20 Most Recent Maxtor Personal Storage 3100 (M01E100) 100 GB Hard Drive - Page 3 Questions & Answers

try www.maxtor.com hope this helps

you can check that power adapter from electronic store, just be sure that power voltage is the same as required from your storage drive.

Quite probably, the drivers for your External Maxtor drive are ALREADY included in Win XP, that is why you don';t see a driver download for them in the Maxtor website. This is quite common.

1) Try this first
SHUTDOWN your computer (not hibernate, not restart, not standby). Unplug the hard drive from the USB port. Restart your computer. After Windows XP loads COMPLETELY, plug the Maxtor to an USB port and wait at least 1 minute. Go to "My Computer" and check if the drive is there. If it is not, open the "Computer Management" (START MENU -> SETTING -> CONTROL PANEL -> ADMINISTRATIVE TOOLS -> COMPUTER MANAGEMENT). Click on the "DISK MANAGEMENT" icon. See if the Maxtor drive is there. If it is not, there is a communication problem between your computer and the Maxtor drive.

2) Check these too:
Is the light on on the front of the drive? Maxtor Personal Storage drives have a green light on the front of the drive that, when lit, indicate that the drive is getting power. Maxtor OneTouch drives have a light on the OneTouch button that, when lit, indicates the drive is getting power.
Is the drive connected to the power adapter? If the light is not on, make sure the drive is connected to the power adapter and the power adapter is connected to an electric outlet.
Is the power adapter functioning properly? Make sure the power adapter is functioning properly. The power adapter that comes with the Maxtor OneTouch drives has a green indicator light which should be on once the adapter is connected to an electric outlet. If this green light is not on, there may be a problem with the power adapter. If the green light on the power adapter starts blinking once you connect your external drive to the adapter, this can indicate a physical problem with the hard drive. If so, please contact Seagate Support for further troubleshooting assistance.
Is the power switch on? All OneTouch drives (except for the OneTouch III Mini Edition) have a power switch on the back of the drive. Make sure this switch is in the on position, which is indicated on the switch by the number 1.
If this is a OneTouch III Mini drive, is it getting enough power? If you have a OneTouch III Mini Edition that isn't powering up properly, you may need to connect both ends of the USB Y-cable to two USB ports on your computer. Because the OneTouch III Mini Edition is powered via USB, it may need a second USB connection which should provide it with enough power to function properly.
Is your Seagate or Maxtor external drive connected to your computer through the provided firewire or USB cable? If it is, but isn't recognized, you may want to try connecting the USB or firewire cable to a different port on the computer. If you are connecting the drive to an external USB hub, try connecting it directly to the USB port built into the computer. If this is a desktop system, it is recommended that you use a USB port on the rear of your computer, as front USB ports may prevent your external drive from functioning properly.
Does your drive appear in My Computer? When your drive is connected to your computer and configured properly, it should appear in My Computer as one or more additional drive letters. The image below shows a 200GB external drive that appears as drive letter E:.

3) Please go here:
http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?locale=en-US&name=personal-storage-downloads&vgnextoid=ec54b7f90c104210VgnVCM1000001a48090aRCRD
and download the "Personal Storage 3100 Diagnostic Utility" and "SeaTools". Install both and run them. Both programs assume that the drive is connected to the computer. The first program should tell you if there is a problem with your drive. the 2nd one can also diagnoze any problem with the drive.

4) If nothing works and the Maxtor is corrupted, you may want to try to see what data you can salvage from it. I have personally used "Stellar Phoenix Data Recovery" when my hard drive died sometime ago and I was able to get ALL my files back. Then, I just re-formatted my hard drive and re-installed everything... but I didn't lose any files.

Please, report back if you need further assitance.

The cause of read only files are the files open by other network. To fix this problem copy your files and save it again to your computer. Or you may open the files and save it again in different file name.

If its brand new its because you need to format it first.

Have you checked the Power Adapter of the Maxtor 3100?
- If the Power Adapter is defective and won't give power try to change the power adapter with the same specs.
- If the power adapter is good, then the board in your maxtor 3100 is defective.
- Now buy new enclosure for your Maxtor 3100 because the HDD in it is IDE.

Replace the adapter. Check at Radio Shack or check with Maxtor for a direct replacement.

You could send the drive to a data specialist .. that will cost hundreds of $. They will plug their adapter into your drive and get the info.

