Thank you in advance to any help I receive. Here is my story...
My Versa NEC E2000 notebook has had several problems under warranty since purchased under lease 2.5yrs ago - it's had 3 hard drives and 1 motherboard replaced under warranty. NEC advised a global replacement program for the battery.
So I had my hubby undo the base of the computer to check out whether my battery part number fell into the range requiring replacement, which he did so that I could submit it to NEC for replacemt Since then (don’t why seeing the 2 areas aren’t connected?) my DVD/cd drive has been faulty. It intermittently will not read cds/dvds and won’t write new discs PLUS it makes this awful “whirring” and “scraping noises” when you press the eject button & close unit (whether disc in it or not) or upon start-up.
Basically I couldn’t rely on it & because it was similar to problems that occurred when I ended up with the other warranty repairs I began to freak I would lose my data & programs. I had a small portable external hard drive which I kept as much pictures (semi pro photographer so I have 1000s of digital files) and business data on as possible - I had tried backing up to it but it wouldn’t take the everything on my notebook plus the stuff already on small drive. Seeing I couldn’t write stuff to cd/dvds we decided to go and buy bigger external hard drive. (I have virus/adware/spy scanning in place & used to backup to discs and/or my small external drive)
So 5 days ago I purchased a Maxtor Personal Storage 3200 external drive thinking there would be no way I would ever run out of space then & could have regular backups timed to it off my notebook as well.
Day 1 went well - I moved the data off my small drive to it (so I could use the small one for backing up amended files when I travelled with notebook for work reasons) I checked stuff regularly & all looked good & was useable from the new home & the transfers and copying was quite speedy. I then started transferring data off the notebook c drive to it as well - thinking by doing so I would speed my notebook up a bit plus THE BIG WORRY in the back of my mind was that the notebook was about to go physco again & therefore I wanted to get all important stuff off it before I had to track a NEC warranty agent down (previous crashes occurred whilst I lived in diff. state).
Day 2 I thought I really should be backing up just in case my notebook does crash
So I put a Windows backup for my c drive into play before going to bed that night. The next day it was still going and was telling me it would take another 2 days to complete. This blew me away a bit but I left it going and went shopping. Whilst out I purchased a few PC magazines hoping to get a bit more insight into better backup options. When I came back to the machine late in the day it still showed 1 day and 17 hours to go. So after reading about different backup programs & talking to my husband that night - I decided to stop the windows backup & I deleted the partial content from the Maxtor drive with the intention of installing another program to do backups.
BUT that is when the .... hit the fan. It took approx 20 trys to get my cd reader drive to work and install paragon drive backup (cos I thought with 3 drives it would be handy to choose which drive to backup and to be able to backup the structure I had set up after so many rebuilds with this computer). When I did get it downloaded & ready to use I then went to setup the backup to find that the Maxtor drive couldn’t be located to send the back up there. I went to my computer & it was as if it didn’t exist. Though prior to the windows backup I had my computer opened several times whilst transferring data from 1 drive to another and it was always there then.
So I did the basics of closing everything down and rebooting system; unplugging the Maxtor drive and starting again; shutting down and turning everything off even unplugged everything from each other and surge protector and left off for few hours then set it all up again and tried again (read about residual current and heat factors causing problems).
I tried the Maxtor drive in different USB ports - even on a different notebook computer but the result was the same. It would click to announce connection but then pop up a message that the device would work faster on a USB 2 port and click here for list of ports etc. or driver not held. Didn’t do that previously though. If I had the Maxtor drive connected and tried to open a new folder or program it would just slow right down then lock up so that I would have to force a shut down or unplug the Maxtor & if I had it connected upon restart it would just hover on the screen after the logon start-up music. However if I unplugged the Maxtor, the system would speed back up & start-up as per normal. If my computer was open on screen before I plugged in the drive and then I plugged it in (it would not show the drive) but then unplugged it again the Maxtor drive would flash on screen then disappear. Intermittently the notebook would say that there was no driver for the item plugged into the USB port (my interpretation of computer words) but if I went to the driver and checked windows trouble shooter it said it was operating correctly & that the drivers held were the best available.
I do not know if my computer is to blame or the Maxtor drive is faulty or if I somehow caused the problem – I have stayed up at night with worry that I accidentally deleted all the data off the Maxtor however I logically cant see how I could of made the drive not work etc… when I hit delete (which I am 98% certain was highlighting the windows backup icon only & even then that file was in its own folder separated from the other transferred files and folders). Its just that everything was operating ok prior to me cancelling that backup (if you ignore the dvd/cd drive probs and battery and past history that is), though I cant understand why the backup was going to take days when previously it has never take more than a hour or 2 with much more data on the c drive.
I got extremely worried I was going to lose the data already on the Maxtor as well as what was on the notebook c drive so I pulled as much off the c drive as possible using the small drive to transfer to another computer and I used the Paragon program to make a backup capsule of the c drive on the notebook itself (which meant most the memory I had on it was taken up again).
