My 4TB m.2 SSD (WD Blue, just a data drive) randomly doesn't show up sometimes when booting, have to reboot once or twice to show up. And now it's just randomly disappeared while my computer is running, had to reboot to bring it back. Not sure if it's the motherboard or the drive itself.. ran a SMART test from the SanDisk dashboard app and the first test failed but with no detail (thanks guys), 2nd test was fine..
Will have to check the drive age but went to see how much a replacement would be.. oh good MemEx has a deal, $600 off for the low price of $1,000.
I mean a Samsung 9100 Pro is cheaper than a WD Blue?!
What the actual f...
When I actually consider buying a spinning hard drive again just to back stuff up... This sucks.
EDIT: Lol I paid $290 for it in 2024. 5 year warranty it seems, I guess I'll have to do some more testing to see if I can reliably reproduce it enough to RMA it.
__________________ Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position.
But certainty is an absurd one.
Do you have any other unused M.2 slots you could try, or an M.2 enclosure? If the drive is still able to pass drive tests (even after it occasionally fails), it might be a problem with the M.2 slot itself. An enclosure would allow you to isolate the drive and see if it works just fine when the motherboard slot / storage controller is out of the equation.
__________________
-James
GO FLAMES GO.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Azure
Typical dumb take.
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This is a new motherboard and CPU in the past few months and fortunately I've still got the old stuff (was going to use all my spare parts to build a desktop for my kid) so I was planning on trying to use that system to see if I could reproduce the issue and it followed the drive or stuck with the motherboard. Motherboard would be super annoying to RMA, it's my only AM5 board so hopefully it isn't that.
__________________ Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position.
But certainty is an absurd one.
Maybe an odd solution, but I didn't have a second m2 slot but bought a relatively cheap PCI adapter to mount another one on. Apparently you do take a slight hit on performance but is still very fast compared to other types of drives..
17 bucks.. might be worth it to determine if it's the drive or motherboard. Could always return it lol. Also maybe look for a gen5 instead of the one I bought. I'm still on am4
Last edited by calumniate; 02-11-2026 at 11:49 AM.
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I had random black screen issues with my CableMod 12VHPWR connector, but I replaced it with a MODDIY one and it's been fine since.
But good to know my 4090-as-a-retirement-investment plan is progressing.
I've been using their ATX 3.1 PCIe 5.1 H++ 12V-2X6 675W 12VHPWR 16 Pin Power Cable for my 5090 since the cable was available and things have been going smoothly.
