Faulty Maxtor Drive

[Nik]

Hi

Further to my lengthy post about my Maxtor 200GB Sata drive that wiped
itself clean overnight, I was wondering if you exeperts could advise me on a
couple of points?

The drive is currently sitting in RAW format. I have scanned it with
RecoverMyFiles software and it finds all my "backed-up" DVD files, and I can
obviously pay to retrieve these, but as I obviously have the originals, I
don't need to do that.

The supplier has told me to send the drive back for "testing" and, if it
proves to be faulty, they will replace it.

Is it me, or is the fact that it wiped itself/reformatted overnight an
indication that it is faulty?

Will attempting to reformat the disc to NTFS wipe the old "backed-up" DVD
files? I don't want anyone getting the wrong idea if/when it is tested by
the supplier, and they see the old DVD files.

I am prepared to lose all the data on the drive, and they want it back for
testing, so I'm in a bit of a dilemma. Leave it exactly as it is and let
them decide if it's faulty or not (at the moment it reports the file
structure as faulty/corrupted when I try to access the drive), or reformat
it to NTFS and send it back, only for them to say "Hmm, seems ok to us!" and
I get it back, knowing that it has failed me once already - would they/you
use it to put valuable data onto knowing it had failed already?

Also, are they "likely" to use recovery software to scan what "was" on it?

Any ideas appreciated!

NIk.

 

[kony]

Hi

Further to my lengthy post about my Maxtor 200GB Sata drive that wiped
itself clean overnight, I was wondering if you exeperts could advise me on a
couple of points?

The drive is currently sitting in RAW format. I have scanned it with
RecoverMyFiles software and it finds all my "backed-up" DVD files, and I can
obviously pay to retrieve these, but as I obviously have the originals, I
don't need to do that.

The supplier has told me to send the drive back for "testing" and, if it
proves to be faulty, they will replace it.

Is it me, or is the fact that it wiped itself/reformatted overnight an
indication that it is faulty?

Maybe, though a severe power problem or lack of 48bit LBA
support might wipe it too. The Maxtor diagnostics should be
ran. There isn't necessarily a need to send the drive to
the supplier at all if it's still covered under Maxtor's
warranty, you could instead send the drive direct to Maxtor.

Will attempting to reformat the disc to NTFS wipe the old "backed-up" DVD
files? I don't want anyone getting the wrong idea if/when it is tested by
the supplier, and they see the old DVD files.

Reformating will make them seem "gone", though an extensive
probe of the drive would find data structures. To remove
those you would need overwrite the drive with a zero-fill,
random write or other data. It is quite doubtful that they
would try to recover old DVDs though, unless there were
titled something both illegal and very socially unacceptible
like "Plans to overthrown government" or "Young Children
Posing". If that's on the drive, cut it out and destroy the
drive.

I am prepared to lose all the data on the drive, and they want it back for
testing, so I'm in a bit of a dilemma. Leave it exactly as it is and let
them decide if it's faulty or not (at the moment it reports the file
structure as faulty/corrupted when I try to access the drive), or reformat
it to NTFS and send it back, only for them to say "Hmm, seems ok to us!" and
I get it back, knowing that it has failed me once already - would they/you
use it to put valuable data onto knowing it had failed already?

Is sending it to Maxtor not an option?
Go ahead and zero-fill it, 1-pass random write or whatever.
Format it if necessary.

Also, are they "likely" to use recovery software to scan what "was" on it?

No, they're not at all likely to try to recover data unless
you specifically asked them to. However, it is out of your
control whether they tried to do it once you send in the
drive. If all you did is rip some commercially available
DVDs to your hard drive I wouldn't worry about it, just send
in the drive as-is.

 

[Nik]

Thanks for that
support might wipe it too

What does that mean? If there was a power cut or something? Don't get the
48bit LBA part either!

If the diagnostics bring back "no-fault" would that suffice? Are you saying
that it may not need replacing if the diagnostics bring back no fault?

By the way, the DVDs genuinely are DVD's that I own, and have backed up onto
H/D as the kids use & scratch them! I've only ever re-written one once!! ;-)
Nothing dodgy, or socially unacceptable.

Thanks again.

Nik.

 

[Nik]

I'm just trying to get some advice from Shep as to how to get the Powermax
program to help me, I explained that I am getting stuck with it. Once I have
done this and established that the drive "appears" to be ok, I want to be
able to:

...as you put it. Can you give me an idea of how to do this?

I have done a Seagate online/windows based scan and it reports that it's ok.

Cheers.

Nik.