I then started trying the SEAGATE trouble-shooter (as I found out Maxtor was bought out by Seagate and therefore none of their support sites/numbers work anymore). I tried the windows does note see my drive options first. http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.j...toid=5d824a3cdde5c010VgnVCM100000dd04090aRCRD
My device manager shows the Maxtor and the USB mass storage where they should be & without the yellow/red marks that apparently determine a problem.
However my disk management would only open if I had Maxtor disconnected. The C drive listed as healthy. If I plugged Maxtor back in it shows nothing but if I then unplug it and replug it quickly shows Maxtor (I) drive then it disappears. It never showed any status or file information though. I had the right XP service pack 2 & when I checked the USB controllers in the device manager I had an Enhanced listing amongst the controllers as the Seagate site said I should.
I found a download for Personal Storage 3100 diagnostic utility & tried that but it found no errors. I have tried all the windows trouble shooting for the device/driver EXCEPT uninstalling and reinstalling the driver.
Although Seagate had it as a trouble shoot item - I haven’t defragged the system as yet cos my hubby said it can sometimes lose data (I don’t want to lose the data on either drive if possible but most definitely not the Maxtor, as it has stuff that I have no copies to on it – yeah I know that is stupid) Seagate had a section on defrag and a generic drive test I could install etc – but seeing it was Seagate not Maxtor & I wasn’t sure about defrag I haven’t done this.
So I have checked the power and cables, removed hubs and tried every port and used other cables and other computers. Checked my device manager and the drive seems to be detected and configured properly. And the Maxtor drive still will not appear on my computer or the disk management section + I cannot access the data that was placed onto the drive.
Though once when I looked at the properties for the Maxtor drive in device manager it said no driver held (which matched a message that came up a few times when I reconnected the drive to the notebook) but then 5 minutes later it changed its mind and listed a driver and that it was working correctly?
The only other thing I can tell you is that when my husband connected the Maxtor to his work computer 2 days in from initial problems, after a while it did show up on his My computer as a drive but it stated that the drive was empty. (465Gb free of 465 storage – though box said 500Gb size my computer did say 465Gb at the beginning) I did not know the exact amount of data I transferred but I know it was in excess of 80Gb being that it had all from the small drive and some from my notebook c drive on it prior to be attempting the backup. I did think strange that it showed up on his drive and not mine (which it still doesn’t) but more scarily it showed on data held!
Now after all that rambling to which I apologise for (just blame it on my oversensitive aussie female nature) I am hoping someone out there can help me work out what is going on and fix it or at very least recover my data.
So far my extra storage purchase which was made to help make my system more safe has cost me $ time & much heartache and tears! Any help, tips, advice will be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely
Shells
My Versa NEC E2000 notebook has had several problems under warranty since purchased under lease 2.5yrs ago - it's had 3 hard drives and 1 motherboard replaced under warranty. NEC advised a global replacement program for the battery.
So I had my hubby undo the base of the computer to check out whether my battery part number fell into the range requiring replacement, which he did so that I could submit it to NEC for replacemt Since then (don’t why seeing the 2 areas aren’t connected?) my DVD/cd drive has been faulty. It intermittently will not read cds/dvds and won’t write new discs PLUS it makes this awful “whirring” and “scraping noises” when you press the eject button & close unit (whether disc in it or not) or upon start-up.
Basically I couldn’t rely on it & because it was similar to problems that occurred when I ended up with the other warranty repairs I began to freak I would lose my data & programs. I had a small portable external hard drive which I kept as much pictures (semi pro photographer so I have 1000s of digital files) and business data on as possible - I had tried backing up to it but it wouldn’t take the everything on my notebook plus the stuff already on small drive. Seeing I couldn’t write stuff to cd/dvds we decided to go and buy bigger external hard drive. (I have virus/adware/spy scanning in place & used to backup to discs and/or my small external drive)
So 5 days ago I purchased a Maxtor Personal Storage 3200 external drive thinking there would be no way I would ever run out of space then & could have regular backups timed to it off my notebook as well.
Day 1 went well - I moved the data off my small drive to it (so I could use the small one for backing up amended files when I travelled with notebook for work reasons) I checked stuff regularly & all looked good & was useable from the new home & the transfers and copying was quite speedy. I then started transferring data off the notebook c drive to it as well - thinking by doing so I would speed my notebook up a bit plus THE BIG WORRY in the back of my mind was that the notebook was about to go physco again & therefore I wanted to get all important stuff off it before I had to track a NEC warranty agent down (previous crashes occurred whilst I lived in diff. state).
Day 2 I thought I really should be backing up just in case my notebook does crash
So I put a Windows backup for my c drive into play before going to bed that night. The next day it was still going and was telling me it would take another 2 days to complete. This blew me away a bit but I left it going and went shopping. Whilst out I purchased a few PC magazines hoping to get a bit more insight into better backup options. When I came back to the machine late in the day it still showed 1 day and 17 hours to go. So after reading about different backup programs & talking to my husband that night - I decided to stop the windows backup & I deleted the partial content from the Maxtor drive with the intention of installing another program to do backups.
