rather quickly and usually give you half a chance to back up your stuff or you will get a ticking noise and its usually over at that point. A few observations from the trenches..Good luck

 

[DokkenVersusChicken]

The PC is about 3 years old. This weekend I reinstalled win 10 on a 1TB drive that I had. I installed the problematic 3TB as a D drive, formatted it, and set up blue iris to store all data files on D.

It worked fine for about a day and until a reboot, then the D drive (3 TB problem one) disappeared again. The PC works fine with the new 1TB C drive and reboots, updates fine, but the old 3TB is currently not recognized. I did change the SATA port on the mobo, but not the cable.

I haven't had any more time to mess with this.

 

[smiticans]

Who's the manufacture of the 3TB drive? You should really be using a hard drive designed for surveillance systems, such as the Western Digital Purple Drives. Personally, I use the Samsung 850 Evo Pro SSD 128GB as my Operating system drive, and two Western Digital Purple drives to store recordings.

 

[DokkenVersusChicken]

it was a red 3TB. I checked the serial, and the warranty expired 06/2014. it is listed as a 'mybook live' but it says 'WD red NAS drive' on the label, so i must be an external i salvaged. time for a replacement.

My boot drive is a 1TB black. This one has been running fine/rebooting fine for several days.

Thanks for your help.