20 Most Recent Maxtor OneTouch III Mini Edition 120GB External USB 2.0 Portable 120 GB IDE Hard Drive Questions & Answers

Is this a new drive or have you been using it for some time and it just started doing this? What make/model computer do you have?

Usually when they start beeping like that, it's an indication that the drive is not getting enough power. It's possible that you are plugging into unpowered USB ports. Try using the USB ports that are directly connected to the motherboard (the ones in the back.)
Use USB 2.x ports if they are available. Try connecting the drive to another computer.

Hi Steffani Thats not much Info to go on.....? Are you using TimeMachine or perhaps Carbon Copy Cloner to "BackUp"? Is the drive full? Click on drive icon then Cmd I for Info. Use the Drive Utility in your Applications / Utilities folder to wipe and erase & reformat your hard drive. The best way to Test your drive is to Run the Drive Utility once a year, If security Option is selected it will test the whole surface for faults. But it takes 2-3 hours (good for overnight test) Make sure you copy any needed files first. My rule of thumb is If your in an Office environment working on the computer all day then use TimeMachine Otherwise use CCC as TimeMachine hourly backups are a waste of time for the average home user. And harder to recover data. One CC Clone made every couple of months is adequate and if you need a little more then drag the USER folder over to the external HD each week. The rest should be in your clone, Which.... By-The-Way is Bootable in an emergency, Thats why we call it a Clone. Just hold the option key down directly after Power On. The choice of boot drive will show up on Screen. Cheers Was this helpful.... then how about a simple Tick of Approval? Mac Backup Software

If the drive itself is not damaged and you really do need the information on it one easy solution (easy being a relative term here) is for you to open the unit, remove the drive, and install it in your computer as a secondary drive.

When you boot up as long as the hard drive is not damaged you should be able to access it via windows explorer.

If the drive is actually what is damaged the only option you have is to contact a disaster recovery service. They will take the drive into a clean room, open it, and transfer the media to a working drive, then copy it to a new drive for you. This is a very ex$pensive process with an average cost of around $1,000.

Chances are though that simply mounting the drive on your computer will work, and that is likely your best first step.

The propriety NTFS file format is used by the Windows operating system to format internal as well as external hard drives. You can format an external hard drive with the NTFS format using the built-in program included with the Windows operating system. The procedure is straightforward and does not require any additional software. An NTFS-formatted external hard drive can then be used with any PC running a version of Windows that is later than Windows 3. Plug the cable attached to the external hard drive into a USB port on the PC. Right-click on the "My Computer" icon on the desktop. Select "Manage" from the drop-down menu. Click on "Device Manager" in the left column of the window that appears. Click on the "+" icon next to "Disk drives" that is in the column to the right of "Device Manager." Right-click on the icon of the external hard drive. Select "Properties" from the pop-up window. Click the "Polices" tab at the top of the window that has replaced the pop-up window. Click the "Optimize for performance" button below "Policies." Click "OK" to close the window. Right-click on the icon of the external hard drive in the center column of the window that is still open. Select "Format" from the pop-up menu. Select "NTFS from the "File system" drop-down menu in the new window that appears. Click the "Start" button at the bottom of the window. Wait as a progress bar appears at the bottom of the window and fills in from left to right. Click the red "X" at the right corner of the window once the progress bar has completely filled in. format usb memory stick to ntfs http://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/format-usb-ntfs/ Overview and history of ntfs format http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/file/ntfs/over-c.html

hello,erase the oldest back up,right -click delete.

http://www.fixya.com/support/r4247716-usb_device

Your first stop is there to see ALL the fixes for common portable hard drive issues

That's because the software it comes with unlocks the drive to do backups. You should be able to format the drive in windows and then it should work fine for your purposes.
Right Click the Drive, Select Format, give it a volume name if you want and select quick format. Leave everything else default.
Comment back if you have any questions

If your using a USB hub, unplug another device (i.e printer or scanner, fax, etc.). Plug in your One Touch. Then turn off your pc and turn it back on. This should work.
If you use a alot of USB devices, you may need to get a USB Power Hub.
You can try an plug in the One Touch straight to the pc and unpluging all other usb device except the keyboard and mouse.
Let me know if this helps. You also may need to move the ac power to another outlet.

Do you hear the drive spinning up correctly? It should be a smooth sound with possibly a few ticks at first and then a steady humming sound. If you do not? No sound? Check the power supply: connected - check voltage with voltmeter if in doubt. Strange sounds or noisy sounds and then silence? The hard drive has failed. New drive? Check the Disk Management console in Windows and verify that the drive is partitioned and formatted instead of just empty unallocated space (the whole bar will be grey instead of navy in Disk Management). To access right-click "(My) Computer" > Manage. Select Disk Management from the left pane. If problem persists, check the "Device Manager" from the same window for devices with Yellow Exclamation marks. Try reconnected or reseating the cables.

The answer is Yes.
You can recover lost data from USB with data recovery program.
CardData Recovery can recover data from all camera flash memory cards includingCompact Flash Card (CF), Smart Media Card, Secure Digital Card (SD),Multi-Media Card (MMC), XD Picture Card (XD), Micro Drive, Sony Memory Stick(Duo, Pro), as well as removable storage including Zip disk, USB drives andHard drives. Recovery of files is also possible even when drive has beenformatted.

> mostly it does not work

Then, it is time to copy all the files from it, onto your computer, before it ALWAYS does NOT work.

Then, take the unit to any computer store; they can remove the 120GB disk-drive, and put in a new 240GB or 500GB disk-drive into the casing.

Several things could be happening here:
1. your electronic controller in the hard case has failed.
2. you didn't properly disconnect the external hard drive in Windows > with the
"Safely Remove Hard ware and eject Media" in the task bar.
3. if you have a power supply to the USB drive it may have a damaged power connector or not supply proper power to the device.