 

[Alceryes]

..as you put it. Can you give me an idea of how to do this?

Pick the selection that says 'Low-level format' and do the full not just the
quick. That way if there is a surface area problem it will either report it
or perhaps fix it.
--


"I don't cheat to survive. I cheat to LIVE!!"
- Alceryes

 

[kony]

Thanks for that

support might wipe it too

What does that mean? If there was a power cut or something? Don't get the
48bit LBA part either!

It means that your drive could be fine but another system
hardware problem (power) impeded the drive writing. 48bit
LBA is necessary for support of 200GB drive, but if your OS
isn't working right it may corrupt it once you get past ~
128GB point.

If the diagnostics bring back "no-fault" would that suffice?

Suffice for what?
Just run the diagnostic. There is no fortune telling
involved. If it reports the drive is failed, it's clear-cut
to send it back for replacement. If it reports the drive is
OK, you need to double-check the rest of the system first,
THEN if there is nothing else wrong, blame the drive.

Are you saying
that it may not need replacing if the diagnostics bring back no fault?

Yes
It could be the drive but might not be. This is the whole
point of the diagnostics, it's not just some concept, it is
expressly for these kinds of situations.

Running the diagnostics is the very first step to take.
Not contacting the seller, not posting here.
IF the drive had any readable data that needed backed up,
then diagnostics would be 2nd step, after copying off any
data that could be copied.

By the way, the DVDs genuinely are DVD's that I own, and have backed up onto
H/D as the kids use & scratch them! I've only ever re-written one once!! ;-)
Nothing dodgy, or socially unacceptable.

It doesn't bother me one way or the other, and could be
beside the point since nobody else is going to know what
DVDs you do or don't own. Of greater concern would be if
you had personal information on the drive, for example a
credit card # or something similar of monetary value in the
"My Documents" folder, that wouldn't be the kind of thing
I"d want to hand over to some kid at a computer shop... I
trust Maxtor more than a shop tech, their reputation would
be tarnished severely if data on a HDD sent to them was used
for anything.

 

[Nik]

OK, so what diagnostic utility should I use. I can't get Powermax to work on
my system, believe me - I've tried! And how do I check that 48bit LBA is
enabled?

Thanks again.

Nik.

 

[kony]

OK, so what diagnostic utility should I use. I can't get Powermax to work on
my system, believe me

The drive should have been tried in another system or a
floppy drive used.

And how do I check that 48bit LBA is
enabled?

XP SP2 or WIn2k (SP3 or 4, I forget which) and the
associated registry key (google will find it).

 

[Nik]

I looked it up, and it appears that LBA support is only applicable to W2K
and XPSP1 where it may be off by default. There isn't even an "Enablebiglba"
registry key in XPSP2. I checked the BIOS and it does have the enable LBA
support checked. So I can tick that one off the list.

I'll reformat and zerofill etc, and test it over a number of weeks.

Thanks for your advice, I won't bother sending it back to the supplier, they
had my system for 8-9weeks last time, I'd rather just buy another drive if
it fails again!

Cheers.

Nik.

 

[kony]

I looked it up, and it appears that LBA support is only applicable to W2K
and XPSP1 where it may be off by default. There isn't even an "Enablebiglba"
registry key in XPSP2. I checked the BIOS and it does have the enable LBA
support checked. So I can tick that one off the list.

I'll reformat and zerofill etc, and test it over a number of weeks.

Thanks for your advice, I won't bother sending it back to the supplier, they
had my system for 8-9weeks last time, I'd rather just buy another drive if
it fails again!

Keep in mind that while there are no "guarantees" I can
give, I feel it's more likely that if you were to send the
drive to Maxtor instead of the supplier, they'd send you
another drive without the issue of testing original to
determine (based on that test) whether you get same drive
back or not. I have never heard of anyone sending a drive
to Maxtor and having Maxtor contact them and challenge an
RMA, rather than just sending the replacement no questions
asked.

 

[Nik]

I'm afraid the warranty on this drive is out by a few months, so I don't
think that Maxtor would consider it back.

Long story short(ish); I had this drive in the original system when the
motherboard failed. I sent the whole system (minus this H/D) back to the
manufaturer, who replaced the MoBo & provided a new SATA drive (for a
minimal cost). This meant I had a new mobo/processor/graphics/install of XP
etc and a new SATA drive, I just plugged this (200GB) drive back in and used
it as my large data storage drive for my DV captures.

I have checked using Everest Utility, and it doeas state 48BIT LBA enabled,
so that isn't the issue.

Thanks again.

Nik.