Maxtor 160 Gb - Weird problem

[ajun]

Dear fellow Anadtech readers,

I had a problematic maxtor hard disk. When first 2-3 months its operate without a hitch. Then I bring it overseas with the rest of my computer components. After I reassemble everything, The hard disk sometimes is not recognized by bios. When the hard disk is recognized, it is indentified as Maxtor 6Y1600p0. Moreover, the disk keep loosing its file structure. When this problem appear for the first time, I had reformated the drive to NTFS and not using this disk as master boot.

I had checked the drive with Maxtor's testing tools and it found no problem with all operations, no bad sectors and it did not print any error code. Do you guys have any suggestion of what shall I do next ? I was thinking to do low level format and then reformat to NTFS. Thanks in advance for any suggestion.


Best Regards,

John S

 

[kursplat]

I was thinking to do low level format and then reformat to NTFS. Thanks in advance for any suggestion.

sounds like a plan. you can try this also . might pickup other problems with your drive Maxtor's utility didn't.
good luck and welcome to ANANDTECH

 

[ajun]

Thanks that is an interesting tool. Unfortunately it does not reveal error. I begin to suspect my power suppy. Here is my config just to get opinion whether I used enough Power.

Antec 350 Watt Power supply
NEC 15X scsi CD-rom
NEC 6X CD-changer
generic DVD-ROM
Hitachi Desktar 7200 Rpm 80 Gb -100ATA
Maxtor 7200 rpm 160 GB
Pentium 4 2.66Ghz 533 FSB

Previously I use Enermax 350 watt and run with an extra IBM desktar 7200rpm hard disk with no problem. The only different is that the pentium had changed from 1.6-2.66 which I think it should
not be matter. Is there a good check just so to know I got a good Power supply ?

I want to play around with file system before I actually low level format. Just to find out whether I can recover any files. Is there a tool for me to either repair the file structure for windows xp or some tool that allow me to peek the faulty hard disk files ?



Joni

 

[ajun]

Any hardware hacker ?

 

[yhelothar]

I don't think you can repair file structures for NTFS.. only FAT32...
I also wouldn't do low level format, that is for the manufacturers to do. RMA

 

[bluntman]

I had similar problems with one of my Maxtor 160s. You may want to try a new IDE cable first before you do anything drastic, that's what solved it for me.

 

[ajun]

I think I will low format it later because I can't sent it for repair. It is more expensive because I need to sent it overseas(the nearest service point is over India. I'm located in Indonesia). I think I will try to get that new round 2 foot clear copper ATA-133 cable since my video card is so huge and blocking my ide plug. I keep posted my progress. Thanks guys.


Best Regards,

J

 

[TheWarden]

Originally posted by: ajun

I begin to suspect my power suppy. Here is my config just to get opinion whether I used enough Power.

Antec 350 Watt Power supply
NEC 15X scsi CD-rom
NEC 6X CD-changer
generic DVD-ROM
Hitachi Desktar 7200 Rpm 80 Gb -100ATA
Maxtor 7200 rpm 160 GB
Pentium 4 2.66Ghz 533 FSB

I think your power supply should work fine for that configuration.

Cheers,
Warden