Hard drive not showing up

[shutrbugjo]

I have 2 hard drives -- a 128 SSD and a 1TB regular hard drive.  Lately there have been a number of times that the 1TB drive doesn't show up on restart.  Last night it "disappeared" altogether while the laptop was in sleep mode.  Usually if I shut it down and wait a few minutes and restart, it will come back up and be recognized.  Does this mean that my drive is going bad or is it some kind of software issue?  I have tried to use the diagnostics and tools option in HP Support Assistant but get the message "An error occurred while attempting to load the content you requested."

If the drive is going bad, how do I go about finding a replacement drive?  Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

[Huffer]

We are going to need the exact model number to link you to the correct Manual for opening the laptop and removing the hard drive. Yes, the drive playing hide and seek is an early sign of troubles and signals the need for replacement. It will be a 2.5 inch 7 or 9.5mm laptop hard drive. A 7mm is safe and will fit in any HP laptop using a 2.5 inch drive. These are widely available on amazon.com or you can get one from a Best Buy or similar retailer. I think even Wal-Mart carries them. 

https://www.amazon.com/Seagate-BarraCuda-Internal-Drive-2-5-Inch/dp/B07H28QRKN/ref=sr_1_6?dchild=1&k...

If you can, back up the contents of the drive to an external device or the cloud. Likely the drive is still accessible if you would attach it externally using a usb to SATA adapter. 

Post back for more help if needed. 

[shutrbugjo]

Thank you so much for the quick reply.  If you could direct me to the correct manual for opening it up, that would be great.  I am attaching a screenshot of the HP Support Assistant page.  Does that give you what you need?

[Huffer]

It will eventually but it takes a few days for images to clear the censors. Is there a Product number displayed?

[shutrbugjo]

Product number is W0U47AV.

Thanks for the link to the drive.  Is there a problem putting a 2TB in instead of a 1TB with the machine I have?

[Huffer · Accepted solution]

2 TB will be no problem. Here is the Manual:

Manual 

Start on p. 27 for instructions and hard drive is covered on pp. 30-31. Inside see this:

hard drive in green square M.2 circled in red

This drive would be fine for storage:

https://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-5400RPM-Cache-Internal-Notebook/dp/B08FBNJ8ZG/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&key...

Post back with any more questions and please accept as solution if this is the info you needed. 

[shutrbugjo]

Thank you so much!  You made my day!  🙂