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Help! My "cache" drive suddenly is "disabled".

So a couple days ago my laptop started throwing up this message when it boots up!
qPDe4hy.jpg

I have no idea why it's doing this, the only thing I changed recently was to install Notepad++ & use a registry edit to make it the default "edit" program for batch files (and made Gimp the default editor for image files while I was in the reg) I don't see any reason why that would disable the drive in question, plus the laptop was booting and working normally after those program changes. The laptop was fine one morning & then the same evening starting giving me the message.

After it started showing this message, it was also taking a really long time to finish booting up & logging in. It even started showing me a blank black screen after login at one point. :cold_sweat:
(at this point I put the HDD into an external drive caddy & was able to access it & backup my personal files with another pc)

I was able to boot up in safe mode & login. After restarting from safe mode it was able to boot up again in normal mode (although it took a really long time to bring up the desktop) and noticed some problems with some files not opening & getting an error message about them being "unreadable" (the other pc didn't have any trouble reading & copying them). When I restarted the laptop again, it brought up a message that it was fixing errors on the drive, after that the files seemed to be working & readable again.

Now it has started booting up faster, close to the usual time it used take before this problem began, but it still is showing that message every time it starts up. Some programs & files are still a little "weird" acting, but mostly it's working & stable so far. I don't want to do too much to this in reinstalling programs until I get the hardware problem fixed.

My laptop is supposed to be a "hybridized" sort of system with a small SSD drive (the 29 GB one) with a larger HDD as the main storage. I didn't build this system myself, I bought this laptop from a PC dealer on Ebay, & have had it since August 2016 with no troubles (not any hardware ones at least).
I am not very experienced with SSD's & multiple drive RAID setups.
The SSD has never shown up as a separate drive, (because it was setup in RAID I presume) but I notice that in the drive properties it's showing about 30 GB less total space.

Any ideas how this drive got disabled or how to re-enable it? Has the SSD failed & need to be replaced?

Also, I have Windows 10 Pro 64 bit.
It's supposed to be on version 1607 (I have not gone to 1703 as I keep seeing people having problems with it) & the last update showing is from the end of last August.

Thanks in advance for any help!
I uploaded something! (yay) My Studio
Enjoy!

Comments

  • NichaedemusNichaedemus Posts: 16,905 Member
    Hi,
    My laptop is supposed to be a "hybridized" sort of system with a small SSD drive (the 29 GB one) with a larger HDD as the main storage. I didn't build this system myself, I bought this laptop from a PC dealer on Ebay.
    How old is the Solid State Hybrid Drive (SSHD)? It sounds like the SSD portion of the drive has reached the end of its product lifespan. Your best option at this point would be to purchase a replacement SSHD or even an all-out SSD.
    When you need help with The Sims 3 or The Sims 4, be sure to check out the Master Help Thread today!
  • ShojoDaggerShojoDagger Posts: 320 Member
    @Nichaedemus
    I'm not sure exactly how old the drive itself is, as I said I've only had it just over a year. It was bought as "refurbished", which could mean anything from the dealer putting in an extra ram stick & doing a clean reinstall of the OS, to completely replacing everything inside.

    I suspected that the SSD died, but kind of hoped it was some weird glitch & it could just be re-enabled via software. I think the SSD & HDD are actually separate items, tho. So I may just have to replace that one part. I'll have to do more research on the drive models. I haven't really had much online time to do that yet.

    Thanks anyway for confirming my suspicions.
    I uploaded something! (yay) My Studio
    Enjoy!
  • igazorigazor Posts: 19,330 Member
    edited October 2017
    I'd like to know how this ends up, if you could let us know. From what I understand, SSDs have a finite number of read/writes "allowed" before they cannot be used anymore. Newer ones have such a high limit that most regard it as not being worth worrying about, but this wasn't the case with older ones manufactured years ago. Seems logical that such would apply to the Solid State portion of Hybrid systems as well.

