Hard Drive Crash !!!

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purplebandalero

Well-known member
I wasn't sure which thread this posting would fit into...so I figured "Hardware" was about as close as I could get.

Just bought a new Maxtor 1.5 Gig drive about 2 months ago...partioned it into two sectors. I've been using it for my capture scratch and backups for P2 projects.

I went to turn it on yesterday and only the first partition was showing up on the G5. I ran disktools to mount the second partition, only to find that it was asking to run the repair system on it.

So...I did so. Then, went to reboot the system, only to find that the new drive is making this "click, click...beep" sound and it won't come online. Sounds like the drive isn't even spinning up.

Anyone got a suggestion or a "homemade" remedy to try? The data is pretty critical and my deadline is looming...I'd like to try every possibility before I start shelling out big bucks for data retrieval services.

Thank you in advance...

Michael
 
If the drive is making a clicking sound you probably want to call a data recovery center. There may be something mechanical wrong with the drive. I would take the drive out immediately to avoid damage to the disc surface and let a pro take care of it before all is lost.

The only thing I can think of is to put the drive into an external case and plug it in via usb/firewire to eliminate the main computer as causing the problem in the pci buss, power, etc...

But if I had a deadline and the data was critical, I would pay for the recovery.
 
I had the same problem with my Maxtor 1TB at the end of a shoot day. I was using it for P2 backup. Mine was set up as raid-1 mirror. Switched it on and one disk just started going - click,click,click & neither one showed up on my Mac! What the ....! I thought to myself! What the hell is the mirror raid for if you can't access the good hard disk! It was only 2 weeks old!

Thank god for some unexplained reason that day half way through my shoot I decided to back up everything on yet another external hard disk. I thanked my lucky stars I still had all my stuff. The job was worth about 30k!

The only way I can think of to try and recover your stuff is to hack open the Maxtor casing, take out the hard disks and put them in some new casings and test. This will of course void the warranty! But hey if your data is critical then go for it!

I sent mine back to Maxtor to get fixed which took about three weeks! Sold it as soon as I got it back.

Maxtor will not recover your data for you!

Is your Maxtor set up as one big 1.5 TB hard drive - high speed Raid 'O'?

If it is then I think you better star shelling out big bucks for data retrieval services:(

For the past year I have been using only Hitachi hard disks in self assembled external FW800 casings and haven't had any problems since.

Sorry to hear about your loss.. Maxtor sucks!
 
If you're looking for a home remedy. Search for info on freezing it. You leave it on the freezer for a while. I think what it does is shrink the mechanism and allows it to run for like 20 minutes. You must first have a backup up and running so you can quickly grab files if it starts running. Hope it helps
 
Making clicking sounds is not good...Try to grab what you can and RMA that drive back to Maxtor.
 
Hey Michael,

How is the Drive Recovery coming along. I've built many computer over the years and I find that the first thing that goes on them is the HDD. the second is the graphics card. Usually the fan goes on the Graphics Card then it overheats and finally it dies.

So it seems like spinning parts are the ones that die. HDD and Fans.

I'm on PC and many times that my HDD died, I was able to use recovery software to recover some files. This is of course when the drive became corrupt.

But I've never been able to recover from a Mechanical failure. Which unfortunately it seems to be what your drive has. :(

Well, I'll correct that statement. I have been able to have a drive that was clicking to re-start again and was able to dump some files off of it before it died again for good. But its very seldom and the drive is pretty much kaput.

Fortunately for me, I didn't have enough critical information to warrant an expensive retrieval process. Which by the way, takes a week or two. Unless you pay for rush services which double the price. So if you have a deadline and you need the footage get it to them ASAP.

Let us know how it turns out. Good luck.

Luis

ps: i've had HDD failures from all manufacturers thought the years. Its not "if" the drive will fail, its "when" the drive will fail. So Raid 1 or Raid 5 is highly recommended.
 
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