Losing a drive temporarily could mean several things. First it could of course mean that the drive is going bad. Go to the manufacturer's website and download any test programs available. It could also point to a problem with the controller, how long have you had it?
Second, and this one is very common, it could be a mismatch between your hard drive and the controller. What hard drive are you using, and what controller is it on? I've seen a Promise controller not get along with a Maxtor hard drive, and I've seen a Highpoint controller not get along with an IBM hard drive. In both cases the systems seemed to function normally for up to 6 months, and then one day wham, windows is dead (both Windows 98 SE and Windows 2000). In both cases doing a scan disk reported many bad blocks that would disappear after a low level format. In the case of the IBM drive & the Highpoint controller, I ended up moving the drive back to the onboard intel controller. In the case of the Prosmise and the Maxtor, I was able fix the problem with a BIOS update.
Third, it could be a virus...they're getting worse and worse. I would go so far as to say that anyone not running anti-virus software somewhat regularly *has* a virus on their system right now. (esp. nimda)
Fourth, windows could have self-destructed. Doesn't sound like it in this case though.
Fifth, it could have been a fluke...power spike, improper shutdown, etc.
Slackmaster 2000
