CIMG8464

Over the years I have had several external hard drives. My more recent ones are regular HDDs in USB/Firewire cases, but the first two that I bought were from Maxtor’s line of external HDDs.

The first drive I bought was a 160GB 5000DV. That was back when they were made out of a blue plastic case as opposed to the metal ones. Less than 12 months later the drive just suddenly stopped functioning. If you connected the drive to the computer you would hear the familiar Windows XP hardware connection sound, but the drive would never appear in My Computer. I called Maxtor and they arranged for me to receive a replacement from the place I purchased the drive from. Nevermind the data that was on it, I just had to let it go.

So I picked up the replacement drive, a 200GB 7000DV. I suppose they thought the slight capacity increase (although 40GB wasn’t slight back then!) would compensate me for the inconvenience and data loss. The new drive worked fine for about 2 years and then I started to have problems with it. Several times when connecting the drive to the computer (either with Firewire or USB2) the HDD simply would not appear. As soon as it did I got all my important data off it. The drive seemed to be working normally now, but unwilling to takw any chances it was relegated to use only for stuff that I could lose.

Then the odd grinding and clicking noises began. This was one sick HDD. But well out of the warranty, and without any thing important on it, I can see the day when it literally will grind to a halt.

Unfortunately my bad experience with Maxtor does not end there. In that two year period of happiness with the 200GB 7000DV, I picked up another 7000DV, a 160GB version. Up until just 3 days ago it was working fine, until it diappeared from My Computer and everywhere else it should appear. The drive is spinning inside, so it seems to be “working”. Last night I ripped into the drive, which as you’d expect is just a Maxtor drive in a Maxtor enclosure. Two screws and a little bit of prying with a small flathead to remove the plastic plugs at the front and back of the drive and I’m in. I tried connecting the drive to my MacBook Pro with a USB IDE cable I have, but I get the same result as in the Maxtor case. Not that I expect it to change anything, but I am going to connect it to the internal IDE on my desktop to see if I can get more of a response.

This drive I do have data on that I want, as it has my two previous backups before migrating to Mac. I am searching my other drives for another copy, but so far I haven’t found anything.

So 520GB, about $400, and a lot of frustration later I am stuck with two dead or dying HDDs. I can tell you I am NOT pleased, and I can foresee the day when my dad’s 300GB Maxtor kicks the bucket, adding to the pile of lost data an burned cash. From now on with will be making a DVD copy of my backups (even if it will take 12-15 DVDs) and will never go near a Maxtor drive again.

UPDATE: According to the label on the drive it was manufactured on April 3rd, 2004. Thats only 3 years of use at the most, almost to the day! That is just disgraceful.

CIMG8465

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