For my first post here, I say Hello to all HDD Gurus !

Like many others, I've got the "famous" problem of firmware corruption with a Maxtor Drive.
The drive is now seen in BIOS as Maxtor N40P NAR61EAZ.

Here's the drive specs :
DiamondMax Plus 8 40GB
6E040L0711014
PCB : B8FEA
Code : NAR61EA0
K,M,G,A - ABA - Serial Number begins with E1Q

I put the disk into "Safe Mode" and used HDD Repair 2.0 to check the firmware modules on the SA,
used a loader that works perfectly : 6E040L0711014-B8FEA.rar found at : http://files.hddguru.com/download/PC-30 ... xtor/N40P/

All the modules are OK, except the essential module with the header "DISK" aka "Passport Module",
which contains the disk name, the serial number, information about heads. HDD Repair 2.0 shows "Error" on this module and it takes a long time to read those 512 bytes (only one sector).
I can read and have stored all the other modules that are OK.

I tried to write this module with a similar one but no success.

I've checked the G-List (only 98 sectors listed in it) and P-List (not very big also),
obviously without changing anything, so I think the problem is not in those two.

Any ideas or similar problem encountered ?
Thanks in advance,

GreBDE

Either you are using wrong tool or you have a problem in SA. But you need a pro hw tool or the know how to fix it - the SA - if rewriting a module doesn't work. If you only need data from the drive as soon as you can make the drive init correctly - but how witi that tool? - you should access data. Good luck.

Either you are using wrong tool or you have a problem in SA. But you need a pro hw tool or the know how to fix it - the SA - if rewriting a module doesn't work. If you only need data from the drive as soon as you can make the drive init correctly - but how witi that tool? - you should access data. Good luck.

Does the drive write correctly at all?

_________________
DataRecovery.bg

If you are unable to replacew the damaged module you may need to relocate bad sectors in the SA which may prevent repair. If you hae not done before and data is important it may be best to consult a professional, you do not have the correct tools for the repair

Thanks to all for your answers,

@ BlackST, I can't afford to buy a pro hw tool, so I will humbly try to learn from experts (and from personnal search), step by step .
@ Samo, I forgot to mention I could not write any module (i tried on modules not essential with only zeros in them), is HDD Repair 2.0 really able to write firmware modules ?

@ hddguy, in fact there's only one bad sector : this module is only one sector long, it is at UBA 0008,
and I can read module at UBA 0004 (header U_LIST00, one sector long) and at UBA 0009 (header RZTBL 1, Zone table).
I would be glad to recover the data but it is not vital, how does sector relocation works ?
Is there a module keeping trace of that ? Is it possible to point to another UBA (unuseful or zero-filled) on the SA ?

Grebde, I spent about 6 months of my life to find a general working way to fix SA on Maxtors in same conditions. Sorry, but I won't share. In any case, if you spend time and study on it, you'll succeed. There is nothing you can do with "free" tools and neither with many HIGHLY PAID in this condition, to fix the drive (for REUSE) if you have certain conditions. If you need only data, your approach and tool is wrong. But I cannot help.