    Or, of course, the SSD could be failing mechanically for other reasons without having reached a preset number of read/writes.
    o550pjoa47rpxo63g.jpg
    NRaas has moved!
    Our new site is at http://nraas.net
  • ShojoDaggerShojoDagger Posts: 320 Member
    @igazor
    Yeah, I'll probably take it to a local shop, or have a friend who works at a pc shop look at it. Hopefully later this week. If the SSD is a separate drive then it's down inside the laptop, since the one reachable from the access panel is the Toshiba HDD, and I don't particularly feel like taking the whole dang thing apart just to look at it's guts.
    I uploaded something! (yay) My Studio
    Enjoy!
  • phoebebebe13phoebebebe13 Posts: 19,400 Member
    @ShojoDagger For future reference we who help in tech don't ever recommend buying a refurbished or open box laptop. You don't know how the hardware was used and abused previously or if they suck used hardware in there when they refubished it. Gaming on a laptop with a game like the sims 3 will also put wear and tear on it. Even buying a new laptop for gaming only lasts so long. Average is about 5 years but at least when you buy new they give you a year warranty. Some give extended 2-3 year warranty for an addition fee. Laptops are throw away computers once they no longer make the hardware for it. Desktop is always better for gaming. It's more powerful than laptop. If you buy the right hardware with a good roomy case hardware can be switched out or upgraded unlike a laptop. They sell desktop hardware to the public but they do not sell laptop hardware to the public
  • ShojoDaggerShojoDagger Posts: 320 Member
    @ShojoDagger For future reference we who help in tech don't ever recommend buying a refurbished or open box laptop. You don't know how the hardware was used and abused previously or if they suck used hardware in there when they refubished it. Gaming on a laptop with a game like the sims 3 will also put wear and tear on it. Even buying a new laptop for gaming only lasts so long. Average is about 5 years but at least when you buy new they give you a year warranty. Some give extended 2-3 year warranty for an addition fee. Laptops are throw away computers once they no longer make the hardware for it. Desktop is always better for gaming. It's more powerful than laptop. If you buy the right hardware with a good roomy case hardware can be switched out or upgraded unlike a laptop. They sell desktop hardware to the public but they do not sell laptop hardware to the public
    I can understand why you wouldn't recommend used tech; I bought used for practical reasons & was/am aware of the problems used tech can have. I didn't buy the first laptop I saw, I was careful in my selection.
    This SSD business is just a new thing for me, however.

    I agree that a desktop is arguably better & preferable, & I would love a nice, self-built desktop frag-box. However, dragging a desktop + monitor & peripherals around to public wifi to get online seems like a pretty big inconvenience.

    I use a laptop for a reason; I don't have internet at home (except thru my phone) so I need the portability of a laptop.
    Of course if you'd like to foot the bill every month for home internet & give me the money to build a new desktop to go with it......

    Anyway, I've talked to my friend & he said I should be able to just replace the SSD & clean install windows onto the new SSD & have my HDD separate for the rest of my data. Which is fine with me, I don't care too much about having two volumes. So I'm now I'm looking into finding a new SSD, I'm wanting to get a larger one than the previous 30GB one, while I'm at it. And also into the finer points of re-installing WinX.

    I uploaded something! (yay) My Studio
    Enjoy!
  • igazorigazor Posts: 19,330 Member
    edited October 2017
    I can understand why you wouldn't recommend used tech.
    Good. We aren't saying that everyone has to have brand new equipment all of the time or else we won't speak to you or want to be your friend (or anything silly like that) and we do understand budget constraints. For any others reading this, we do not recommend used hardware because there are far too many variables involved for that recommendation to be a helpful one in most cases.

    On a more professional, should we say industrial level, almost every computer that has lived a shorter life than expected on the office network I have been managing for the past few decades has been a refurb -- not counting one server that turned out to be a lemon, but that's the exception and we know you aren't buying servers here. Some of them have been successful purchases of course, but overall it's not the preferred way to go. If we say that 40% of refurbs, whether that be total computers or just some parts or drives, won't last as long as we need them to, that's one thing for a busy office with an IT budget. If we try to apply that percentage to a home user who probably owns one usable computer at a time, it doesn't make as much sense.

    But on the other hand, I would also point out that we help out here on these tech boards as best we are able to out of kindness. We do not deserve to be told that we should be paying for your Internet service or buying your computers for you if you don't like or cannot make use of our recommendations. Sorry, I have enough trouble paying my own bills as it is.
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  • ShojoDaggerShojoDagger Posts: 320 Member
    edited October 2017
    igazor wrote: »
    But on the other hand, I would also point out that we help out here on these tech boards as best we are able to out of kindness. We do not deserve to be told that we should be paying for your Internet service or buying your computers for you if you don't like or cannot make use of our recommendations. Sorry, I have enough trouble paying my own bills as it is.

