I think that the power consumption is the same whether or not the data cabel is plugged in. (the power cable is plugged in all the time, right?)

You should try smartmon tools...

You say "Unplug SATA, and everything is fine, and I can plug it in, in both XP and Ubuntu and the drive works perfectly."

As in you plugg it in while PC is running?

I don't think that is a good...

Take a look here (http://community.norton.com/norton/board/message?board.id=other&thread.id=15917). You might find your answer there.

BIOS tends to shuffle the HD boot priority order, so it is possible that it tries to boot from 1.5 Tb drive first when it detects it.

What you should do is plug everything in, and access BIOS...

What kind of a disk is it?

If it is internal, then you could try HDD regenerator. (google for it)
It is not free, apart from evaluation version which will recover only one bad sector per session,...

You need to mount the drive (partitions) to be able to see them in My Computer.

To do so, follow these steps:

- Rightclick "My computer", Select "manage".
- In the computer management left...

Yup. If it is set to "quick removal", NTFS is NOT in a drop-down box when you're about to format it. Same applies to external HDs and flash drives.

I prefer NTFS because of file compression.

- Check the power cables. Try swapping them with ones that are plugged to optical drives (since they are apparently working OK)

- Check that your BIOS settings are set on auto-detection. Also make...

Not so.

If the drive settings are set on "Optimize for quick removal" in device manager, then the only formatting options for it would be FAT and FAT32.

However, if the "Optimize for...

Ohhh. You didn't start the thread..

Is the DVD disc EMPTY (as, the available capacity stays unchanged) after "writing" or is it just not readable? Use DiscInfo tool to check the capacity after...

Ok, you lost me here.
a) Why is this marked as solved?
b) You tried to make a DVD Image or burn one to DVD?

Nero uses its own aspi layer, so installing adaptec one won't solve your problem. Your problem is most likely faulty drive (or power supply) or corrupt Nero aspi layer. I suggest reinstalling Nero.

What burning software are you using? (either of you)
If it is nero, maybe you left the "simulate" checkbox checked.

Try fixing the ASPI layer...

.. one more thing.. This (http://datacent.com/hard_drive_sounds.php) is what a dying HD sounds like.

I suggest that you enabe your drive's S.M.A.R.T. in BIOS (Self-monitoring and reporting tool). It will alert you IF your HD is dying.

Anyway, that what you've expirianced doesn't mean that your HD...

DO NOT OPEN THE HARD DRIVES!! You'll most certainly end up with 2 dead drives. If you do, the dust and moisture will contaminate the disks and they will be as good as dead. So far you have one...

Thread is 18 months old, man.

First of all, this is SATA-to-ATA adapter.. you need ATA-to-SATA, and you need it only if there are no vacant IDE ports available. (2 channels=4 drives).

When you plug the drive in, and if it is...

Looks like your external HD is either broken or the partition on is corrupt. Either way there's practically no chance of retrieving files from it, unless you pay professionals $$$.
There are tools...

Thing I dislike the most with Nero 8 is lack of advanced options. For example, you can no longer make data/audio combo disc. That and interface design are the only real changes between 7 (or 6) and 8.

I've downloaded nero 8 and it also has some burning-related issues. Seems that Nero burning rom doesn't install all the necessary drivers for the burner (if you don't install the whole bundle), while...

XP bypasses BIOS HD detection. You can disable it in BIOS (giving we are not talking about primary disk with OS) and it will still be recognized as if it was enabled.

I had similar experience with...

Mark, If you are installing additional brand-new HDs, then bare in mind that you must create partition(s) and those partitions must be formatted in order to be used. Use disk management (right-click...

If you want your PC to boot from 2.5 HDD, the partition on it needs to be set as active. In order to do so, you first need to boot from floppy with FDISK on it and use FDISK to set the partition...

[off the topic]
Isn't it a British phrase "I am not rich enough to buy cheap stuff"?
[/off the topic]

I got Pioneer 110D and it works like a charm. Most formats supported and is cheap. There...

No... once you do it will only get more dirt. Trust me, I've tried it. I opened it and cleaned the lens, using alcohol and cotton, it was clean for a while, but after a week or so it got dirty again....

There are lens cleaner disks. Cheap. I recommend Phillips, dry brush + doesn't need to be read. It has a replaceable brush on the inner edge.

There are burning softwares that override the copyright protection... It is on the edge of legal. You will have to "fend for yourself" there.

Although, it shouldn't prevent you from burning...

Maybe your burner is being blocked by copyright protection software?

I suppose that the ISO images are on your HD. You would need to take out that HD and put it in some machine that has the burner and burn those ISOs to CDs. Make sure that those are bootable ISO...

Are you able to burn the CDs?
Do you have the working optical drive on that machine?
Is there another machine available?

If you already have ISO images, and don't have burner, I suggest that you buy the burner for $30 - $50 (maybe lower). Much better investment.

If I understand it.... You want to install OS without CD... Only one way, if you have Windows Server 2003 (or any OS with RIS service) on another machine and hook them up in network. You would also...

Since you can recreate the problem, I suggest that you use the warranty. Get different brand if possible. That one is obviously not too compatible.

If it is protection issue, you should contact game manufacturer. There are updates for such stuff, usually discussed at the game manufacturer's site/forum. That is where you should take a look.

I...

Running in PIO mode greatly impairs your DVD part of a burner. PIO mode is older and very limited in terms of data transfer rates, which makes burning DVDs very unreliable.

Your problem isn't...

You have problem with CD protection. Different games use different protection software. If you post the titles, I might be able to help.

BTW, it is not illegal for you, since you bought the...

Here's my problem:

My PC eventually starts making optical drive related problems. Looks like ASPI layer issue, but it isn't. I have ASPI layer tools and utilities and they don't help. Nero has...

It is probbably not Nero issue, but burner issue. You should update your burner's firmware.

Make sure that it is recognized in your desktop's BIOS.
Make sure that it is on secondary IDE channel, as it is probably set as master. Also, make sure that the secondary IDE channel isn't disabled...