Primary Master Hard Disk Failure

[NeilI]

I just went to boot up my computer and the boot sequence seemed to hang. There was also a repeating three tone sound coming form inside. I came back a couple of minutes later and it had gone through the drive detection sequence, but has stopped, saying the was a Primary Master Hard Disk Failure.
This si a bugger as an essay for tomorrow is on there, which I about to start retyping!

What does this mean? Is my main HD fcuked, or is it a matter of wiggling the cables round?

It is the 80GB one that has apparently failed. And both drives are P-ATA

[directhex]

could be the controller, could be the disk. try it on secondary master

also try it in another pc, might be a voltage issue.

[turkster]

If you havent got another PC you could install XP on the 160GB drive and see if you can access the 80GB from there although if it is not being recognised in BIOS then i suppose ther is not much hope of this. You could also try it as a slave drive see if that works. Switching cables wouldnt be a bad idea either just in case something is wrong with them.

[NeilI]

Sent a mail to Maxtor, detaling my problem;

I booted up my computer on Sunday to be greeted by the above error message,
during the drive recognition sequence when booting. The drive was emitting a
three toned beep, increseing in volume, for three bursts.
I tested the drive in another computer today, set as the primary slave, but
the computer would not boot and the same noise emitted from the drive.

Well, I just got this reply from Maxtor;

Dear Sir or Madam,

Thank you for your request. The error which you have reported to us
indicates a serious fault and you will need to replace your hard drive.

To check the warranty on your hard drive or organise an in warranty
replacement hard drive you will need to either:

1. Contact your dealer/place of purchase for a local warranty service.
OR

2. Use Maxtor's online facility for a pan-european manufacturer's warranty
service : http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/ser...rranty_ata.htm

If you encounter any problems with processing your order online, please fill
out the Europe, Middle East and Africa Support form online with a
description of the problem. Go to www.maxtor.com , select 'About Maxtor'
from the menu on the top, click on 'Contact Us', then select your product
type from 'Product Support'.

Kind Regards,

Ian McHardy
Customer Support, Maxtor Ireland Ltd.

So I checked the warranty status and it ran out on 17th March. Pffft.

Ah well.

This is the first time in 15years of using PCs that a hard drive has died on me. I don't know if this is good or bad luck?!

Anyway, the drive was about 15months old and has a lot of stuff from Uni on it that I need. Is there any way I can recover the data???

I had hooked up the drive as the slave on my dad's PC, but it just wouldn't boot. When I disconnected the drive, it booted okay again.

Any helps/thoughts/info is very much welcome!

[bledd]

i'd say its goosed mate, this happened to my mates 20gb Maxtor, NO pc would boot up with the HD in it, mine wouldn't even POST when it had it inside!


i laughed at him for not backing up..

[NeilI]

lol, thanks!

Is there anyway for me to recover the data on the knackered drive???????

[Furton]

Yes, do a search for data recovery companies on google, you'll have to send off your HD to them and they'll send the data back to you on a CD or DVD (I think, never used one). It will be pricey though.

[Skii]

Try removing the drive sticking it in the freezer for a few hours.

Sounds daft but sometimes it does work, one peep tried it at my old company and was able to get it to boot up again !

[nindo]

There's no easy way to fix the hard disk to be able to get the data, cause it looks like no PC would even want to be booted up with it.

One thing you could try ebfore heading off to data recovery people would be something like this

http://www.overclockers.com/tips1035/

hope that helps.

[NeilI]

There's no way in hecll I could ever manage to do that, but thanks anyway Nindo!

I think I shall pop it in the freezer for a few hours, and if that doesn't work, there's no way I can afford the price of the data repiar types. I'll just have to re-do the work.

I think my next OS drive will be a WD Raptor or Caviar or a Samsung Spinpoint.

[Kumagoro]

I would seriously not consider ripping the thing apart.

Mine went tits up (logic board prob) and i fixed it by finding the same hd and swapping the board and it worked. it doesnt work on disks which encrypt the data though.

It took over a year and a half before i fixed it. As i was working in a pc repair place they had lots of old computers and parts coming in. I was going to swap over the disc but after ripping apart a HD i knew it wouldnt be a good idea i totally shagged it up.

So stop wasting time and do your assignment.

[Steve]

The drive isn't detected in the BIOS - therefore it's a controller error not a physical error. Taking the thing apart will do no good, neither will putting it in a freezer.

However, swapping the controller from an identical drive onto it might just fix it - providing there's no warranty seals on the controller (there aren't usually, but check.)

[NeilI]

How would I do this Kez????

[Kumagoro]

Neil1 you could try an advert in micromart asking if someone has one for sale.
logic board / controller = samething

[Steve]

Or find a brave friend who by chance has the same drive and is willing to let you take the controller off it.

[NeilI]

Interesting suggestions guys, thanks.

I tried the freezer trick, but nowt. I felt the drive when it was attached and there is no vibration at all. I assume it is not spinning as my 160GB MAxtor does vibrate a little.