    I was only teasing about that to Phoebe. I don't expect anyone to do that, but I was making a bit of a point that I bought used for practical/budget reasons & that I know a refurbed laptop is not the "ideal" pc set up.
    Also I would like to say that responding with what amounts to "Used pc's can have problems & you should use a desktop because they're so much better than laptops." -although a true statement- isn't very helpful, or even a proper response to my problem (which Nichaedemus had already answered).
    It is perhaps a caveat to other users that might be looking to get new equipment.

    Anyway, getting a brand new, sweet-plum desktop gaming rig, while the ideal solution, isn't a practical one for me, that's that & discussing it further is off topic.

    I did find out some good news about this repair. I reopened my laptop's access panel and realized that the bad SSD was right there on top of everything, staring me right in the face and I hadn't recognized it for what it was before. (it's one of those chips-on-a-PCB mSATA type SSDs) So at least it's easy to replace, physically, and I don't need to take the laptop all apart!

    I uploaded something! (yay) My Studio
    Enjoy!
  • phoebebebe13phoebebebe13 Posts: 19,400 Member
    edited October 2017
    @ShojoDagger If you read my whole post I did state for "Future Reference" ;) Meaning that maybe when you do eventually need a new computer you might be better off saving up and buying new . This way at least you have a much better warranty. You have been lucky that your refurbished laptop lasted a year without any issues and the issue your having at the moment is fixable. We have seen people have other major issues buying refurbished or used laptops quit after 30 days or a few months. Laptops that could not be fixed and these people were now out of a computer completely . You take a big risk when you buy refurbished, used or open box
  • ShojoDaggerShojoDagger Posts: 320 Member
    edited October 2017
    @phoebebebe13
    Okay, gotcha.
    Again, I was careful & savvy in picking out my laptop & bought from a reputable long-time seller (a brick & mortar PC shop selling on ebay), I didn't just stumble blindly into the cheapest laptop for sale that somebody's grandma found at a yard sale. :wink:

    My previous laptop was also used from ebay & lasted me nearly 5 years (& it was already 2 yrs old) before the cpu plunked out on me (probably from overheating/cleaning issues; I wasn't as kind to it as I should have been, I admit) There is good used stuff out there, but I agree it's a bit of a minefield.

    ---

    Ok so I've been looking at SSDs this mSATA one looks like a pretty good deal (I was only looking for a 120 GB one but this one is actually much cheaper for twice the storage), however I've also seen this 2.5" one, which is a better deal GB per $ wise. So the question is: do I take the leap, go completely SSD and just replace the main drive here? Especially since SSDs are not recoverable like mechanical drives.
    I also use my laptop for image & video editing & transcoding & other "write heavy" type tasks. The 850 EVO series says it's guaranteed 5 yrs or 75 TBW, but I'm not sure how much use that actually translates to. (the EVO Pro has twice the lifespan, but is quite out of my budget range).

    Is there some way to keep track of how much writing has been done on an SSD?

    I guess I could just get the mSATA drive for now & see how that works out....save up for an EVO Pro later...I'll have to sleep on it.



    I uploaded something! (yay) My Studio
    Enjoy!
  • igazorigazor Posts: 19,330 Member
    edited October 2017
    I see that we're going to have to bring our not so secret weapon out to answer that last one more definitively.

    Paging @chesterbigbird.
    Post edited by igazor on
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  • chesterbigbirdchesterbigbird Posts: 8,581 Member
    @ShojoDagger
    Can you tell me the make and model of your laptop? i can help more if i know what laptop you have.

    i7 6700K
    16GB hyper X fury
    MSI GTX 1080
    MSI gaming M5 mobo
    Evga 750 supernova
    Corsair hydro h110i GT
    Corsair obsidian 750D
    500GB SSD
    6TB Seagate Barracuda Pro
    LG 34" ultra wide


  • ShojoDaggerShojoDagger Posts: 320 Member
    @chesterbigbird
    HP Zbook 15, f3y80uc#aba

