Maxtor disk failed. Controller replacement?

Apt name. Describes the process of recovery very neatly.

Have you tried the freezer trick yet? It didn't work for me, but other people have had success with it. When I tried it, the drive did respond faster, even though it ultimately still did not get recognized properly by the BIOS.

Put the drive in the freezer for an hour, then hook it up to the computer and see what happens.

Todd

You may put it on a block of dry ice instead. It works faster.

I left mine in for 24 hours and was able to retrieve the data I needed /but/ had to keep spraying the chip with a freezing spray to keep it going for long enough...

Geo

I have been in some shops that are no more than automobile mechanics. There are also some that are owned by very knowledgeable individuals. Data recovery specialists are more and more in demand and is a worthwhile endeavor. Local corporations that do not have a specialists on staff are more and more inclined to use these for quick turn around. I learned this first hand in desperation needing to recover a project due ASAP. Computer Geeks from Bestbuy is an example of the house call needs of more than small businesses.

What? are you saying Geek Squad does data recovery?!

Oh by the way.. I think the auto mechanic anaology is kind of a good / bad. There used to be auto mechanics that would rebuild break calipers, mastercylleders, alternators, starters, etc rather than replace the entire part. Now days this isn't usually cost effective and any big business like a dealership won't have any knowledgeable mechanics working for them.. I feel the same is true with comptuer repair. It used to be if you went in to a computer shop they'd have an oscilloscope, soldering station, crt tester, etc.. I think it is just the advent of throw away equipment, cars and electronics.

- Mike

No, after I read what I posted I was sure it would appear that way. I meant to use that as an example of immediate needs at an affordable price. BAD example.

I remember well. With the disposability factor these days there are still things that do not fall into that category. I see the 'Local Data Recovery Specialists' as the emergency room of computer industry.

Years ago I would make an enjoyable weekend of replacing the 5th piston in my '63 Buick Wildcat -- it had a cracked cylindar wall and the rings would eventually get gummed up by watery oil. Much more recently I drove an '87 Quattro and used to take it to the dealer or one of the bigger reputible shops because I wanted it fixed right. After 3-4 visits I realized they didn't know how to fix cars and I resorted to being my own mechanic again.

So in regards to the this disk drive, I can understand the need for clean-rooms and delicate instruments. But since I belive this is a controller problem I'll try tackling it myself before I send it off to somebody. Here in Boston there is TechFusion, but they want $850 for a best case scenario. The folks in the UK are a bit cheaper and have a no-fix/no-pay policy.

I did find a seller of a same-model drive who claims the controller model # matches, so I'll try this before the freeze spray method.

Stay tuned!

(Please excuse the 'burp' when replying (b))

That sounds like a good plan. I think it should work since they say most drive failures are due to electronics not the platters.

Good Luck,

- Mike

Just grab all of them (with same board) you see on ebay. Don't do the "freezer trick" if you value your data.

"Peter" wrote in news:B%54g.1753$ snipped-for-privacy@news20.bellglobal.com:

Dry ice worked for me. I started with the freezer and it showed promise. Then I got some dry ice and copied like mad until it quit, then I let it chill back down and did it again. Kept it up, got all 60GB back!

Well you could freeze the control board without any worries but I wouldn't freeze the entire drive.

- Mike

This in no way guarantees the drives will have the same firmware version. There's every single chance that they could be from different batches.

I don't understand why your friend didn't just run the drives in RAID 1 array.

The chances of them both failing together (unless they were both Maxtors or some other cause) would probably be adequate, coupled with a backup regime.

Odie

Agreed, RAID 1 array is a solution. Wasn't my friend, rather someone who posted on the Internet. I don't recall if he discussed RAID. Some PC's only have physical space for one internal hard drive. As I recall, he contacted Maxtor and they informed him what to look for on the packaging to determine if the drives are from the same batch.

Fabian