maxtor external drive dead

[blackrain]

I have a 1TB OneTouch Drive that seems to power up, but when I plug the usb cable in, there is no response. I have heard that if you take the drive out of the case (voiding the warranty), you can still use the drive to get your data back in some cases.

I have thought about doing this, but am wondering whether Maxtor would do this for me (swapping out external cases for me if the drive is still good)? Does Maxtor offer a "repair" as an option? Or do they just offer you a replacement? Would they charge me for data recovery? I found some old posts via google of people complaining about not being able to get their data without paying for data recovery but wanted to check whether that is still the current policy.

Finally, how do I open up this piece of crap?

 

[Emulex]

try it; then chuck it in the garbage when it doesn't work.

 

[taltamir]

Originally posted by: blackrain
I have a 1TB OneTouch Drive that seems to power up, but when I plug the usb cable in, there is no response. I have heard that if you take the drive out of the case (voiding the warranty), you can still use the drive to get your data back in some cases.

I have thought about doing this, but am wondering whether Maxtor would do this for me (swapping out external cases for me if the drive is still good)? Does Maxtor offer a "repair" as an option? Or do they just offer you a replacement? Would they charge me for data recovery? I found some old posts via google of people complaining about not being able to get their data without paying for data recovery but wanted to check whether that is still the current policy.

Finally, how do I open up this piece of crap?

this is why you never ever buy an external drive... buy a drive, buy a case, and put them together. My dad's extenal recently failed. Since I bought the drive and case seperately, I was able to RMA the drive for replacement, and the case went in the trash (it cost 15$ originally).

You have to ask yourself, does the chance of getting my data back outweigh the value of the replacement drive? if so then go ahead and crack that sucker open. If it still doesn't work, professional recovery is only around 300$ nowadays

 

[Arkaign]

It's probably the SATA to USB adapter built into the enclosure. Yank the drive, good odds it will work fine as an internal (which it actually is).

 

[taltamir]

Originally posted by: Arkaign
It's probably the SATA to USB adapter built into the enclosure. Yank the drive, good odds it will work fine as an internal (which it actually is).

i have never, EVER, heard or seen an "external" drive which was NOT an internal drive with an adapter of sorts. The most complicated setups are several internal drives connected to a RAID controller, even then it will work as an internal (although the data will not be recoverable)

 

[thilanliyan]

I just recently had my Maxtor OneTouch mini die on me as well. Thankfully it sorta worked on my laptop and refused to on my desktop so I was able to zero the drive and send it back to Seagate who sent me a replacement which seems to be working fine now.

If your data is critical I would take it apart and take the financial hit. Otherwise just send it in for replacement.