Maxtor 1 TB drive troubles - Tech Support Forums

sbloomberg · June 19th, 2008, 01:59 PM

Hello.

I'm a video editor running on a Mac G5 with Tiger. I've been using a Maxtor 1 TB one touch drive heavily for over a year now. Last week it decided to unmount itself multiple times. It then decided to not mount at all but the computer could still see it. Now the computer doesn't even know it exists and the blue light on the front has not lit up although if you place your hand on it, you can feel the drive running. (or just the fan).

I don't think it's totally dead but I would like to get the info (gigs of captured video from past projects) off. From what I've described, will a new enclosure work? Where do I get one?

Thanks.

-Steve

BipolarBill · June 19th, 2008, 07:52 PM

Darn, dude, you have had plenty of warning that something was amiss.

Try it on another PC/Mac first. If it fails there, it's going away. It will cost megabux to recover the data. It's possible that the shell circuitry is failing and not the drive itself. You may be able to disassemble it and put the drive in another enclosure. No guarantees.

What we like to do (the big guys, so to speak) is assemble our own. Buy a nice drive enclosure like the Antec MX-1 and plug in the drive of choice. If the drive starts to fail, you can replace the drive and keep the enclosure. It saves money in the long run.

Welcome to TechIMO, my Mac friend!

Newegg MX-1
Newegg.com - Antec MX-1 USB2.0 & eSATA External Enclosure - External Enclosures

sbloomberg · June 20th, 2008, 12:10 PM

Thanks for the info.

By the time I realized something was up, it was too late to try to back things up. It's not a tremendous loss. All that was on there was the captured video and rendered files. I can always re-capture and re-render if I have to. It's just disheartening.

I'm now thinking of just getting another 500 GB internal drive. I've thought heavily about my workflow and I think I've streamlined it enough so I don't have to have such a big drive. I'll use more DVD's and DVD-RW's to back things up on and that's relatively inexpensive insurance.

I'm beginning to think it was heat death that got the drive. That thing got hot.

I'll try it on my PC at home and see if I can pull anything off.

Thanks again.

-Steve

BipolarBill · June 20th, 2008, 03:47 PM

Well, that Maxtor does have a standard drive in it. It can be removed. The problem may actually be the enclosure circuitry. Hard drives are designed to take a beating. We can't say the same for the shell. You owe it to yourself to see if the drive is still working.

Get out the hammer and pry bar!

Peter M · June 21st, 2008, 05:43 PM

3.5" SATA hard disks are anything but "designed to take a beating". They're designed to maximize capacity and minimize cost - a recipe for disaster if put in an external enclosure.

BipolarBill · June 21st, 2008, 07:28 PM

True, but the circuitry is more heat resistant than the average enclosure circuitry.

Peter has a point. The huge drive capacities allow the drive makers to use spare hard drive space - which is used to move data from bad blocks to that spare space. The drive itself is constantly moving data around to prevent data loss. Unfortunately, some data is lost - small amounts. Those small bits of data can be critical files. Windows stores backup copies of critical files, but not all of them and not always in time. This is one of the reasons that Windows eventually takes a crap and needs reinstallation.

Drive makers could make more accurate and tougher drives, but they would cost thousands of dollars. The data swap method keeps costs down and drive sizes big for little money. The downside is that you have to be prepared for trouble. All the more reason to image hard drives regularly. Backup your data. Always keep critical data in at least two locations at all times and data loss will rarely bite you.

Good to "see" you again, Pierre.