random hdd turned off

[I Nyoman Suka Ada]

Hi,
This is general problem, but thought I just ask it here first.
I have my OS-es installed on the first hdd, so there are partitions for 
FreeBSD, Linux[c]es, and Windows.
Second hdd contains some partitions (some are linux partitions, others 
FAT partitions). Nothing critical, I seldom use these partitions 
manually. Only for occasional backup purpose.

Now this second hdd somehow turns off itself at random time. Turns off, 
but ON immediately, that is. (Well, hardware faulty, but this is another 
subject).

What happens is that, both FreeBSD and Linux will crash when such thing 
happens, while my Win XP simply pretends nothing's happened (however, 
expectedly, any application that happens to use the second hdd at that 
particular time, will crash, but not the Win XP itself). My assumption 
is that, there is something on FreeBSD and Linux that keeps doing 
something to every hdd, while that's not the case in Win XP.
However, I like to have some enlightenment from others.
Pls share your view.

rgds,
Guido