Maxtor 200GB Harddrive -- clanking noise -- bad, bad, bad

[Tom Scales]

OK, here's the deal. I have a Maxtor 200GB IDE drive. Came inside their
external USB2/Firewire housing.

Over the last few days, I've had it running non-stop, copying everything in
the world to it.

Then it died. Dead, dead, dead

When powered on, the PC recognizes it has a new USB2 device, but the drive
just clanks. Clanks, whirr, clank, whirr, clank, clank, whirr.

I pulled it from the enclosure and installed it internally. Same noise, and
the BIOS/OS (XP Pro) doesn't see it. So, I suspect -- dead drive, and XP is
just seeing the enclosure.

Makes, unfortunately, sense.

Now, since I have already voided the warranty by opening it up, and I don't
want to send it off for expensive recovery services, does anyone have any
suggestions? Thoughts on what it might be (other than dead).

I'm not averse to opening the drive itself up, if it will help. Nothing is
irreplaceable, but it would take significant effort to replace it.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Tom

 

[Timothy Daniels]

OK, here's the deal. I have a Maxtor 200GB IDE drive. Came inside their
external USB2/Firewire housing.

Over the last few days, I've had it running non-stop, copying everything in
the world to it.

Then it died. Dead, dead, dead

(Excuse me, Tom.) Hey!! Rod Speed!! Here's a guy with a USB2
*external hard drive*. Tell him how it's not supposed to die and how
it's more reliable than an internal HD in a removable tray. <hee, hee>

*TimDaniels*

 

[Rod Speed]

Tom Scales wrote

(Excuse me, Tom.) Hey!! Rod Speed!! Here's a guy with a USB2
*external hard drive*. Tell him how it's not supposed to die and how
it's more reliable than an internal HD in a removable tray. <hee, hee>

Thanks for the completely superfluous proof of what a
stupid little ****wit child you have always been, Timmy.

The same thing has happened with new internal drives too, ****wit.

 

[Timothy Daniels]

"Rod Speed" gathered his wits and intoned for posterity:

****wit.

Is *that* all you have to say? What about the guy's
problem?

*TimDaniels*

 

[Tom Scales]

Well, good to see Usenet is working as intended

Any actual thoughts on what I can do?

Tom

 

[Rod Speed]

Some pathetic little wanker claiming to be
message just the puerile shit thats always pouring from its lard arse.

 

[Arno Wagner]

OK, here's the deal. I have a Maxtor 200GB IDE drive. Came inside their
external USB2/Firewire housing.

Over the last few days, I've had it running non-stop, copying everything in
the world to it.

Then it died. Dead, dead, dead

No backup? By now I have everythign important in two places and
most other stuff at least on RAID-5. (I had two of the deathstars....).

When powered on, the PC recognizes it has a new USB2 device, but the drive
just clanks. Clanks, whirr, clank, whirr, clank, clank, whirr.

I pulled it from the enclosure and installed it internally. Same noise, and
the BIOS/OS (XP Pro) doesn't see it. So, I suspect -- dead drive, and XP is
just seeing the enclosure.

Makes, unfortunately, sense.

Now, since I have already voided the warranty by opening it up, and I don't
want to send it off for expensive recovery services, does anyone have any
suggestions? Thoughts on what it might be (other than dead).

One type of warranty you might still have is the one on the drive itself.
You can check online on Maxtors website here:

https://www.maxtor.com/en/support/service/rma/create/

I'm not averse to opening the drive itself up, if it will help. Nothing is
irreplaceable, but it would take significant effort to replace it.

No idea. Without the proper tools it is unlikely you can do anything.
Sometimes (seldomly) changing the oprating conditions significantly
helps for some minutes. In particular some people have had success
by putting their drives in the freezer for some hours (plastic bag,
don't deep-freeze!).

Arno

 

[Rod Speed]

OK, here's the deal. I have a Maxtor 200GB IDE drive. Came inside their
external USB2/Firewire housing.

Over the last few days, I've had it running non-stop, copying everything in
the world to it.

Then it died. Dead, dead, dead

When powered on, the PC recognizes it has a new USB2 device, but the drive
just clanks. Clanks, whirr, clank, whirr, clank, clank, whirr.

I pulled it from the enclosure and installed it internally. Same noise, and
the BIOS/OS (XP Pro) doesn't see it. So, I suspect -- dead drive, and XP is
just seeing the enclosure.

Makes, unfortunately, sense.

Now, since I have already voided the warranty by opening it up, and I don't
want to send it off for expensive recovery services, does anyone have any
suggestions? Thoughts on what it might be (other than dead).

You've proved pretty conclusively that it is
dead by trying the drive itself outside the case.

I'm not averse to opening the drive itself up, if it will help.

It wont. A logic card swap from an identical drive may
be worth trying but hasnt got much chance of working.

 

[Tom Scales]

No, no backup because it wasn't worth backing up. It's not irreplaceable,
just annoying. Everything critical has multiple backups, including offsite.

Did pull the drive out of the case and put it onto a direct IDE chain.
didn't help.

Ah well, live and learn.

 

[Arno Wagner]

No, no backup because it wasn't worth backing up. It's not irreplaceable,
just annoying. Everything critical has multiple backups, including offsite.

Did pull the drive out of the case and put it onto a direct IDE chain.
didn't help.

O.K., I see you thought about backup. Unfortunately many people
do not.

My personal opinion is that investing work into the drive is likely
a waste of time. Fixing this high-tech precision things is allmost
impossible. I used to have the service manual for a 60MB MFM drive.
It was about 100 pages of technical information. Today the drives
are not less complicated, just more integrated (i.e. harder to fix).

Arno

 

[FredG]

snip

Have you tried installing it as a slave?

 

[Tom Scales]

Yep. So far I have tried it as the slave (well, the slave spot on a Cable
Select Cable) and in the USB enclosure. Same symptons.

Tried 'chilling it'. Didn't help.

I'm willing to buy the matching drive and swap logic boards if there is a
chance that will work.

Any thoughts?

Tom

 

[Rod Speed]

Yep. So far I have tried it as the slave (well, the slave spot on
a Cable Select Cable) and in the USB enclosure. Same symptons.

Tried 'chilling it'. Didn't help.

I'm willing to buy the matching drive and swap
logic boards if there is a chance that will work.

Any thoughts?

Its unlikely with drives that modern.

 

[Tom Scales]

So this is progress?

Its unlikely with drives that modern.

 

[Arno Wagner]

So this is progress?

Actually it is cheap.

There is a reason many Mainboards today have RAID. Remember that
the 'I' stands fro Inexpensive....

Arno

 

[Rod Speed]

So this is progress?

Not for data recovery if you arent properly backed up.

It is progress on the price per GB of hard drive space tho.