one day i restarted my computer and when it started to load, my maxtor 200gb hard drive (which is a secondary drive), started to make a clicking noise, like something in the drive was resetting constantly. it only starts making the noise when the hard drive is accessed. i can't even get into windows with the hard drive attached, but it hangs. how can i fix this problem? i need to recover all the data.

Try to re-attach power connector to the drive (this might help). If didn't help, then this is 99% bad heads…

ya, i did. i even tried to use it in another computer, and it did the same thing. how can i recover my data?

if you could change heads, then change it

(and there is no 100% guarantee that this is actually heads as i'm not a telepath or somthing, but I wish i am)

how do i change the heads, is their a good tutorial that can explain this?

Hi,

If U really need your data, you'd better turn to a professional DR company.
with maxtors it is really hard to replace heads.
Or rather it is not the head replacement is hard, but to make the drive work with the new set of heads.

regards,
pepe

If you don't know what your doing, you'll make the data inaccessable. If you care about the data, it is a one-shot attempt. I don't know if I can give you a recommendation, but plan on spending $500+ if you care about the data.

I would say 1500+ (in US/Canada)

Dear Pepe, I'm new to this forum, but as fas as I've been there I noticed that your answers are always smart and interesting.

Now I'm interested about switching heads from one Maxtor drive to another, and I wonder if you can help me with this problem.

What is the procedure you follow to switch them? You talked about position and geometry; do you mean, for example, in a 2-heads configuration, that the position of the upper head is correlated to the lower one?

And I also wonder if heads are all alike or if there are more models of heads for a single HDD (same Model, same PCB)

Thank you in advance

M.

There are at least 4 possible reasons for such a behaviour:
1. Bad PCBA
2. Damaged Service Area
3. Bad comutater/preamplifier
4. Broken head(s)
Only an expert can find out what is wrong with your drive and can recover your data .