I do have a second SATA channel on my motherboard. Unfortunately, the
failure is so intermittent that it will be difficult to catch. As Toomas
pointed out, it could be a situation of a marginal power condition. I will
check that out - I left the cover off the computer, and no failure has so
far occurred. I have had three failures so far and all happened when the
cover was on. When I removed the cover to check, the computer started
working again. Of course, it also started working on a reboot without the
cover being removed, so the cover off condition is not yet definitive.

Joseph recommended the WD diagnostics, which I had already downloaded and
tried. Did not run the long test yet, but he short one reported no problems.
Thank you to all for responding your experiences and suggestions. If I find
anything of note, I will report back to the list.

Peter
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-----Original Message-----
Peter, don't know about the MB, but does it have more than one SATA plug?
I'm thinking my MSI board has at least 2 independent channels for the 4
plugs, kind of like the ide channels, but I'm not sure.  Will have to look
at the book when I get home. If that is the case, you could switch the plug
from one area to another.  Another idea would be to use a SATA to IDE
adapter if you know someone that has one, just to isolate the drive or SATA
controller.  I use a SATA as my only drive (for about
a year) but so far no problems.   George

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