BUT that is when the .... hit the fan. It took approx 20 trys to get my cd reader drive to work and install paragon drive backup (cos I thought with 3 drives it would be handy to choose which drive to backup and to be able to backup the structure I had set up after so many rebuilds with this computer). When I did get it downloaded & ready to use I then went to setup the backup to find that the Maxtor drive couldn’t be located to send the back up there. I went to my computer & it was as if it didn’t exist. Though prior to the windows backup I had my computer opened several times whilst transferring data from 1 drive to another and it was always there then.
So I did the basics of closing everything down and rebooting system; unplugging the Maxtor drive and starting again; shutting down and turning everything off even unplugged everything from each other and surge protector and left off for few hours then set it all up again and tried again (read about residual current and heat factors causing problems).
I tried the Maxtor drive in different USB ports - even on a different notebook computer but the result was the same. It would click to announce connection but then pop up a message that the device would work faster on a USB 2 port and click here for list of ports etc. or driver not held. Didn’t do that previously though. If I had the Maxtor drive connected and tried to open a new folder or program it would just slow right down then lock up so that I would have to force a shut down or unplug the Maxtor & if I had it connected upon restart it would just hover on the screen after the logon start-up music. However if I unplugged the Maxtor, the system would speed back up & start-up as per normal. If my computer was open on screen before I plugged in the drive and then I plugged it in (it would not show the drive) but then unplugged it again the Maxtor drive would flash on screen then disappear. Intermittently the notebook would say that there was no driver for the item plugged into the USB port (my interpretation of computer words) but if I went to the driver and checked windows trouble shooter it said it was operating correctly & that the drivers held were the best available.
I do not know if my computer is to blame or the Maxtor drive is faulty or if I somehow caused the problem – I have stayed up at night with worry that I accidentally deleted all the data off the Maxtor however I logically cant see how I could of made the drive not work etc… when I hit delete (which I am 98% certain was highlighting the windows backup icon only & even then that file was in its own folder separated from the other transferred files and folders). Its just that everything was operating ok prior to me cancelling that backup (if you ignore the dvd/cd drive probs and battery and past history that is), though I cant understand why the backup was going to take days when previously it has never take more than a hour or 2 with much more data on the c drive.
I got extremely worried I was going to lose the data already on the Maxtor as well as what was on the notebook c drive so I pulled as much off the c drive as possible using the small drive to transfer to another computer and I used the Paragon program to make a backup capsule of the c drive on the notebook itself (which meant most the memory I had on it was taken up again).
I then started trying the SEAGATE trouble-shooter (as I found out Maxtor was bought out by Seagate and therefore none of their support sites/numbers work anymore). I tried the windows does note see my drive options first. http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.j...toid=5d824a3cdde5c010VgnVCM100000dd04090aRCRD
My device manager shows the Maxtor and the USB mass storage where they should be & without the yellow/red marks that apparently determine a problem.
However my disk management would only open if I had Maxtor disconnected. The C drive listed as healthy. If I plugged Maxtor back in it shows nothing but if I then unplug it and replug it quickly shows Maxtor (I) drive then it disappears. It never showed any status or file information though. I had the right XP service pack 2 & when I checked the USB controllers in the device manager I had an Enhanced listing amongst the controllers as the Seagate site said I should.
I found a download for Personal Storage 3100 diagnostic utility & tried that but it found no errors. I have tried all the windows trouble shooting for the device/driver EXCEPT uninstalling and reinstalling the driver.
Although Seagate had it as a trouble shoot item - I haven’t defragged the system as yet cos my hubby said it can sometimes lose data (I don’t want to lose the data on either drive if possible but most definitely not the Maxtor, as it has stuff that I have no copies to on it – yeah I know that is stupid) Seagate had a section on defrag and a generic drive test I could install etc – but seeing it was Seagate not Maxtor & I wasn’t sure about defrag I haven’t done this.
So I have checked the power and cables, removed hubs and tried every port and used other cables and other computers. Checked my device manager and the drive seems to be detected and configured properly. And the Maxtor drive still will not appear on my computer or the disk management section + I cannot access the data that was placed onto the drive.
Though once when I looked at the properties for the Maxtor drive in device manager it said no driver held (which matched a message that came up a few times when I reconnected the drive to the notebook) but then 5 minutes later it changed its mind and listed a driver and that it was working correctly?
The only other thing I can tell you is that when my husband connected the Maxtor to his work computer 2 days in from initial problems, after a while it did show up on his My computer as a drive but it stated that the drive was empty. (465Gb free of 465 storage – though box said 500Gb size my computer did say 465Gb at the beginning) I did not know the exact amount of data I transferred but I know it was in excess of 80Gb being that it had all from the small drive and some from my notebook c drive on it prior to be attempting the backup. I did think strange that it showed up on his drive and not mine (which it still doesn’t) but more scarily it showed on data held!
Now after all that rambling to which I apologise for (just blame it on my oversensitive aussie female nature) I am hoping someone out there can help me work out what is going on and fix it or at very least recover my data.
So far my extra storage purchase which was made to help make my system more safe has cost me $ time & much heartache and tears! Any help, tips, advice will be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely
Shells