External Hard Drive Dying - Help buying new

[Racheya]

My laptop sucks, it's got 40GB of hard drive space which is why I have a 986GB (I think) Maxtor One Touch External Hard Drive.

 

Pic: http://www.prlog.org/10182653-maxtor-one-touch-4-500gb-hard-drive-stm3050040td3e1rk.jpg

 

Now when I first got mine, like a month later it broke. I got it replaced, and this one has lasted a year, but this one is finally dying.

 

It connects to my laptop but when I go on my files, it says that they're empty. If the file isn't empty then when I click to open the file or copy it over to my laptop, it says it can't find it. It did start to work once, but about a third of the way copying it froze and I had to disconnect it. A few days prior to this I was using it and it started making this horrible scraping noise, as though something was spinning around inside and hitting something. It's stopped now, and it worked fine for a few days, but now it's dying. I don't think there's anything I can do, it's not covered under warranty anymore since it's been over a year since I got it. It could be the hardware tbh, but I tried to re-format the drive to see if it would work, but it wouldn't let me re-format it, it says 'Windows cannot complete the format...' or something to that extent. <_< If I can keep the stuff on there that would be really great, but tbh I doubt I'll be able to. If you guys have any ideas on this, any tools I can download to try and fix it or 'just go bin it' then I'd appreciate it :thumbup:

[Sbrideau]

I was going to tell you to go to cmd and type some command, but currently I cant remember it, so I'll have to think about it today.

 

As for a hard drive brand, that's why I never go with Maxtor, the lifespan of those hard drives tend to be very short. When you are able to get your files back, if you are able to, you should replace it with a Western Digital or Seagate hard drive. I wouldn't go out of those two brands. Personally all my hard drives are Western Digital and after 8 years, there still hasn't been a hard drive failure on any of them. (well first of them is 8 years old, but most of them are around 3-4 years old)

[MageUK]

Are you sure it's not covered by warranty?

 

Many hard drive manufacturers provide a 3, or even 5 year warranty with their drives. They're supposed to outlast pretty much any component in your computer (not including stupid stuff like cables of course).

[Racheya]

That's for sure. If I have to get a new one, I won't be getting another Maxtor. Tbh when it broke at first I would have preferred a different brand but I only could get the same one. <_<

 

I bought it from a Curry's store. I still have the receipt but it's been over a year since I got it. I did some googling but I can't find how long their extended sort of warranty lasts. All it says on the receipt is 28 days. I'm doing googling the Maxtor warranty though too. :thumbup:

 

If I could fix it myself it'd be best, but I'm doubtful of that tbh.

[OldJoe]

http://support.seagate.com/customer/warranty_validation.jsp

[Racheya]

I tried that but it said the codes were invalid, I double checked them and everything. :mellow:

 

I got it from a Electronics store rather directly from them so I don't know how much they can do =/

[MageUK]

That's for sure. If I have to get a new one, I won't be getting another Maxtor. Tbh when it broke at first I would have preferred a different brand but I only could get the same one. <_<

 

I bought it from a Curry's store. I still have the receipt but it's been over a year since I got it. I did some googling but I can't find how long their extended sort of warranty lasts. All it says on the receipt is 28 days. I'm doing googling the Maxtor warranty though too. :thumbup:

 

If I could fix it myself it'd be best, but I'm doubtful of that tbh.

 

Don't go via Curry's, go straight to Maxtor for the warranty. Generally the manufacturer's warranty is longer than the store return warranty (on HDDs anyway).

 

I tried that but it said the codes were invalid, I double checked them and everything. :mellow:

 

I got it from a Electronics store rather directly from them so I don't know how much they can do =/

 

The warranty page he gave you was for Seagate not Maxtor. Go via Maxtor.

[OldJoe]

That's for sure. If I have to get a new one, I won't be getting another Maxtor. Tbh when it broke at first I would have preferred a different brand but I only could get the same one. <_<

 

I bought it from a Curry's store. I still have the receipt but it's been over a year since I got it. I did some googling but I can't find how long their extended sort of warranty lasts. All it says on the receipt is 28 days. I'm doing googling the Maxtor warranty though too. :thumbup:

 

If I could fix it myself it'd be best, but I'm doubtful of that tbh.

 

Don't go via Curry's, go straight to Maxtor for the warranty. Generally the manufacturer's warranty is longer than the store return warranty (on HDDs anyway).

 

I tried that but it said the codes were invalid, I double checked them and everything. :mellow:

 

I got it from a Electronics store rather directly from them so I don't know how much they can do =/

 

The warranty page he gave you was for Seagate not Maxtor. Go via Maxtor.

 

Maxtor products should be handled via Seagate since they acquired Maxtor a couple of years ago and use Maxtor as a sub-brand.

[MageUK]

That's for sure. If I have to get a new one, I won't be getting another Maxtor. Tbh when it broke at first I would have preferred a different brand but I only could get the same one. <_<

 

I bought it from a Curry's store. I still have the receipt but it's been over a year since I got it. I did some googling but I can't find how long their extended sort of warranty lasts. All it says on the receipt is 28 days. I'm doing googling the Maxtor warranty though too. :thumbup:

 

If I could fix it myself it'd be best, but I'm doubtful of that tbh.

 

Don't go via Curry's, go straight to Maxtor for the warranty. Generally the manufacturer's warranty is longer than the store return warranty (on HDDs anyway).

 

I tried that but it said the codes were invalid, I double checked them and everything. :mellow:

 

I got it from a Electronics store rather directly from them so I don't know how much they can do =/

 

The warranty page he gave you was for Seagate not Maxtor. Go via Maxtor.

 

Maxtor products should be handled via Seagate since they acquired Maxtor a couple of years ago and use Maxtor as a sub-brand.

 

That's true but I think you have to call Seagate in order to put RMAs through for Maxtor products. I've heard more than one report that Maxtor drive numbers don't seem to work with the Seagate site.

[Racheya]

Okay so I've decided that my Hard Drive is officially screwed, and I don't think I can get it back to Maxtor.

 

I'm going to have to buy a new one, since I can only hold out with 40GB of memory for so long. I'd like your opinions on what to get. I'm trying to spend the least amount of money but with still around 200-300 GB. 700 was too much, but any less than 200 and It's going to be no use in the long term. Most ones about that size seem to be USB powered, which is great tbh since I run a laptop (though I don't move it because the power lead is pissy >.<). I don't want one that's going to break on me again too. So if you can just give me your opinions, I would be very appreciative.

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital-Passport-Essential-Portable/dp/B002KQ3SL0/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1257605823&sr=1-5

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Toshiba-HDDR320E04EL_CS-Portable-Protection-Encryption/dp/B002JM25A0/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1257605823&sr=1-8

http://www.amazon.co.uk/LACIE-Mobile-Portable-External-Drive/dp/B0013N88ZC/ref=sr_1_17?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1257606206&sr=1-17

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Buffalo-Ministation-320GB-Portable-Turbo/dp/B001RPCZWS/ref=sr_1_20?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1257606206&sr=1-20

[Sbrideau]

Go with the Western Digital, best of those you chose imo.