Unless ... I misunderstand your question and the problem is really inside the drive - then - if you really need the data, you will have to pay a data recovery specialist (find their ad in the back of popular PC magazines). There may be a guy in your community that operates a little computer repair shop who can help you also. Go see 'em.

Thanks for your interest in FixYa.com

Check the manual for the HD to see what type of format it has. Some mac do not see NTFS format drives. Check you mac manul to see if you can format or if you need to format it on a win pc to FAT32 (Double check this). If it is to be used between win and mac machines leave it with this format. If it is only for the Mac, you can then reformat it from the mac for best performance.

good luck

I am having the same problem! I just want to retrive the information on the ehd

Here is a link to the Maxtor install guide for your drive. From what I can see there are also some diagnostic tools however / the listed supported OS does not include Vista but - if your running Vista 32 bit OS - try the XP tools. Affraid to say though it may be time for an upgrade.

http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?locale=en-US&vgnextoid=45f3004f9f650110VgnVCM100000f5ee0a0aRCRD&vgnextchannel=dbe13d317972b010VgnVCM100000dd04090aRCRD

just power it on plug in the usb it should load the drivers automatic then all good

the problem is in one of your computers, try System Restore go to previous date at the problem.

You will need to go to manufacture's website. Find and download the latest drivers for your device. then after they are downloaded, double-click to install them. then restart pc, turn on device, and lastly plug in to pc.

Follow this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEyvdhZemSg

I'm not 100% sure it's the issue, but it sounds like you shorted the board. I just had this problem because I accidentally plugged an identical looking power supply from another drive into my Seagate. But the voltage on the two power supplies were wired differently and they'll both plug into to the same jack. Why they do this I have no clue, it's confusing, damaging and possibly dangerous.

Anyway, I took one of my other drives out of its casing, unhooked it from the IDE (40 pin) and Molex (4 pin) connectors and replaced it with the other one. It wasn't even made by the same company (replaced a Seagate with a Western Digital) and it wasn't even the same interface (firewire on the Seagate and USB on the WD). It worked like a charm. I know very little about this stuff, so granted, I thought it was risky... but as long as your drive has the same voltage/amp rating as the board (check the power supplies and sides of the drive inside the casing), you should be all set to make the switch. I checked and all mine require the same amount of power, and I don't think that's a coincidence. Unless you're working with a big raid array or a larger drive, I'd expect yours to as well.

If you don't have a second HD, I would suggest maybe purchasing a cheap one just for the board at least to salvage your data.

this message comes mostly due to the nonavailability of the drivers. so i would request you to first install the drivers of your maxtor personal storage 3100 to your DELL studio computer, then connect your maxtor storage to your DELL computer. this should fix your fix your issue.   

Your only option is a professional "Data Recovery Service".
They will disassemble the hard-drive, fix the bad parts,
just long enough to read all the files, and copy them to a brand-new hard-drive. Expensive!

Sound the interface cable going to the drive. Replace the cable, they are usually resoanable price.

the problem is with the connector or the cable change the cable and then try it. hope it helps

I devised these simple steps that tend to remedy quite a few issues with most USB portable / external hard drives and devices (though not always)

A few things to check but assumes USB and Windows for other interfaces / operating systems similar steps may be adapted to suit.

1. Ensure it is connected directly to the computer to a USB 2.0 port not a USB 1.0 port as this can have effects on performance and reliability

2. Use only the cables that came with it NOT one that fits that may have been lying around or is longer. Not all USB cables are equal even though they should be)

3. Do not connect through an external USB HUB unless that hub is USB 2.0 AND has its own power supply.

4. Use ONLY the power supply that came with it if it has an external power supply Don’t use any other unless you know it has both the same voltage and current rating e.g. 12V 500mA anything rated below that would not work properly.

5. Always use the same port for connecting your devices. Some devices do not like being switched about. If switched they may want to install software / drivers again. This can be especially true if you move a HUB to another port

If you checked and fixed anything there and still have issues then check your hardware from CONTROL PANEL / SYSTEM / HARDWARE.

Any exclamation marks by hardware need fixing before you investigate any further
If its still under warranty you might consider letting the shop look at it.

If not then open it and check the connections inside after you disconnect it.

Not unknown for them to work loose if the drive moves around a lot.