Crashed Maxtor Drive - Ideas?
mcp6453
a power flicker, and the power to the machine was interrupted. (It was
at that point he learned that his UPS had died, or either it crashed at
the same time since he regularly tests it.)
1. SpinRite doesn't get past 0%. It hangs at the beginning of the drive,
although it keeps trying.
2. With the drive installed as a data drive in a good machine, the good
machine will not even boot.
3. The Maxtor MaxBlast software warns that the drive is failing.
Thankfully he has backups of his critical data, but it would be a lot
simpler to find a way to get this drive going long enough to image it to
a new drive. I'm out of options. Any ideas or utilities I should consider?
Arno
> The 80GB Maxtor drive on my friend's XP SP3 computer crashed. There was
> a power flicker, and the power to the machine was interrupted. (It was
> at that point he learned that his UPS had died, or either it crashed at
> the same time since he regularly tests it.)
> 1. SpinRite doesn't get past 0%. It hangs at the beginning of the drive,
> although it keeps trying.
> 2. With the drive installed as a data drive in a good machine, the good
> machine will not even boot.
> 3. The Maxtor MaxBlast software warns that the drive is failing.
Sounds like the drive does not respond to commands anymore, i.e. it
is dead. Posssibly was in the process of failing an the
power problem finished it off.
> Thankfully he has backups of his critical data, but it would be a lot
> simpler to find a way to get this drive going long enough to image it to
> a new drive. I'm out of options. Any ideas or utilities I should consider?
No software will help. If the drive does not respond, software
cannot do anything. Likely the only option is professional
data recovery, which is expensive, more so for defective
hardware. Advice: Cut your losses.
Arno
--
Arno Wagner, Dr. sc. techn., Dipl. Inform., CISSP -- Email: ar...@wagner.name
GnuPG: ID: 1E25338F FP: 0C30 5782 9D93 F785 E79C 0296 797F 6B50 1E25 338F
----
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mcp6453
> mcp6453 <mcp...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> The 80GB Maxtor drive on my friend's XP SP3 computer crashed. There was
>> a power flicker, and the power to the machine was interrupted. (It was
>> at that point he learned that his UPS had died, or either it crashed at
>> the same time since he regularly tests it.)
>
>> 1. SpinRite doesn't get past 0%. It hangs at the beginning of the drive,
>> although it keeps trying.
>> 2. With the drive installed as a data drive in a good machine, the good
>> machine will not even boot.
>> 3. The Maxtor MaxBlast software warns that the drive is failing.
>
> Sounds like the drive does not respond to commands anymore, i.e. it
> is dead. Posssibly was in the process of failing an the
> power problem finished it off.
>
>> Thankfully he has backups of his critical data, but it would be a lot
>> simpler to find a way to get this drive going long enough to image it to
>> a new drive. I'm out of options. Any ideas or utilities I should consider?
>
> No software will help. If the drive does not respond, software
> cannot do anything. Likely the only option is professional
> data recovery, which is expensive, more so for defective
> hardware. Advice: Cut your losses.
Thanks.
Rod Speed
You could try a logic card swap from an identical known good drive
mcp6453
I wonder, though, if the problem is not mechanical. The BIOS sees the
drive. However, that doesn't mean the board is not bad. I doubt I have
an identical drive. If I can find one, it might be worth a shot.
Rod Speed
> Rod Speed wrote
>> mcp6453 wrote
>>> The 80GB Maxtor drive on my friend's XP SP3 computer crashed. There was a power flicker, and the power to the
>>> machine was interrupted. (It was at that point he learned that his UPS had died, or either it crashed at the same
>>> time since he regularly tests it.)
>>> 1. SpinRite doesn't get past 0%. It hangs at the beginning of the
>>> drive, although it keeps trying.
>>> 2. With the drive installed as a data drive in a good machine, the
>>> good machine will not even boot.
>>> 3. The Maxtor MaxBlast software warns that the drive is failing.
>>> Thankfully he has backups of his critical data, but it would be a lot simpler to find a way to get this drive going
>>> long enough to image it to a new drive. I'm out of options. Any ideas or utilities I should consider?
>> You could try a logic card swap from an identical known good drive
> I wonder, though, if the problem is not mechanical.
Thats unlikely given that it died during a power flick. Thats much
more likely to produce an electical failure, not a mechanical failure.
> The BIOS sees the drive. However, that doesn't mean the board is not bad. I doubt I have an identical drive. If I can
> find one, it might be worth a shot.
You should be able to find one on ebay etc.
Franc Zabkar
finger to keyboard and composed:
If you swap the PCB, be aware that you may have to swap the 8-pin
serial EEPROM chip as well. This is because it contains the
"adaptives" that were determined during calibration at the factory.
Can you hear the drive spin up?
Are there any visible signs of damage on the circuit board? You may
have to check both sides.
What is the model number?
Is this it?
http://xdr5tgy7ujmcft67uhgbvvgy75thn.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/boardmaxtordiamondplus980gb.jpg
- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.
mcp6453
> On Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:05:12 -0500, mcp6453 <mcp...@gmail.com> put
> finger to keyboard and composed:
>
>> The 80GB Maxtor drive on my friend's XP SP3 computer crashed. There was
>> a power flicker, and the power to the machine was interrupted. (It was
>> at that point he learned that his UPS had died, or either it crashed at
>> the same time since he regularly tests it.)
>>
>> 1. SpinRite doesn't get past 0%. It hangs at the beginning of the drive,
>> although it keeps trying.
>> 2. With the drive installed as a data drive in a good machine, the good
>> machine will not even boot.
>> 3. The Maxtor MaxBlast software warns that the drive is failing.
>>
>> Thankfully he has backups of his critical data, but it would be a lot
>> simpler to find a way to get this drive going long enough to image it to
>> a new drive. I'm out of options. Any ideas or utilities I should consider?
>
> If you swap the PCB, be aware that you may have to swap the 8-pin
> serial EEPROM chip as well. This is because it contains the
> "adaptives" that were determined during calibration at the factory.
>
> Can you hear the drive spin up?
Yes, it does.
> Are there any visible signs of damage on the circuit board? You may
> have to check both sides.
No
> What is the model number?
It's at home, so I will have to report later.
> Is this it?
> http://xdr5tgy7ujmcft67uhgbvvgy75thn.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/boardmaxtordiamondplus980gb.jpg
I don't know yet. Does this drive have known problems?
Franc Zabkar
finger to keyboard and composed:
>Franc Zabkar wrote:
>> Is this it?
>> http://xdr5tgy7ujmcft67uhgbvvgy75thn.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/boardmaxtordiamondplus980gb.jpg
>
>I don't know yet. Does this drive have known problems?
I was going to suggest that you inspect the SMOOTH chip. That is the
spindle motor and voice coil motor controller. I have seen quite a few
cases of these chips burning up.
The fact that the drive is spinning up suggests that the MCU and motor
controller are OK, and that the onboard supplies are probably OK.
You may like to read the following article:
http://hddscan.com/doc/HDD_from_inside.html