I have had a second hard drive installed on my computer without any problems for about six months. Since I installed Norton SystemWorks a couple of weeks ago, however, programs on the new hard drive have crashed with alarming regularity. It seems that the drive has suddenly disappeared from Windows altogether, although it is still recognised by the Bios during setup. Is this a sign that the hard drive has failed?
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It certainly seems that way, although something about the sequence of events makes us a bit suspicious. Can you access the drive from MS-DOS, or when Windows is started in Safe Mode? If not, check the drive cable isn't falling off the connector before assuming that the drive has died. If you can, it's possible that SystemWorks has done something to cause it.
Another possibility is that creeping corruption is occurring because of some incompatibility or even a fault. As the drive fills up, data is written to the wrong place, corrupting other files. Check to see if DMA access is enabled for the drive (or both drives, if they are connected using the same cable) and if it is, disable it. You'll find this setting on the Settings tab of the Properties dialog box for the drive, which you can access from Device Manager in the System Control Panel.
Another possibility is that your hard disk has a faulty controller. As it's only six months old it should still be under warranty, so ask for a replacement.
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