Seems I've "Lost" My Maxtor One-Touch External Drive

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shamrock838

New Member
Seems I’ve “Lost” My Maxtor One-Touch II External Drive :

Greetings,

I have a Gateway Pentium II desktop computer that works on Windows XP Pro and have been using a Maxtor One-Touch II (250GB) external hard drive successfully for a few years now as my backup disk. I designated it “Disk H” and it’s where I backed up on my hard drive files. These I can replace with new backups but Disk H is also where I stored many years of irreplaceable digital photo images!

Just recently I was unable to “find” Disk H on my computer. I accessed My Computer from the Desktop … and could no longer find Disk H either under “Hard Disk Drives” or “Devices with Removable Storage.”

The category “Other” did have one device listed: - “Maxtor Locked Drives.” I right-clicked this icon and got the choice of: “Unlock Drive” and “Create Shortcut.” I double-clicked on “Unlock Drive” … and nothing happened.

I then tried the Maxtor One-Touch II Drive Management | Run Diagnostics | Select a Drive … but no drive displayed! The power and USB cables are plugged in properly …

I’m mystified as to what’s going on here … and I really need to re-access this device and the files it contains.

Would reinstalling this external drive from CD be an option? What about the existing files?

I consider myself only semi-computer literate so whatever help anyone out there can render will be most appreciated.

Many thanks.

Mike

P.S. - What if I installed this device on my second computer … a Dell Latitude D820 desktop?
 
P.S. - What if I installed this device on my second computer … a Dell Latitude D820 desktop?
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That's the first thing I would try. If it works, then you're good, something on the other computer is then messed up.

I would recommend re-installing the drivers, as there seems to be something wrong with them... if reinstalling the drive doesn't work, nor does the drive work on other computer(s), you can start getting worried.
 
hackapelite said:
That's the first thing I would try. If it works, then you're good, something on the other computer is then messed up.

I would recommend re-installing the drivers, as there seems to be something wrong with them... if reinstalling the drive doesn't work, nor does the drive work on other computer(s), you can start getting worried.
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= = = = =

Well ... my first instinct is to do a fresh install of this external drive on my much-newer (and faster) Dell laptop. This may be a silly question but ... would doing this in any way damage/delete the files I have on the external drive? I'm assuming that such a install includes the original drivers ... but what about updated drivers and/or firmware?

Another thought ... is it possible I may have a faulty USB ... or power ... connection?

BTW ... I'm currently in the market to get a new (Dell) desktop system that'll interface better with my Dell laptop. But first I need to resolve this issue.

Thanks for your continued input.
 
Try hooking it up to your laptop and backup the files off of it onto your laptop, if i understand what you are trying to ask.
 
Seems I've "Lost"" My Maxtor One-Touch External Drive

bomberboysk said:
Try hooking it up to your laptop and backup the files off of it onto your laptop, if i understand what you are trying to ask.
Click to expand...

Here’s the latest …

After trying everything else I finally disconnected the Maxtor 250GB One-Touch II External Drive (ED) and took a closer look at the power and USB connections to see why (2) computers even though the Maxtor lit up and made normal “operating” sounds, etc when powered up.

I discovered that the USB socket was slightly skewed in its seating. [I took some close-up JPEG images that show this … is there a way to upload these here?].

Recently I did move the computer a very short distance. But I didn’t first disconnect the ED and so the side pull of the still-connected USB cable apparently nudged the USB socket out of joint enough so that I cannot insert the USB cable perpendicularly to make a full connection. Is there any way to fix this?

Thanks again.

Mike
 
Seems I've "Lost" My Maxtor One-Touch II External Drive

Sorry to have "gone silent" recently … family matters.

Here's the latest … I took the drive to Circuit City and the Firedog tech confirmed that the drive itself powers up and is working OK. He removed the back plate (as the drive was already out of warranty). He tried jiggling the bent USB port but couldn't get a firm connection when plugging in the USB cable. The computer still doesn’t recognize the drive at all. Lastly, he was totally unable to remove the drive from the outer case … it wouldn’t budge a millimeter. Why? Does Maxtor construct their external drives so end-users can’t do this … only their in-house personnel (at mega $$s)?

His suggestion was to send the drive in for further in-depth attention ... and possible data retrieval. I haven't taken this last resort step until I first got possible additional input online first.

He did say that I could access www.firedog.com (per "data recovery") and get service at 50% off ... since Maxtor is owned by Seagate ... or something such. Has anyone gone this route and know the drill here?

Thanks,

Mike

P.S. – I’ve since acquired a new Maxtor OneTouch 4 Plus (500GB) and backed up my entire system again. It’s the 1000’s of digital images from 2002 that are still trapped on the OneTouch II drive in question that’s the issue.
 
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