Hello,

I have a maxtor Fireball 3 HDD "Code: VAM51JJ0" 2F040L0. Suddenly it has stopped working, however it is being detected in bios as Maxtor ARES C64K. The word "ARES C64K" is flashing continuously in bios i don't know why. At first i thought my HDD has breathed its last but after searching over internet i have found on these forums that some other guys also have similar problems with this maxtor series, unfortunately all of those threads contain difficult language that i don't understand (Loader, Ram, PC3000.... etc). I am a newbie in HDD problems. Can somebody please explain me in easy language what should i do, i mean what software/utility should i use ? The basic steps ?

Some guy mentioned that this problem in maxtor drive is because of G-LIST corruption and he repaired his drive successfully by cleaning it, but i don't know what is this G-LIST and how to clean it. Please guide me basic steps.

I will be very thankful.

You will need a special equipment/software in order to figure out your problem.

Where are you located?

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You need to work in terminal mode to get access to the hdd. its need a lot of knowledge and experiment before to get the job successfully.

You must go to professional if you need to get back data. otherwise you will mess it up.

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There is no substitute for education and experience
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SHAHI
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I'll put this as plain as possible. I'm sure you'll understand, and I'm sure you won't like the answer..

The Hard Drive has a little computer on board. That computer needs software to run it. This software, as well as other information it needs, is stored on the hard drive itself. When this gets corrupted or damaged, you'll see the drive get recognized as an ARES C64K.

Unfortunately, the problem isn't quite as easy to fix. First, it takes knowledge. Second, it takes tools that cost quite a bit of money. There are no free programs that can fix this.

Hmm.... Thanks for the reply guys, now i get it. Its a firmware problem right ? If it is a firmware problem is there no way to flash the HDD bios again ? I mean like we update the motherboard and graphics card bios with free utilities.

The data in the drive is not very important, however the HDD itself is very important to me. Maybe it sounds odd but it was a gift from my father some year ago, so i don't want to loose it. I have found the firmware of this drive on HDDGURU downloads section, it has .LDR file, .RAM file and alot of .RPM files in the archive i don't know how to use them, do i need some costly software to use these files and flash the HDD ?

and I live in Pakistan "HardDriveSpecialist". Is there any hope for this drive after all ? or should i forget it.

Thanks.

Yeah, you have hope to fix it. but you have to expense a lot which is more than a lot of new hdd.

_________________
__________
There is no substitute for education and experience
THANK YOU
SHAHI
shahi.mahbub@gmail.com

There is always hope.
Usualy this type of error on this drive are due to big number of errors on the drive.
Usualy those errors due to weak or bad head, but also there could be other problems.

It will cost you more money and time to fix it, instead of buying a better new drive.

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www.datarecoveryne.com

If the drive itself is sentimental to you, and you want to keep it working, you shouldn't be using it. All drives fail, it's just a matter of time.

You are right, actually i use that drive very rarely. Just for some backups but i didn't know that it will end up like this and suddenly.

Anyway I want to thank all of you for your time and help, it looks like i have to purchase a new drive for my backups now but i will also keep that drive in my showcase.

Many people in this forum is from Pakistan and maybe can help you. If you don't want to buy a new drive, maybe they can fix it (if possible) for a reasonable price - only some analysis, the proper tools and maybe a selfscan procedure is needed. Anyone from Pakistan can help this guy ?
I have successfully recovered a lot of 2F drives and they are still working, with a warning : don't use for sensitive data because they are refurbished, and they have worked, and they may fail without any further warning at anytime. That's it.

I m from pakistan u can send me a PM with ur city location .