My Maxtor hard drive died after only one year and I don't understand...

[amp 38]

First of all, hello to all the people here. I am new in this forum and I am far from being an expert on this things, so that's why I am here I guess, to get some help.

Yesterday suddenly my computer restarted ang gave me and error message: Can't start windows cause the file System32/Drivers/Isapnp.sys is lacking or is damaged.
Well, you know that's not a rare thing, cause a lot of people seem to have that problem once in a while. You usually load the windows xp cd, go to the repair console and you fix it from there.......

Problem is, that I havent been able to fix it being the result that the hard drive is seriously damaged. The Chkdsk operation told me it had some unreparble damage and we tried the hard drive in another pc and it didnt read it. It said it had no format.

So I really wonder what could have caused this. A virus? How come a hard disk that is only a year old and it hasnt been through bad use died this way suddenly???

And I thought Maxtor hard drives were one of the best on the market, now I dont think I will ever buy one again.

Any comment, help, will be really appreciated.

Kind regards.
amp

 

[JMMD]

Drives can die in the first week of use. It could have just been a bad drive to begin with. Have you run any of the Maxtor utilities to see if you can any error codes? Is the drive still under warranty? Did you have any data that you needed off the drive?

 

[werty316]

How true I had a WD SE 120GB that I had to RMA two times in one year.

 

[Exscind]

Is it Serial ATA or Parallel ATA? When you describe a problem, it helps to list your computer parts; otherwise, it is near impossible on arriving a solution.

Maxtor SATA drives often have compatability issues with the NF4 chip. Something to do with firmware which evidently the only solution is to call the Maxtor tech support as they don't have the correct firmware on the website.

If it's PATA, then it is up-for-toss. I have 4 Maxtor PATA drives and only one died on me after 3 years. But I can tell you many people are complaining about Maxtor drives (both SATA and PATA) and how good a drive you get is like shooting darts with a blindfold.

If the warranty is still valid, you can try to RMA for a new one. If not, I'd try looking into Seagate as they normally have 5-year warranty and rock solid to my knowledge. Western Digital is also good but they have more 3-year warranty than 5-year.

 

[amp 38]

The drive came as the default configuration of a DELL Dimension 4600, so I guess dell should know which drives are a good choice for their machines.

I haven't been able to run any Maxtor utilities, since I got the error message I couldn't just do anything. Fortunately I dont had really relevant data on the drive, apart from music files and some word documents.

Regarding the warranty, apparently Maxtor offfers 2 years on his drives, but in my case I have to contact Dell and my guarantee was only for one year, so I think they wont be covering it.

So now I wonder what would be a good choice for a new hard drive.

 

[sllewe]

Hard Drives are the only "moving" hardware in your PC, they are very unreliable.

The average life span (i would say) of a HDD is 3-4 years, and the good die young.

So your on target

 

[N3051M]

but in my case I have to contact Dell and my guarantee was only for one year, so I think they wont be covering it.

just give them a ring anyways.. if its a few days they might make an exeption and just help you out.. i know a friend of mine got his laptop repaird and it was only about a few days after warranty...

try doing a full format on the hdd (if you dont care much for teh data) and reinstall winxp.. listen to sounds from the hdd (clicking, etc), keep the hdd cool, as heat can also kill em, or not make them work the way they should..

 

[hewybo]

freeze it?

I've heard of people puttin' 'em in the freezer for a (?)while, then being able to at least recover data--???

 

[JimShady23]

Dell 1 Year Warranty

If you take the drive out of the machine it will clearly state on it how long and good the warranty is. Just because Dell only offers a 1 year warranty on the entire computer does not mean that each individual componant does not have a longer warranty.....Maxtor has a 3 year warranty....Period...They dont make special drives just for Dell to accompany Dell's 1 year warranty...

What Dells warranty means is that you can pay $100.00 to ship your PC back to Dell and wait a month while they take the time to get to your computer and put the new hard drive in......

You can do it yourself.....I garuntee you that that drive will say it has a 3 year warranty on it.....Just call up maxtor and get an RMA number and shipping info....


Good Luck

 

[Tedster]

sounds like the good 'ole days when you could put a bad 5.25 floppy in the microwave for about 2-3 seconds to "recover" it.

 

[compres]

Freezer? Microwave?...?

I would try to format the disk again and see if bad blocks get marked.

I never liked the Maxtors, for me its Seagate or WD. I have heard many horror stories about WD or Seagate though, I gess with hard drives you need the luck of staying away of a bad batch in the production.

 

[JimShady23]

While we are on the subject of hd's

I just ordered 2 Seagate 3.0Gb/s hard drives. My motherboard is SATA II capable....Just wondering if there is anything in the firmware of the drives I need to update to unlock the 3.0Gb/s feature ect ect.... Or is it just plug and play......

Anyone go with SATA II yet ? And is it any faster than the SATA 150 Standard ? If so how much.....? Kind of excited to get them actually....

 

[compres]

I just ordered 2 Seagate 3.0Gb/s hard drives. My motherboard is SATA II capable....Just wondering if there is anything in the firmware of the drives I need to update to unlock the 3.0Gb/s feature ect ect.... Or is it just plug and play......

Anyone go with SATA II yet ? And is it any faster than the SATA 150 Standard ? If so how much.....? Kind of excited to get them actually....

As a user right now you can't tell the difference between the 1.5 and the 3.0gbps drives. That's becouse this speed is only for the interface. Current drives can't even touch the 1.5gbps ceiling right now, not even in burst reads.

Some of the fastest available drives right now are still 1.5gbps , like the WD Raptors. You should not need a firmware or driver to use the drives.