Hi all,

I have a problem with my Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 200GB hard drive. The drive is overheating, reaching around 47°C, and there are a lot of read errors when scanning it with data recovery software. Because of this, I decided to shut it down.

I then used a fan to keep the hard drive cool while cloning it with HDsuperclone, and turned it off afterward. There were no clicking noises during the cloning process. I managed to recover 99.68% of the data.

It took me over a year to recover all of my data that I had backed up on DVDs. I sorted through the files, identified the corrupted ones, and replaced them using the DVD backups. Some folders were in the wrong locations and many files were duplicated, so I had to determine which files were corrupted, replace them, and remove the files I no longer needed. Now all of my files and folders are in the correct folder structure.

I currently have backups on both my SSD and HDD, and I also plan to back everything up to Google Drive.

Since the hard drive is overheating and producing many read errors, I strongly believe that the heads are degraded and close to failure. Am I correct?

If so, I would like to replace the heads myself, as I have nothing to lose. The data has already been backed up and copied to another drive. I have built a clean air chamber that is very similar to sentry air clean chamber. I know that I shouldn't be bother to spend anymore money on building a clean air chamber to attempt to recover 0.32% of the data, but I want to try it out to see if the data would be reading then I would clone it and I got two other drives that are also failed. One is clicking noise and one is completely dead.

I have a donor drive with same make and model as the failed drive:

Failed drive:

Make: Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9
Model: 6Y200P0
Date: 04 APR-2004
Firmware: YAR41BW0
K,G,B,D


Donor drive:

Make: Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9
Model: 6Y200P0
Date: 22 May-2004
Firmware: YAR41BW0
K,G,B,D


Will it work if I replace the head?

According to CrystalDiskInfo, the donor drive status is caution so don't it really matter if I want to improve the reading and attempt to clone the drive before I attempt to recover the data via the image?

it looks like a match, but drives are often unstable with replacement heads, and the previous reading problems can be (more likely than not) surface related, as such, reading might not be improved.

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Adatmentés - Data recovery

I'd say if you don't mind both drives failing completely and have nothing to lose go for it! Treat it as a learning experience!

Looks like a good match to me too.

I may be wrong, but HDD overheating indicates a spindle problem.

it can be, but if reading is weak (due to heads or surface), the error recovery circuits and head movements can generate extra heat as well.

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Adatmentés - Data recovery

swapping heads is tricky at best, which is why I own many hard disks and still buy more of them

could be the disk media has degraded which can happen after a decade or five Diamond Max go way way back.

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Orico DS500C3-US-BK 5-disk 3.5" SATA, iTGZ 4x M.2 2280 Thunderbolt enclosure NVMe/SATA, etc. etc.

We already know that you have a LOT of everything...

I agreed with you, but my problem is the overheating on the top lid not the bottom. It looks like the preamp or the weak heads caused overheating, what do you think?

Yes I’m thinking the same. The heads are struggling to read because I get the read errors while it generate the extra heats. I think it could be that could cause the issue.

If I replace the heads and if it doesn’t generate anymore heats I would know it’s preamps/weak heads but if it continues to generate heats then I would know it’s spindle motor issue.

Will it likely to improve the reading if I replace the heads?

I’m hoping it’s the heads that caused the problem. If it is not the heads I will have a hard time to swap the platters. I have been told that bad preamp generate heat on top lid and spindle motor generate heats on the bottom?

preamp is most likely fine if drive inits and user area is accessible.

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Adatmentés - Data recovery

For the most part preamps are linear devices so they tend to be less prone to failure. If you can get the disk to come up at all then try to copy data by LBA in block fashion. LBA in the old disk is 512 bytes. Maybe using a cold plate to cool the logic might help recover some data.

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Orico DS500C3-US-BK 5-disk 3.5" SATA, iTGZ 4x M.2 2280 Thunderbolt enclosure NVMe/SATA, etc. etc.

This model has an SPSNS test point where you can measure the spindle motor current (near the 5 x 1R00 resistors). If you were so inclined, you could compare the patient and donor.

https://www.hddoracle.com/download/file.php?id=88&mode=view

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A backup a day keeps DR away.