Problems with 160 GB Maxtor Hard drive

If you have 2 different sized drives in raid, the data capacity is only the size of the smallest drive - could this have something to do with it? I know its a longshot, but it could do!

Regards,

korrupt

a low level format also marks out bad sectors.

Which diagnostic tests would you suggest I run? I looked at Maxblast by Maxtor but it states on it that it will not work with a RAID configuration. I also took the drive off and put it in my girlfriend's computer. It showed up but it started freezing her system the way it does mine. There has to be an issue with it. I also now have a problem with it now showing up on my system at all. In IDE mode I can only get 2 hard drives to show up and in RAID mode it shows 3. I am pulling my hair out.

That's tellin' him SNGX1275,
yes any of those utillities you mentioned should work. If the drive fails any of the SMART parameters, you may still be able to "fix" it by performing an all zeros write or low level format

Sorry to have upset any of you....I have had to troubleshoot this in my freetime and I've been EXTREMELY busy lately so my freetime has been sporadic at best. I've been working a lot and I just moved into a new apartment with my girlfriend so it has been tough. I will be doing a SMART test on it here shortly today and post here the results.

I have narrowed the problem down to the 200 GB hard drive. It was actually it that was causing the issue and not the 160 GB one. The problem got so bad after me trying to troubleshoot that the hard drive wouldn't even show up in windows. After uninstalling/reinstalling RAID drivers and setting the bios to IDE over and over, etc. I began experiencing a weird issue where when I was in IDE mode when I'd boot the computer, right after the windows xp flash screen and progress bar, the computer would just sit on a blank black screen. If the computer was in RAID mode it would boot up into windows just fine but the hard drive in question would not show up.

I finally removed the 200 GB hard drive from my machine and installed it as a second drive (slave) into my girlfriend's machine. The machine booted (slower than usual) and it even showed up with a drive icon in "my computer" on her system. However, the drive made her computer intermittently freeze up the way it had done to mine in the past and I could not get it to open so I could browse its contents. Through this hair pulling and trial/error I have narrowed it down to the hard drive having some kind of defect/failure. I might try the low level format you all mentioned previously and see how that goes. If that doesn't help I will probably RMA it with Maxtor.

Ok daddystabz,
good luck in your new home...

Thanks for the regards!

Ok...new update. I ran Powermax on the hard drive in question. It passed most of the initial tests but failed on partition info (read fail). At the end of the diagnostic tests it gave me diagnostic code: d49f9471 and stated that the drive is failing and must be replaced. It asked me to contact Maxtor for an RMA. I didn't attempt the low level full or quick format option on it because it warns to remove all other hard drives on the machine prior to doing so and I want to make sure I don't mess anything up on my others.

After all this I went to Maxtor.com and used the online RMA function there. It informed me that my warranty expired 06/27/06 and that I can't RMA an out of warranty product. So now I'm stuck having to buy a new one I guess.

= (

if you can't get it RMA'd then you probably have nothing to loose LLFing the drive.. and using it as a non-critical storage HDD..

Well at least HDDs now these days arn't that expensive, comparing to some years ago.. Get Seagate with its 5 yrs warranty

(propaganda works jks.. really, get it!)

Moral of my story: DO NOT BUY MAXTOR!!!!

Their hard drives are unreliable and you only get a 1 year warranty. This is the second hard drive of theirs I've had fail on me. The first they replaced but this one they won't because the 1 year warranty ran out.

Seagate owns Maxtor now. I think Maxtor will eventually carry a 5 year warranty, but for now go with Seagate!

Opinions opinions....

What is factual are all brands of drives fail regularly, and I know this from experience. One-year warranties usually come with certain OEM drives, Maxtor is one of those companies. But their retail warranty is 3-5 years.

This is true Rick,
most of us that repair computers regularly have our own opinions on hard drive failures. I favor Seagates over most brands because of my experience. Others have different experience...