20 Most Recent Maxtor Personal Storage 3100 (M01E100) 100 GB Hard Drive - Page 2 Questions & Answers

If you can hear mechanical sounds from the case the problem is in the hard disk and moving it to your laptop isn't the solution. In that case check for a data recovery company at your area as sooner as posible. If the sound is no mechanical I'll tell you the way to move the HD. Describe me the kind of sound.

Stelios

Was it dropped or bumped? If so open it up to make sure the power is still hooked up, they come undone easy. If you can or know how take it out of the case and power it up in a desktop PC to see if it works?

If you are not getting any lights at all now, check the AC adapter.

If you have a voltmeter, see if anything is showing up on the DC (hard drive) side of the cord.

If you dont have a meter, use the tongue trick. Lay the connector on your tongue, perpendicularly and see if you feel any tingling. Make sure your tongue touches the outer and the inner chamber of the barrel connector. If you dont feel anything, the adapter is bad. You should be able to find one on E-Bay. Make sure it is the same type of a supply. If you cant find the exact same adapter, look for one with higher current (AMP) rating than the old one, not lower. Voltage has to be the same, a 0.x variation is not the end of the world.

 

Alternatively you can just rip the sucker apart and take out the internal drive. Buy a $10 enclosure and use it in there.

 

If the power supply is ok, and you feel tingling on your tongue, it's the controller board in the drive cage or the drive itself.

Take the drive apart, and try to plug it into your machine internally. If the drive works, then it's the controller in the cage. If the drive does not work, then you are out of options and need a new one. If that is the case, and you need your data, there are companies that can recover for a nominal fee of around $1000 on average.

 

Hello

OK, at the link below you will be directed to a tip i wrote on this exact error.

Click HERE.

Feel free to let me know if you have any further questions.

Kind regards
Andrea

An external storage-device has four major components:

* the USB cable

* the power-adapter

* the disk-drive inside the enclosure

* the USB-to-disk-drive adapter inside the enclosure.

One of these components has failed.

Try a different USB cable.

Try connecting to a different USB port on your computer.

Try connecting to a USB port on a different computer.

Take a "multi-meter" and measure both the voltage and amperage output from the AC adapter, and compare with the specifications on the label on the adapter.

Open the enclosure, and remove the disk-drive, and then connect it as a "slave" disk-drive in a desktop computer, to see if it works at all.

Purchase a new, compatible, disk-drive, and install it in the enclosure, to "revive" your external storage device.

Get the part-number and serial-number from the label on your disk-drive, and access the manufacturer's web-site, and use "check warranty status", to see if they will replace the device, at minimal cost to you.

There exist commercial "data recovery" services that can try to repair your device, just long-enough to rescue and copy your files.
For example, see: https://services.seagate.com/index.aspx?lng=en-US for a "no data - no charge guarantee".

An external storage-device has four major components:

* the USB cable

* the power-adapter

* the disk-drive inside the enclosure

* the USB-to-disk-drive adapter inside the enclosure.

One of these components has failed.

Try a different USB cable.

Try connecting to a different USB port on your computer.

Try connecting to a USB port on a different computer.

Take a "multi-meter" and measure both the voltage and amperage output from the AC adapter, and compare with the specifications on the label on the adapter.

Open the enclosure, and remove the disk-drive, and then connect it as a "slave" disk-drive in a desktop computer, to see if it works at all.

Purchase a new, compatible, disk-drive, and install it in the enclosure, to "revive" your external storage device, and maybe to upgrade from 100GB to 500GB.

Get the part-number and serial-number from the label on your disk-drive, and access the manufacturer's web-site, and use "check warranty status", to see if they will replace the device, at minimal cost to you.

There exist commercial "data recovery" services that can try to repair your device, just long-enough to rescue and copy your files.
For example, see: https://services.seagate.com/index.aspx?lng=en-US for a "no data - no charge guarantee".

An external storage-device has four major components:

* the USB cable

* the power-adapter

* the disk-drive inside the enclosure

* the USB-to-disk-drive adapter inside the enclosure.

One of these components has failed.

Try a different USB cable.

Try connecting to a different USB port on your computer.

Try connecting to a USB port on a different computer.

Take a "multi-meter" and measure both the voltage and amperage output from the AC adapter, and compare with the specifications on the label on the adapter.

Open the enclosure, and remove the disk-drive, and then connect it as a "slave" disk-drive in a desktop computer, to see if it works at all.

Purchase a new, compatible, disk-drive, and install it in the enclosure, to "revive" your external storage device.

Get the part-number and serial-number from the label on your disk-drive, and access the manufacturer's web-site, and use "check warranty status", to see if they will replace the device, at minimal cost to you.


There exist commercial "data recovery" services that can try to repair your device, just long-enough to rescue and copy your files.
For example, see: https://services.seagate.com/index.aspx?lng=en-US for a "no data - no charge guarantee".

Hello.

There are various levels of USB (1.0, 1.1 2.0). It appears that USB 2.0 doesn't recognize the external hard drive but the older USB hub does. I suspect that you have the newer 2.0.

To determine if your computer has a USB 2.0 port (You must be logged on as an administrator to perform these steps):

Open Device Manager by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, and then clicking Device Manager.‌ If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

Double-click Universal Serial Bus controllers.

If the word Enhanced is included in any of the listed controllers, your computer has USB 2.0 controller drivers installed.

