Maxtor hard drive problem

[Jay Stevens]

I just plugged in my hard drive and when I do the computer takes forever to
recognize it and will only say "Local Disk (K" in "My Computer" Usually it
says the name "Maxtor" on there with an icon.
When I double click the icon it says "I/O device error" after many minutes
of trying to access it.

What could be going on.

The hard drive seems to be working fine there are no strange noises or
anything like that coming from it and the last time I used it was last
night.

Thanks

J

 

[Bob I]

The question is How did you just plug in your hard drive? There are many
methods of connecting it. IDE? Master/Slave? Cable Select? SATA? You may
wish to review the connection method and whether you did it properly.

 

[neil]

"Local disk" is the normal term for a hard drive in "my computer" What type
of interface is it, IDE or SATA. Is it a second disk on a cable with another
drive (IDE) if so have you set the master/slave link correctly, or does the
other drive on the cable have a link for "master with secondary drive
connected". Does it show in the bios correctly. If it is a SATA drive then
have you installed the driver correctly.

just a few thoughts.
Neil

 

[Jay Stevens]

This is just a regular external 160 G Maxtor.
I hook it up the same way I've always done which is with a USB cable.
I've always just hooked it up like that with no problems before, same as
last night.
This is it: http://reviews.digitaltrends.com/review63.html
Does that help?

Thanks

J

 

[neil]

See what you mean now. I guess you've tried restarting the PC, can you check
the USB port with anything else. Have you checked the USB drivers in device
manager. Can you check the drive on another PC to see if it is the PC or the
drive.

Neil

 

[Jay Stevens]

Neil,
Thanks for your attention and advice.
I have indeed tried the hard drive on another computer and to restart the
one where it is currently hooked up to.
When I go into Device Manager I see the hard drive does register there under
"Disk Drives".
I have not done the USB drivers in device manager.
How is that done?
I do not see the hard drive in the USB controllers dialog. All I see there
is "Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro Composite Device" and "General Purpose
USB Hub"
It seems like the hard drive should register there too. Not just at the
"Disk Drives".

Thanks

J

 

[Timothy Daniels]

It would have helped if you had said that it was an external
USB drive. There's an interesting note on the web page
that you referenced:

"*Editors Note 8/31/03: We lowered the overall score to a 7 because
of the number of e-mails we received concerning the drives reliability."

Another comment by the reviewer is:

"Lows:
No power switch, puts out a lot of heat"

Caution would suggest backing up the contents of that drive
as soon as you can because it may be dying. If you haven't
done it already, put the drive where there can be free air
convective flow around and through it to keep it as cool as
possible.

*TimDaniels*

"Jay Stevens" answered:

 

[neil]

Does it work correctly in the other PC or not. With regard to the USB
drivers I wondered if the USB2 drivers were correctly installed or had been
changed for any reason. The USB drivers (usually at the bottom of the list)
should show an "enhanced" device for USB2.

Neil

 

[windsurferLA]

The fact that you said "plugged in" suggest hard drive is connected via
USB. Are you sure the port is a USB2. If USB1, it will be very slow.