Occasional drives vanish when the PC restarts, reappearing only after a reboot.
Occasional drives vanish when the PC restarts, reappearing only after a reboot.
I discovered a problem during testing. The SATA connections I was using seemed to fail unexpectedly between setup and installation. It could have been my error or possibly linked to the board's low cost. We might never be certain. In short, the system title is the main point. My E: and F: drives sometimes vanish from Windows after a restart—only after shutdowns, not while active. When I check with Crystal Disk Mark and the manufacturer’s statements, there were no read/write or removal errors during three eight-hour tests aimed at confirming drive stability.
Explorer, CHKDSK, and DSKMGMT can't locate these drives when they disappear, but when they reappear, no bad sectors are present. I've tried formatting with NTFS and exFAT just to see if it helps, but the results remain consistent.
The hardest part is that this issue doesn’t always repeat. E: and F: can show up after several restarts or stay hidden for many cycles. Changing cables or reseating drives doesn’t guarantee they’ll come back right away. I’m not a beginner, so I doubt I’ve made a mistake, but mistakes are always possible—no matter how skilled I am.
At this stage, I’m stuck except for dismantling the whole build, which isn’t something I want to do with my case (a custom-built unit with limited access and tight component placement). My drive tests have been thorough: C: and D: work well, swapping drives helps. I’ve checked the motherboard/CPU combo beforehand to rule out clearance problems.
Testing notes: C: and D: behave normally, but swapping E: and F: drives makes each appear reliably. I’ve tested cables, rerouted connections, and even created a custom power plan. Running Windows Memory Diagnostic and clearing CMOS didn’t help.
My biggest challenge is the lack of consistency—sometimes the drives show up, other times not. Reseating components or cables doesn’t always fix the problem. I’ve used this setup before, so I’m confident there’s no fundamental flaw, but human error remains a risk.
I spent a couple of days searching online for solutions before sharing my findings, and most answers came up quickly. On the first day, I cleared the CMOS but didn’t notice much improvement, and refreshing DSKMGMT didn’t show any drives. I ran the Memory Diagnostic Tool to confirm the RAM was functioning properly. I plan to repeat the test after returning from work.
I made sure the ports didn’t overlap M.2 lanes. The issue arose when checking if the ports functioned before installing the board, which caused Soulution’s SATA ports to fail. Installing it at a higher cost of 50 USD during the 2016 mining rush might have been a mistake.