Just using computer normally, no major changes or anything, today got Disk I/O error insert system disk message on computer startup. BIOS did not detect a hard disk where it did before. Restart did not help. Opened up computer and unplugged drive (power cable, not IDE cable), then turned on machine. Turned off machine and plugged drive back in. Turned on and everything is working as it should, BIOS sees drive, drive boots to Windows. But is everything fine, or is this drive on its way out?

"But is everything fine, or is this drive on its way out?" It might have just been a loose power cable. I would downlaod and run the manufacturer's diagnostic tool to make sure-it certainly wouldn't hurt to do that.

I agree that it was probably a loose cable or a poor connection. That system is kinda old and the contacts tend to corrode over time. Reseating the connectors can scrape off the corrosion and make good contact again.

It is common to un-intentionally damage IDE data cables, especially while removing them - the 80 wire ones are more fragile. What usually happens is the cable is ripped at either edge and the wires there are either damaged or severed, often right at a connector or under it's cable clamp there, where it's hard to see - if a wire is severed but it's ends are touching, the connection is intermittant. Another common thing is for the data cable to be separated from the connector contacts a bit after you have removed a cable - there should be no gap between the data cable and the connector - if there is press the cable against the connector to eliminate the gap. 80 wire data cables are also easily damaged at either edge if the cable is sharply creased at a fold in the cable. Try another data cable if in doubt. ..... When a drive is starting to fail, you tend to have intermittant problems at first. Check your hard drive with the manufacturer's diagnostics. See the latter part of response 1 in this: http://www.computing.net/windows95/... (thanks to Dan Penny for this link:) Hard Drive Diagnostics Tools and Utilities http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm... If you don't have a floppy drive, you can get a CD image diagnostic utility from most hard drive manufacturer's web sites, but obviously you would need to make a burned CD, preferably a CD-R for best compatibilty, on another computer if you need to. ......

Also keep tabs on the System section of the Event Viewer for controller or hard disk errors. Backup everything just in case. WinSimple Software