Can a Hard disk be fixed?

[Dj-Icer]

My hard disk (2001 Maxtor) somehow broke down 2 weeks ago for some reason. It all worked well before, only after I slot in my little brother's CD game and the PC got freezed (Win XP OS).

I pressed Ctrl-Alt-delete and the blue screen immerge in a matter of few seconds but I did get to see some texts saying "KERNEL..." whatever... The PC was automatically restart by itself and somehow BIOS failed to detect my hard disk.

What has happened?

I have send to computer workshop a friend of mine to see whether he can fix it. But he has failed to fixed it due to unable to detect my HDD.

My friend recommend me to post or send my HDD to the shop where I got it from for repair, since I still have warranty. OK, no problem but I have forgotten where I bought my HDD from, which shop was it I feel like sending my HDD back to the Maxtor factory for a repair but it is so far from here.

So, I'm thinking of there must be a possible way to fix my HDD. I have done a few test on it and probably found out the exact problem. When I turn on my PC, I could hear HDD motor at first sounds like it is running but then after 3 seconds later, it slowly runs slow and turned off. Like it hasn't got enough power to run the disk inside or whatever. I do believe that data inside hasn't been lost. What I think is to get the motor running for my BIOS to detect it.

Yet, I wasn't too sure what was the problem How can my HDD broke down all of a sudden. A lot of my friend say, get a new one but I have lots of important documents in there and do not believe it is broken. So guys, can it be fixed? Maybe I have to sacrifice my time sending it to Maxtor company for repair but is there any way a shop can fix a hard disk? What should I do actually?

[willy_ph]

If the drive is still under warranty, I'd recommend sending it out to Maxtor for repair. That way you can be guaranteed that you will continue to have a warranty covering your drive.

[HeadBand]

if you send it through maxtor your data will most likley not be recoverd...there are companies that will recover data but it usually costs upwars of a thousand dollars

also does the have you tried it with another drive...it could be a bad powersupply....if you have try setting this one as a slave

also another simple suggestion if its a bad psu mabey try a different molex connector

i dont know much about repairing the drive itself but it seams that if it indeed the motor that you could get another IDENTICAL drive and carefully transfer the platters but that would be very difficult and i am not even sure that it works so someone else might have to confirm it

[PresterJohn]

first, goto the maxtor site and d/l & run the powermax utility. you will need to do it anyway if you want to rma the drive back to them.

if the drive passes the advanced test (it will not delete any of your data, don't worry) then the drive is physically sound and data recovery via software is possible.

if the drive does not pass, then you're pretty much screwed. there are places that will try to physically recover the data either by removing the platters (and reading them directly) or by changing the circuit board (assuming that is where the problem lies). these places aren't cheap so make sure you get an estimate or find out what they charge beforehand.

i stopped buying maxtor drives...had 4 failures in the last 12 months.

[Chiguy]

You'll need someone who has the right equipment and facilities to fix the drive. Even 1 little speck of dust on the platters will destroy it. I think I remember seeing some companies that recover data (mentioned above) offer something like that but it will be very expensive.

[Chuckiechan]

Is your issue the data or the drive?

If it is data there may be ways to get it running. Keep that for a last resort. Have you tried using it as a secondary drive to see if it reads there? If so, move your data.


If it is only the drive, by all means contact maxtor. Also, they have a bootable drive fitness test. If you can't boot into that (to test) that pretty much will confirm your drive is dead.

Drive fitness test:
http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/downloads/powermax.htm

You may want to make sure it works with your drive. I have a 80 G and this is the one for mine. But it probably works on most of them.

Good luck...

[Dj-Icer]

For the sake of something that is so important to you, I would pay to how much it takes. There is an important documents in there.

As long as the shop can get it back and knows what to do to fix it. Sometimes you have to keep your fingers crossed in believing that everything will be fine during your HDD is repaired.

In the last 2-3 years, I have only change 2 hard disk. Before this Maxtor, I use Western Digital. Countered quite similar problem. But that hdd was a hardcore. I use to carry it around everywhere like a pen drive But my this Maxtor is different. It was there in the computer casing, attached it nicely with a screw driver. Duh~...how can someone say it's a virus messing up with it?

I'm too busy to look down for shop or company to recover or repair the hdd. But I'll try and I am trying now.

Let me make it clear that my HDD are unable to detect during BIOS test. It says NONE. But after shutting off the plug and turn it back on again, turn my pc on later, during BIOS test, it seems like BIOS was trying to detect my hdd at first for a few seconds and then says "......NONE".

I will try go now to Maxtor site for the powermax utility. I think you mean I have to set it to slave for my problem Maxtor (20 gigabytes). I have a primary master hdd, Fujitsu (only 4 gigabytes). And then run the utility for a check.

Like Chiguy had said. I agree with you so much, with the right equipment etc and send it over to a company that you trust. I'm sure that my data is not lost but just want my Hdd to run fluently again. Then now I am confident that a hard disk, can be fixed. I thought it was quite an impossible for a hard disk to survive such mess.

[no1_vern]

The short answer is no.

Reading your description the first thing that comes to mind is a virus. Installing a game and almost immediatly the hard drive freezes seems suspicious. Did you run an antivirus before you loaded the game?

[Dj-Icer]

I do have an anti virus but it wasn't put to 'active'. So if it was a virus, yes I do believe they could even damage a HDD. Sorry But is it really cause of the virus? I thought about it at first but denying that was the actual mess.

I wasn't actually installing the game though, it was just an autoplay. At first, i really thought the freezes only cause of my PC is trying to read the CD, which could have a little scratch on it or whatever.

I'm pretty messed up now. The CD is actually like learning game, given by the school. I could not blame the school for making my HDD go weird but I just need solutions.