Maxtor Hard Drive Problems
Generally reliable, Maxtor drives like any other HDD, will fail at times. Here we discuss the most common problems found in Maxtor models.
Bearing Failures
Maxtor’s well known “musical” HDD line has a high level of bearings failures. This happens when the spindle sticks and the motor voice coil produces interesting melodies that sound like a futuristic cell phone. To recover data in this case, platters need to be removed in a class 100 clean room and transplanted into a matching donor. This is a very precise, complex operation that requires loads of experience and the correct tools.
Firmware Corruption
This is easily the most common complaint when it comes to Maxtor hard drives. Diagnosed when the drive shows up incorrectly in the BIOS, or not at all. Many people think that firmware is situated on the PCB, however, it is actually located on a platter in the System Area. This System Area is found inside the negative cylinders on the inner diameter of the drive.It takes just one of these modules to become corrupt for the entire hard drive to crash. When this happens the drive will be identified by its factory alias (SABRE / N40P / GRIZZLY) and a zero capacity. Trying to read data or boot up the drive will result in one of the following BIOS error messages:
“Primary Master Hard Disk Fail”
“S.M.A.R.T. Capable But Command Failed”
“No operating system found”
“Disk boot failure. Insert system disk and press enter”
“USB Device malfunctioned”
It is impossible to fix this problem at home as it’s a rather complicated and specialized procedure. More difficult than “firmware flashing”, extensive data recovery and HDD knowledge combined with expensive equipment is required to successfully fix this problem.
Read / Write Head Problems
Yet another common symptom in Maxtor drives is beeping, clicking or knocking sounds . If the fan doesn’t work properly the hard drive can reach very high temperatures which consequently can cause heads to click. Another cause can be a fall or knock, or sudden termination that dislodges the heads . What happens is that when the HDD spins up the heads are unable to return to their usual position, thus creating the clicking or knocking sounds . Before starting in a clean room, first rule out any potential firmware malfunctions which can also cause clicking.
Circuit Board / Electronic Issues
Typical issue number three is usually caused by a burnt spindle motor.
The circuit boards (PCB) on Maxtor drives are very sensitive; all it takes is a poor power supply + power streak = overheating. If this happens, the PC will reboot on its own and you will smell smoke coming from the computer. When switched on the drive won’t spin at all.
Raw / Bad Sectors
The reason for bad sectors is the decaying of the magnetic media which covers the platters within the drive. This occurs over time and there isn’t much you can do to prevent it.
The hard drive in this instance will usually display a “RAW” error message for Windows, or in Mac OS X: “The disk is not readable by this system”, while still showing correctly in the BIOS.
The bad sector is unreadable and when the drive hits the affected spot the result is scratching, ticking, freezing and even loud clicking. Each time this happens, more damage is caused and more data lost. The moment these symptoms present themselves, stop the drive and contact your nearest data recovery specialist. The lab uses specific imaging hardware to read the raw sector, ignoring checksum check. This is probably the only way to successfully recover your data.
We support data recovery on all models of Maxtor Hard Disk Drives as follows:
MODELS
Atlas, Athena, Ares 64k, Calypso, Cheyenne, D541X, ,D531X, DiamondMax 8s, Diamond Max 10, DiamondMax 16, DiamondMax 17, DiamondMax 1750, DiamondMax 1750A, DiamondMax 20 VL, DiamondMax 2160, DiamondMax 2880, DiamondMax 30 VL, DiamondMax 30 VL, DiamondMax 3400, DiamondMax 36, DiamondMax 40, DiamondMax 40 VL, DiamondMax 4320, DiamondMax 536DX, DiamondMax 60, DiamondMax 6800, DiamondMax 80, DiamondMax D540X-4D, DiamondMax D540X-4G, DiamondMax D540X-4K, DiamondMax Plus 16, DiamondMax Plus 2500, DiamondMax Plus 40, DiamondMax Plus 45, DiamondMax Plus 5120, DiamondMax Plus 60, DiamondMax Plus 6800, DiamondMax Plus 8, DiamondMax Plus 9, DiamondMax Plus D740X, Durango, Excalibur, Fireball 3, Fireball 531DX, Fireball 541DX, Fireball lct20, Fireball Plus ASFalcon, MaxLine, Nike, N40P, Panther , Proxima, Rigel, Romulus, Vilcan
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IDE / 3.5" PC DRIVE |
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140515-001 |
71084AP |
91000D8 |
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MOBILE / LAPTOP / NOTEBOOK / 2.5" DRIVE |
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|
251340AT |
90320D2 |
T700CLEK |
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SCSI / SERVER / RAID / NAS / SAN |
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|
6L250R0 |
8C036J0 |
LXT-50S |
|
EIDE |
||
|
3151P |
82580A5 |
ST0154000U |
|
ESDI |
||
|
EXT-4380 |
XT-4175 |
XT-4280 |
|
FHT ESDI |
||
|
P1-08E |
XT-3380E |
XT-8610E |
|
FHT MFM ST506 |
||
|
XT-1065 |
XT-2085 |
XT-2140 |
|
FHT RLL ST506 |
||
|
XT-1120R |
|
|
|
HH |
||
|
7080 |
72004A |
7345SR |
|
MFM |
||
|
XT-1050 |
XT-1120 |
XT-1240R |
|
OTHER |
||
|
250837AT |
81080A2 |
83202A6 |
|
SATA |
||
|
6B200MO |
6V160E0 |
6Y200M0 |
|
ULTRA |
||
|
6B250S0 |
6L300S0 |
6L160P0 |
|
USB |
||
|
A01A200 |
E14G300 |
T14E200 |
|
1/3HT ATA |
||
|
7273AT |
7405AT |
7546AT |
|
1/3HT ATA2 FAST |
||
|
71050A |
7130A(T) |
7425AV |