Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

maxtor personal storage 3200 external hard drive

Feb 16, 2011 2:24AM PST

hi guys
my external drive has died on me.it is no longer under warranty.so i stripped it down to the unit itself.i purchased a kit to try and rescue my data,so i set it up,but no joy,as the power button/light does not come on when connected to drive.kit is working, as when i take connection out the green light on the power cable lights up.just a guess here but i think it could be power board if so can anyone suggest where to get a new one ?

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
What kit?
Feb 16, 2011 2:39AM PST
- Collapse -
kit
Feb 17, 2011 1:24AM PST

thank you for answering my post.the kit i bought was from IOMAX .usb 2.0 to sata/ide adaptor with power adaptor.

- Collapse -
That helped.
Feb 17, 2011 1:28AM PST

We can skip the data connection for a test.

Using just the mains adapter and connecting just the power does it work?

If not, there is a fault in the kit or the drive.
Bob

- Collapse -
power
Feb 18, 2011 12:08AM PST

i plugged the power adaptor in ,flicked switch ok. (green light came on).when i connect my hard drive and then switch on (no green light)

- Collapse -
The last test.
Feb 18, 2011 12:14AM PST

Find a desktop PC and with the power off, connect up just the drive to the desktop on the power connection. BEWARE that desktop power supplies are much more powerful and if there is a fault with this HDD the results can be like Enterprise consoles during the 60's when the Klingons attacked.

If the drive is fine it should spin up. If so, we're done and the kit is no good.
Bob

- Collapse -
pc
Feb 18, 2011 2:17AM PST

hi again bob john here done what you suggested no joy ,drive dead as proverbial dodo. thankfully did'nt blow up .

- Collapse -
Thanks for the report.
Feb 18, 2011 9:12AM PST

Sorry to read it didn't spin.
Bob

- Collapse -
repl
Feb 18, 2011 11:07PM PST

bob i take it there is nothing i can do to recover my data off my drive then?
john

- Collapse -
At the top of the forum
Feb 19, 2011 12:43AM PST

We note the do it yourself items which you have done.

I rarely note a last gasp try of swapping the electronics board on drives because not only must the board be from the same drive but most of the time it has to have the same firmware. This reduces the chances to slim or none.

Because of that, the final stop is http://www.drivesavers.com or ontrack.com data recovery services.
Bob