    I uploaded something! (yay) My Studio
    Enjoy!
  • chesterbigbirdchesterbigbird Posts: 8,581 Member
    edited October 2017
    OK i cannot find any info on that at all.
    You need to know what type of SSD you have in there now, is it 2.5", mSATA or M.2?
    If you find that out then you will know what drive you should buy.
    As for the life of the SSD.. do not worry about that at all, most modern SSD's will last the life of the laptop/desktop (as you usually replace computers before 6 years is out anyhow.) Do not go the pro.. i hardly think it's needed.
    Samsung is the go to drive.. Crucial can offer better prices per GB while still being just as good samsung.
    I would get a 500GB drive (depending on the form factor you have now.) use as boot drive then keep your HDD for other storage.
    EDIT: your other option is to just get a larger 2TB hybrid drive.. you can replace the HDD and SSD with that.
    The Hybrid drive is a HDD with a small SSD cache, It will boot windows faster then a regular HHD and will load your games/programs faster then a regular HHD.
    They are cheaper
    https://pcpartpicker.com/product/zk7CmG/seagate-firecuda-2tb-25-5400rpm-internal-hard-drive-st2000lx001
    It's also nice having everything on the one drive.
    i7 6700K
    16GB hyper X fury
    MSI GTX 1080
    MSI gaming M5 mobo
    Evga 750 supernova
    Corsair hydro h110i GT
    Corsair obsidian 750D
    500GB SSD
    6TB Seagate Barracuda Pro
    LG 34" ultra wide


  • ShojoDaggerShojoDagger Posts: 320 Member
    edited October 2017
    @chesterbigbird
    It has 2 drives in it. An mSATA (the smaller Samsung drive in pic) & a 2.5" HDD (the Toshiba one).
    It was somehow setup so that both drives appeared as 1 volume in the "this pc"screen. I guess. I didn't set it up & the last 2 drive pc I had was a desktop with XP.
    Either the mSATA pooped out, or the Toshiba is an SSHD & the cache died, but one of the drives is the problem.

    The SSHD you recommended is right up my alley, ordered it from Newegg this morning, thank you very much.

    I probably wouldn't have looked for a 2.5 TB off the bat, but it was quite the deal on sale, so what the heck!
    I uploaded something! (yay) My Studio
    Enjoy!
  • chesterbigbirdchesterbigbird Posts: 8,581 Member
    edited October 2017
    @chesterbigbird
    It has 2 drives in it. An mSATA (the smaller Samsung drive in pic) & a 2.5" HDD (the Toshiba one).
    It was somehow setup so that both drives appeared as 1 volume in the "this pc"screen. I guess. I didn't set it up & the last 2 drive pc I had was a desktop with XP.
    Either the mSATA pooped out, or the Toshiba is an SSHD & the cache died, but one of the drives is the problem.

    The SSHD you recommended is right up my alley, ordered it from Newegg this morning, thank you very much.

    I probably wouldn't have looked for a 2.5 TB off the bat, but it was quite the deal on sale, so what the heck!

    Your Welcome!
    The firecuda is a good drive for gaming and for boot up.
    Let us know how you like it.. I was going to get one for my desktop but got the Barracuda pro instead as i need allot of storage.

    i7 6700K
    16GB hyper X fury
    MSI GTX 1080
    MSI gaming M5 mobo
    Evga 750 supernova
    Corsair hydro h110i GT
    Corsair obsidian 750D
    500GB SSD
    6TB Seagate Barracuda Pro
    LG 34" ultra wide


  • SimplyJenSimplyJen Posts: 14,823 Member
    I have a 2TB FireCuda for my desktop because it was really cheap on sale when I replaced a HDD. Works great :)

    Glad you have everything sorted OP.
    i7-13700K • 16GB • RTX 4070
    S3 simblr: http://simplysimming.tumblr.com/
    S4 simblr: http://simlogic.tumblr.com/
  • ShojoDaggerShojoDagger Posts: 320 Member
    edited October 2017
    @Simasaurus09
    Well not everything's quite sorted out...after I get the drive there's this part:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycWAl3Fg6MQ

    I only have this to say about the latest version of Windows: The more things change, the more they stay the same...re-installing is still a pain in the rear!
    I uploaded something! (yay) My Studio
    Enjoy!
  • SimplyJenSimplyJen Posts: 14,823 Member
    Been there, done that. ;)
    i7-13700K • 16GB • RTX 4070
    S3 simblr: http://simplysimming.tumblr.com/
    S4 simblr: http://simlogic.tumblr.com/
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