maxtor external hard drive dropped

[mystreetgang]

thanks Spacesurfer.

I can open the case, and i can see a rectangular unit attached to the motherboard, not sure what to do next.

Ner - you mentioned you'd done something similar yourself, the Maxtor model is the: Maxtor Seagate STM305004EHDB01-RK Basics Personal Storage 3200 500GB USB 2.0,

any ideas on if that can be fixed?

CHEERS

[Ponch]

Unless you have a laptop,

-open your computer

-locate the Hard Disk (I guess you know what it looks like)

-check the two cables it is attached with -signal-power

-check that you have the same connectors somewhere on the drive you just opened, possibly you'll have to remove more stuffs. Hopefully it will be SATA connectors (small, 1 or 2 centimeters wide), so you won't have to bother about Master/Slave jumpers settings.

-check that you have two of the same cables that you can attach from your motherboard to your external HDD, it is possible that you use the ones from your optical drive.

-turn on the PC and see what BIOS detects, then what Windows sees.

-copy your stuff anywhere you can.

-Good luck.

[DJ MyRinX]

Combine the last posts of Spacesufer and Ponch.

You need to open the case and remove the hdd. (If it still works you can buy new cases)

• Product Description Maxtor Basics Personal Storage 3200 - hard drive - 500 GB - Hi-Speed USB

• Type Hard drive - external

• Form Factor 3.5"

• Dimensions (WxDxH) 15.2 cm x 4.4 cm x 22.2 cm

• Weight 1.16 kg

• Capacity 500 GB

• Interface Type Hi-Speed USB

• Data Transfer Rate 480 Mbps

• Average Seek Time 9 ms

• Spindle Speed 7200 rpm

• Buffer Size 16 MB

• OS Required Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional , Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition, Microsoft Windows XP Professional

• Power Source Included AC adapter

• Power AC 120/230 V ( 50/60 Hz )

• Manufacturer Warranty 2 years warranty

It's just a regular 3.5" disk.

When you demolished (read: gently took- a -part) the case, you can place the hdd in a pc which have the same connectors.

After that hope for the best.

[Kelsenellenelvian]

• Manufacturer Warranty 2 years warranty

Granted you already voided the warranty by disassembling it. But I am very sorry to say your drive is dead... (It's like trying to walk on two-very broken legs)

Unless you have a clean-room and the proper set of tools, plus the exact same type of drive then there is no way to get any data off of it without spending thousands of dollars.

I have attempted drive swaps like that before and the only one I was ever successfully with was just when I switched the boards out. Any further into the drive and recovery became WAAAAY beyond my league. (I have been at PC's since the days of commodore 64 and windows 3.

All the case is is a box of wires with a plastic housing for the drive itself. by itself it will not make any noise when the drive comes on. The noise you hear, like others have said is coming from inside the drive itself and means that you have irrevocably damaged the drive.

I know 500 gigs is allot but when you have the means you should always keep redundant backups. Thats a lesson I have learned several times....

[e-berlin]

maybe you should consider SSD (Solid-State Drive) as your next external drive, some "stairs jumping" won't do no harm to it

[DJ MyRinX]

@ Kelsenellenelvian: The warranty is only valid for drives that don't got some sort of stairs fetish, right?

I don't think that there is any way Maxtor will accept this drive for any form of RMA, or should they?

I always thought warranty is only granted to defect drives within the warranty period, and only to drives which became defect used normally.

Someone correct me if i'm wrong.

[kahlil88]

I recently had a hard drive drop (or rather, my friend's dog yanked it off a table). At first, it would just take a really long time to spin up, and I would hear a ticking sound, but now I can't get it to spin up at all. My friend connected it internally and ran some hard drive diagnostic programs, and he said that it eventually spun up again. Unfortunately, it went back to not working after he powered the computer off.