Maxtor HD failure

[tacito]

Hi !!!
Please understand that I am not an expert.

I have a 40GB Maxtor HD with the following specifications:
(tell me if you need more)

Model: 2F040L0
Code: VAM51JJ0
ATA/133
5400 rpm
LBA: 80293248
There are 3 partitions

This post is long but I want to give you all the information possible. Sorry if some information is irrelevant.

I was using the Maxtor HD as my primary master HD.
Some time ago the HD was not detected by the BIOS, then I restarted the PC and it was detected OK.

That happened again several times. If a restart don't work, then I enter the HD parameters manually in the BIOS, save the changes and Windows XP boots normally.
Some rare times I had to do it 2 or 3 times to finally boot.

An strange thing is that sometimes the HD was detected in the BIOS but it was not listed in the Boot Sequency menu but Windows started anyway.
I mean, all boot devices was disabled because the Maxtor HD was not an option, "Try other boot devices" was ON and that was enough to start Windows.

Other times IDE-0 was in the Boot Sequency menu but as a Samsung HD (my primary slave HD) but that worked anyway.

When finally the HD is detected, all is fine. Windows can run 3 days in a row until I turn off the PC.
Several diagnostic HD tools reports that the HD is healthy.
This is important, I think that all my data is there but the problem is the HD detection, as I will explain to you.

Well, 2 days ago my luck finished. I tried all the day to start my PC but I didn't can.
The HD was detected in the BIOS but as "Maxtor|ARES C64K" instead of something like "Maxtor 2F040L0" if I remember correctly.
Sometimes IDE-0 was not in the Boot Sequency menu and other times it was as the Samsung HD, like before, but all times I got a boot failure.

Now I have the Maxtor HD in an Anyware ACA-350 External Storage System. It's USB 2.0.

When I plug it to my PC, "something" is detected.
If I double-click on the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon there is a "USB Mass Storage Device".
An USB icon appear in the tray but when I click on it I get a window saying that the device is a HI-Speed USB device and will function at reduced speed when plugged into a non-HI-Speed port.
My ports are USB 2.0 and a friend's faster HD (7200 rpm) can be connected and that window don't appear.

I tried with 2 of your tools: "Partition Find and Mount" and HDDScan.

Partition Find and Mount freezes with all methods until I turn off the drive.
The HD is detected as "Maxtor*A RES C64K USB Device" (there is an square instead of the *) and as a 2199 GB HD.

HDDScan detects it as Maxtor|ARES C64K (like the BIOS) and I got 0 (zero) for both Start LBA and End LBA.
I changed the End LBA to 80293248 (Is that OK?) and with the Verify command I got the following:

-----------
Drive testing
Model : Maxtor ARES C64K
Firmware : 0811
Serial : ã <--- this is a copy/paste, really there are garbage (4 characters)
LBA : 0
Start LBA : 0
End LBA : 80293248
Block size : 256

Bad block found, start LBA : 0
Bad block found, start LBA : 256

... more and more bad blocks ...

Bad block found, start LBA : 80292864
Bad block found, start LBA : 80292864 <--- looks like this was the right value

Test time : 00:03:46
Complete
-----------

With the Read command it takes about 01:45 for each bad block to appear so I stopped the scan.

Well people, I regularly back up my data but the last week I didn't and I have in my disk very very important files for me.

I need a miracle. I just need one more opportunity to access my files to back up them.
What can I do?

Please help me and thanks in advance.

[dobrevjetser]

Hi Tacito,

Seems to me the SA of this drive is damaged, and this cannot be repaired with free soft. You need special tools like PC3K for that.
Sorry to say, but you'll need the services of a professional datarecovery company here.

Dobre

[hddguy]

You will need a specialist tool like PC3000 to repair the disks firmware, only then can you access the data. Recovery tools and partitioning tools will not work. There is a chance your PCB is faulty, but 99% of the time this is failed firmware.

You should probably have replaced this disk the second you started getting problems.

[tacito]

Hi Tacito,

Seems to me the SA of this drive is damaged, and this cannot be repaired with free soft. You need special tools like PC3K for that.
Sorry to say, but you'll need the services of a professional datarecovery company here.

Dobre

Hi dobrevjetser.

Thanks for your help.
At least there is a chance to recover my files.

Last edited by tacito on November 15th, 2007, 17:29, edited 1 time in total.

[tacito]

You will need a specialist tool like PC3000 to repair the disks firmware, only then can you access the data. Recovery tools and partitioning tools will not work. There is a chance your PCB is faulty, but 99% of the time this is failed firmware.

OK, thanks for your help.

You should probably have replaced this disk the second you started getting problems.

Lesson learned.

[dobrevjetser]

Hi Tacito,

Knowing these drives, i would say chances are quite good


Dobre

[tacito]

You should have made a backup of all important things because you have a chance to do so (you already know that the drive was damaged).
If you live in Portugal i can try to fix your drive (i have to check first if i can get some firmware for it).
Most likely some modules are damaged and you will need HRT/Salvation Data/Pc3000 to fix the drive.

I don't live in Portugal but thanks for the offer.
I live in Costa Rica and I will search for that kind of services.

[RJARRRPCGP]

The problem with the BIOS randomly failing to detect the HDD sounds like possibly a loose power cable and the size reporting issue may be caused by a bad IDE cable or a bad IDE cable connection. Also the size reporting issue may be caused by a loose jumper.

But the serial code reporting and bad sectors being reported sounds like a firmware problem, a platter problem and/or a head problem.

[beto]

Does hdd its knocking? if its not knocking, and its detected by his Factory code , "N40P"" Ares64k" could be a SA problem, how to know use a soft , like mhdd or another and check the ATA registers ERR ABRT syntomph of SA problems


Best Regards

[jono-ats]

In my experience when you see the generic "Aries" and the like, there is firmware corruption, often caused by SMART or G-LIST corruption.

If you can find a utility to clear the SMART log and / or G-List you might be able to access your data again.