How to unlock the system area in Maxtor DiamondMax (Proxima)

[BlackST]

Ok... what I need in the end is not restoring the drive but a 1:1 copy of the user area on another, identical hdd.

Is there maybe a way to access/copy the user area even when the service area is damaged?

It seems you have NO idea how HDDs work. YOU CAN'T access user area unless the drive is in working order. YOU CAN'T (even assuming you have the right tools and know how) the firmware of an identical drive because each drive is different in some things that would be too long and not possible to explain in public.
If the drive is yours , you have no option than 1) seek professional help 2) learn AT YOUR OWN EXPENSES and without expecting any help especially here how things work AND get the tools (no, forget Emule ) AND of course have a working copy of a compatible FW (NO you can't copy it right over the other!) AND/OR make it work. In any case it is not a cell phone or a DVD player.

Oh, did I say it's DSP ?

Expect also that the drive MAY have "head problems" considering the age AND/OR media degradation so even if all of the above conditions are fulfilled, you can also face physical problems that are not easy to solve even for us - but having the right tools and knowing how those puppies work it is another story.

In case the drive is not yours, better outsource and stop playing with it.

[SAjunky]

Thanks guys for defending my post. [...]
My experience has been that most maxtor firmware issues, these days, are caused by bad sectors/surface damage in the SA or failed/crashed heads. If the heads haven't completely crashed, the window to recover the data is usually small and certainly requires the right hardware level imagers.

You are going to be defended again. My only Maxtor I repaired had no problems in user area. It was performing well after simply operation of repairing modules. You have better experience, you might be right in this case, but who will believe you if you make such statements without checking?

[SAjunky]

Ok... what I need in the end is not restoring the drive but a 1:1 copy of the user area on another, identical hdd.

Is there maybe a way to access/copy the user area even when the service area is damaged?

As BlackST pointed out, you need to repair dirmware first. It is done by scaning modules for errors and there are critical ones which need to be repaired. You have identical drive, you can use it as a donor for replacing damages modules on patient drive. It is how I repaired my drive. In your case you might need a loader, also created from the donor drive. So experiment on the donor making firmware backup first, then work on the patient, but also backup first.

Partial yes to the last question. Sometimes it is sufficient to load loader from the donor to get firmware up and running and access user data. But more likely you need to get clean copy of SMART moules too (so repair firmware).

[BlackST]

Between 'say' and 'do' there's the... DSP. Good luck, then!

[SAjunky]

I think you can find HDDRepair v2.0 on this forum in the files section. Switch HDD to safe mode, connect it to secondary controller as a single drive and disable this controller in Device Manager to not let Windows to access device simultaneously. Program is not using drivers. On the main screen select IDE port and CPU DSP (not Poker).
Click on Disk_ID, maybe reset (with recalibrate option) help to fill up top info fields. Click on Passport, press OK. Your main operation is "Check Structure". See how modules are filling up main screen. Post picture and don't do anything else!

Intel motherboards is recommended for proper error handling.

[poehere]

Between 'say' and 'do' there's the... DSP. Good luck, then!

If you do not get it this is very important. DSP