HDD - Recognised "every now and again"

Cristo

So I recently got 2 new hard-drives since my old 160gig died:

1 80GB Maxtor HDD that houses Windows Vista and all the other misc. programs I use like Opera, iTunes, MSN, uTorrent etc.

1 320GB Samsung HDD that houses all of my Games, Films, Music, Pictures etc.

For some reason, upon start-up the 320GB HDD isn't being recognised. I know this because I have my Wallpaper folder in the 320GB one and my screen is completely black when I start it up.
A quick restart fixes the problem.

Why is this? I've checked the BIOS, and it's recognised in the BIOS and I've made sure that it's on the Boot up priority list.

Something that hasn't happened before, happened just 5 minutes ago while I was installing some CoD4 patches - They wouldn't install because the 320GB wasn't recognised even though it was fine 20 minutes ago.

Otherwise, after the restart it's completely fine.

TL;DR - My new 320GB HDD only gets recognised and starts working after I've rebooted my computer. Why?

Thanks for the help.

life3

Some quick advice that solved a similar problem for me:

Try a new/different cable.

Turns out I had a bad sata cable...

Cristo

Ahh that could be it.

Would any decent computer store have what I need? I live in Southern Spain you see, and at times they can be pretty technologically retarded down here.

life3

Well, before buying a new cable, I would say switch the ones you're using now(if they're both sata or whatever interface you're using). If you boot fine and the 320GB HDD is still wonky, you can rule out a new cable.

acidlacedpenguin

also just check and see if your sata cable is seated firmly. I had a problem once with the connection not being solid and the drive was responding extremely slow sometimes and regular speed other times.