Really Bizarre HD problem

[gurkha]

My computer 'forgets' that it has a HD.

Not all the time. 95% it's after I've had to do a hard reboot.
The last few times that it's happened, I've heard the HD 'crunch' a bit, then the computer has locked up. Once I was playing DiabloII and it just locked and the other time I was using Firefox and it locked for a second or so then bluescreened. (It then said it was dumping physical memory to Harddisk, but didn't bring up a percentage indicator, which I'm pretty sure that it does when it really is dumping).

I can (normally) get it back by leaving the computer off for a few hours, then swapping which SATA connector on the motherboard the drive is connected to. (er, I'm not to sure how they're arranged and can't find my instruction book, but I swap between the first connector and the second one, I have a Winfast NF4UK8AA MoBo)
The longest it's ever failed to find it for is ~2 days (with connector-swapping every few hours).
The HD is a Seagate 200GB SATA, 7200.8 (I think, it was an OEM disk so I don't have instructions) [is that accurate enough? I can probably dig my invoice out if it's really necessary].

So, my question is this. On balance, is it more likely that:
a) My SATA controller is b0rked (It happens erratically and hasn't happened for over a week now, so switching it to one of the lower connectors for a few days and going "ooh, it hasn't brokened" won't really be a useful data point)
b) My Harddisk is b0rked (I haven't got the capability to backup the amount of data I have on here, so I can't run seagate's diagnostics safely)
c) Something else

Sorry, description wasn't more helpful

Thanks

-Gurkha

 

[gurkha]

hey thanks.

Responses to a few point:
1) Backup. Well, no really vital loss, but I'd rather not increase the risk of losing my data all the same. Most it can be replaced but it'll still take a lot of time to do.

2)Memory:
I left my computer running memtest today, it passed the full set of default test 16 times without an error.

3)Cables:
I am using the cheap cables that came with the motherboard. Is it a fair guess that that's the problem? I had considered it as well, but since once I changed the connectors it worked again I assumed that it wasn't. (I was working on the basis that if the cable had broken, it would have stayed broken).

The cables do seem the most plausible explanation (to me). It the SATA controller was faulty it would be failing more regularly or not working at all, surely?

Having said that, I think I'm going to get a new HD anyway since I ought to backup my data. What would be the disadvantage of me getting the IDE version instead of the SATA to head-off the potential problem of a faulty SATA controller? IDE isn't in danger of dying-out anytime soon, is it? Having an IDE disk will guarantee my new disk being the 'first' one, so windows should play along with that.
I'll make sure to order some nice cables this time.

thanks

-Gurkha