Maxtor OneTouch II, 100GB - Power Failure

[Artistmarkets]

I recently bought the Maxtor 500Gb. I did my second update last night. When I turned on my computer this morning all was well until a window appeared saying: Please plug in the removed device or all data will be lost. If course, the Maxtor WAS plugged in, but the light on it was no longer lit ... seemingly no power supply. I unplugged everything on the Maxtor and tried it on a different outlet and with the firewire cable instead of the usb cable - to no avail. I do not know if it is the power cord or the device itself. My power cord does not have a box on it and my Maxtor does not have an off/on switch.

Macbook Pro Laptop duo Mac 10.4.11

[Kevin Bates]

I just came across this posting because I too have the same issue with now power being supplied to the unit, taking the hard drive out is quite easy if you still have it. Just take out the two screws on the back (one covered with a warranty seal) and then over a mattress, pillow or thick rug gently tap the end downwards so that the inards start to slide out. Once out, you'll probably see a burnt component on the circuit board next to the on/off switch but you hard drive would be removable and readable provided that it hasn't in itself failed.

Your Dell 8400 has a SATA drive but you could find a way to adapt it to make it readable even just by replacing the Maxtor housing with a third party 3.5" IDE enclosure.

A few little pieces of advice though, in future, don't leave the any external USB device running, 24 hours, use a high quality surge/power protector (3700 joules or more (APC surgearrest)), and remove USB devices gently by either using the preferred "stop this device" utility or similar method.

I hope this is still useful after all this time, if not for you then maybe somebody else.

Best of luck
Kevin Bates

[ummmmbeer]

there are 2 small phillips screws on the back left and right. the right is under the "void if removed" sticker. after removing the screws and removing the decorative plate you can pull the entire assembly from the case, its a tight fit and I could not pull it without damaging the back pannel, I bent it 90 degrees and used it to pull out the guts. inside you will find a standard IDE drive with power molex ribbon cable a small board with rocker switch, p3 and USB (or FW). Four screws hold the HDD to the chassis then remove ribbon and power and retainer clip and she is out.

[Dianaac]

You guys are all awesome!
We had a power surge here and I can no longer turn it on. The green light blinks. Going to try taking it apart. Really burns me up that it burned out so easily(mine was on a surge protector though not as good a one as I use for my main computer). So much for Maxtor drives. Left it on 24 hrs a day. Thanks for all your help.