Try the Maxtor drive with another computer that has the USB 1.0 or 1.1 ports. If it still doesn't work, the USB interface in the enclosure is defective and you need to return/exchange it.

Hope this helps.

Connect it to a different computer. If it still is not detected, then there is a hardware problem. Exercise the warranty to get it repaired/replaced.

You can find a power cord for your Maxtor Personal Storage 3100 100 GB Hard Drive here:

http://lcdpayless.com/productpage.php?productId=2503

or

http://www.ecrater.com/p/6553550/ac-dc-power-adapter-maxtor-3100

Some part of the device has "failed".

If it still has a valid WARRANTY, exercise the warranty to get it repaired/replaced.

If the warranty has expired, then open the case, remove the disk-drive, buy a new "compatible" disk-drive, connect it, and thus "revive" your external storage device.

try plugging into a differant wall socket i take it is is powerd by a transformer which could be faulty easy to replace if not try changing the fuse in the plug.
if you can hear the drive spin up or feel a slight vibration or hear humming then its the drive i suspect its a power problem though.

1. Please connect you external HD to your computer
2. Fat32 can only handle a limited amount of data
3.Go to the Control Panel
4. Open up Administrative Management
5. Open Computer Management
6. Open Disk Management
7. In the denter panel you will see your Maxtor expressed
8. Right click on the drive
9. Click format
10. Choose NTFS
if not given the coice, it will usually format to NTFS anyway, but get smart, explore Disk Management and make sure
11. I'm giving a general scenario across 3 different Windows OS Sytems
12. When you tell us your exact Operating System, we can be more helpful

TheSelkie

Hello

Okay , so there are some steps to figure out what is wrong with your external.

Firstly , if your computer makes a sound when you plug in your external , go to Start-Control Panel-Administrative Tools-Computer Management-Disk Management , and see if your external drive is listed here with your local drives. If it is listed , right click on the drive and change the drive letter to make it appear in "my computer".

If your drive does not make a connection sound when connecting to your computer and also does not show up , please follow the next step.

Remove the hard drive from the casing if possible and install it in your computer case or another external case.If the drive works , the problem is with the casing and you can ignore the drive.

Now , if the problem is with the casing , there are still 3 possibilities.

1. The USB cable between the drive and the computer may be damaged.
2. The circuit board which connects your drive to the interface of the external may be blown.
3. The power supply (if applicable) may have a blown transformer.

The latter is the easiest to diagnose , does your external light up at all when you plug in the power? If not , then this is probably your problem. On the bottom of the adapter is a label which you will be able to use to have a new adapter made at your local electronics shop and this will cost about $30 max. They will also be able to test the adapter with a clamp meter to see if this is really the problem and this should be free.

The second component you want to test is the USB cable. If you have a printer , swop out the cables and see if your printer functions normally. Most externals use the same connector so you should be able to test it in this manner. If the cable works go on to the last step. If the cable is defective , replace it with a new one which you can find for about $10 at most electronics and chain stores.

The last component to test is the circuit board. This is a bit of a grey zone as you probably won't be able to spot the blown component unless it failed really badly. With the casing already opened , locate the external's circuit board and check to see if you have any blackened components or fluids leaking from some components. If all the other components of the external worked perfectly , then this is the faulty part. It is not really economical to replace the circuit as most of the time it is out of production by the time you need to replace it and it still costs a lot even if it is available so if your drive is working perfectly when connected via sata or IDE on your computer , the best is to buy a new casing and place your old drive in the new casing.

A casing costs about $50 and you could get it at most tech shops and big chain stores like Best Buy.

I hope this solves your problem and please reply if you need more help.

Kind Regards
Andrea

try replacing all the leads that attach to your hard drive including electrical extensions + IDE,SATA and the ones that attach from your motherboard to hard drive
make sure all leads that are attached to your drives dvd\cd 3 1/2 inch floppy have secure connections and are not faulty or just replace them they are probably old and faulty ?

good luck

The hard disk inside it just died and you lost everything that was on it unless you backed it up somewhere else.
The fact that an external disk has lasted that long is outstanding - they usually fail in less than 2 years since the hard disk is very sensitive to mechanical shocks.

If the fan does not come on at start up try this replace all electrical leads that attach to your hard drive including IDE,SATA leads if still no work replace PSU

Probably not the right answer for your problem. Mine is an external 1 TB Simple Drive. Mine wouldn't respond at all. I unplugged the power cable from the back of the hard drive and replugged it in and instantly it worked (with the computer and hard drive plugged in). I had tried rebooting the computer, plugging/unplugging over and over into the computer and that didn't work.

Will replacing the data-cable replace the broken-off piece?

If not, then for about $30, you can buy a new "empty" external case, and then "transplant" your current disk-space into the new case.
Take your current external drive to the computer-store, so that the new case that you buy will be the correct case for your existing disk-drive.

Of course, because you have a "small" (100GB) disk-drive, any warranty for the disk-drive probably has expired, and it would be good "preventative-maintenance" to buy a new external disk-drive, before your current disk-drive unexpectedly "quits" on you.

It could be a situation where only the "table-of-contents", which describes all the files on the disk, has become scrambled. So, look online for "file recovery" utilities -- programs that will read through all the blocks of data on the disk, and try to "stitch" together all the files, without using the "damaged" file-directory.