| laborlitigator |
| My 300 gb Maxtor just died. It won't even power up. Is there anyway to save the files on it without it costing an arm and a leg? |
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| SilveradoMDX |
| Are any of the 4 power connectors prong loose? If so, you can solder them together you may need to cut any plastic interfering your way. Might also be your power supply cable, try switching them. Without any subdue power, your pretty much out of luck. Otherwise, you may need to bring them to a harddrive recovery center. |
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| crmsnidol |
I would try Silverado's advice first - always try the easiest, quickest and leaset invasive tests first. If you have an external drive case you could put the Maxtor in there and see what it does too.
My more complicated next step:
It sounds like a power problem and not a mechanical one (I know - DUH! right). This is a good thing because it means the data should still be there intact because the drive heads haven't crashed. One thing you could do is buy another of the same brand/model/capacity and swap the guts out. Guys I work with have done this with positive results. |
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| JL_SS |
| I had my hd die on me last year with the same symptoms. I had most everything backed up but saving a few recent files would make my life a lot easier. So I wound up replacing the drive with a new one and reinstalling windows. Then installing the dead HD as a second drive. I found that the drive would be recognized in about 1 out of every 10 boots and I was able to copy all the files I needed to the new drive during one of the successful boots. Similiar to what crmsnidol is suggesting with the external drive case. I agree with the suggestions given so far though, check the simple stuff first, connections, etc. Good Luck with it. |
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| laborlitigator |
I changed the power supply so the connections aren't the problem. I then tried it in an external case, same result.
On a difficulty scale of 1 to 10, how difficult would it be to swap out the old drive and place it into a new one? Sounds cheaper than going to a recovery place. |
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| SilveradoMDX |
| Sounds to me from your original post that your problem may exist on the connectors. Since its not the power supply at all, then its an internal HDD issue power source, you can pop it open and simply hotswapping either the power source or the HDD cylinders but becareful not to touch them. |
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| G. COLTON |
quote:
Originally posted by laborlitigator
I changed the power supply so the connections aren't the problem. I then tried it in an external case, same result.
On a difficulty scale of 1 to 10, how difficult would it be to swap out the old drive and place it into a new one? Sounds cheaper than going to a recovery place.
Simply changing out the entire hard drive is no more than a 1 on the scale of ten. However, you save no data doing this. All of the work comes in reloading the programs and trying to recover the data.
Of course what you need to recover depends upon how consciencious you are about doing your backups. I probably overkill, but anything of importance is backed up at least twice.
If your machine will handle it you can install parallel hardrives and have a built=in backup system.
Good luck.
G |
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| Rodzir |
| If you want your files here is what to do. Understand this will only work if the controler board on the drive has failed. Purchase the exact same driv. I mean the exact same drive. If the board is bad you can swap the boards on the drives very easily. Usually they are held on by some type of torx screw. Get the new drive and the screwdriver. Carefully remove the board from the old drive paying attention of how it connects to the drive ie. pin connector or contacts. Then remove the board fromt he good drive and install it on your old drive and screw it down. Install it in your system and it should boot. You can keep that drive or copy info off and put boards back and install new drive and put file back. REMEMBER I am not telling you to open the case of the hard drive. Just take the 2 or 3 screws that hold the board to the drive off. Yes I have done this before the salvage data. Best of luck |
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| laborlitigator |
quote:
Originally posted by Rodzir
If you want your files here is what to do. Understand this will only work if the controler board on the drive has failed. Purchase the exact same driv. I mean the exact same drive. If the board is bad you can swap the boards on the drives very easily. Usually they are held on by some type of torx screw. Get the new drive and the screwdriver. Carefully remove the board from the old drive paying attention of how it connects to the drive ie. pin connector or contacts. Then remove the board fromt he good drive and install it on your old drive and screw it down. Install it in your system and it should boot. You can keep that drive or copy info off and put boards back and install new drive and put file back. REMEMBER I am not telling you to open the case of the hard drive. Just take the 2 or 3 screws that hold the board to the drive off. Yes I have done this before the salvage data. Best of luck
I'll give it a try! |
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