Please read this article if you are in the market for a Maxtor DiamondMax
hard drive. My experience was with the 6L250S0 DiamondMax 10 SATA I 250GB
model, but may also apply to other DiamondMax series drives.

Read the whole article:
http://www.mindspring.com/~anorton1/..._Identity.html

Cut to the chase:
http://www.mindspring.com/
~anorton1/A_Case_of_Maxtaken_Identity.html#NotHardDrive

Alan Norton
Reviews: ABIT AN8 SLI, ECS P965T-A & Foxconn 975X7AB-8EKRS2H Mb's
Choosing the Right Version Of Vista - Vista Confusion Article
Arizona Pics and Cute Animal Pics
http://www.mindspring.com/~anorton1/

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Previously Pecos <anortRemOveThIs&2on21 (AT) mindspring (DOT) com> wrote:
Well, that is shady (maybe even illegal) business practices by the
vendor. Maxtor is actually blameless, except that thay maybe
should have added a "not for sale to end-users" to the label
of the non-standard drive.

Arno

Pecos <anortRemOveThIs&2on21 (AT) mindspring (DOT) com> wrote in
news:Xns9929C48114238Pecos (AT) 66 (DOT) 150.105.47:

<clip sig>

I am seeking advice from all of you experienced hardware experts out
there to write the final chapter in A Case of Maxtaken Identity.

I am still trying to replace my now defunct Maxtor DiamondMax 10 250GB
SATA I 1.5 GB/s 16 MB hard drive, one of two drives in my RAID array. I
now have several options. During a call to Seagate/Maxtor to get some
information about their Maxtor Maxline III models, I happened to ask them
if there was a warranty on my refurbished drive. The surprise answer was
that it was still under warranty.

I was very happy to hear this. After I received the email stating what I
needed to do to send the drive to them, I noted that they have a program
that would allow me to receive a hard drive via two day air before
returning the bad drive. They would also send the packaging needed for
returning the bad drive (which I need) and prepay for the return
shipping. This would cost $19.99.

I also noticed in the email that physical damage to the drive would void
the warranty. When I called Seagate/Maxtor back to cancel the original
RMA and sign up for the Advanced Replacement program, I was honest and
told them that after the drive had failed, I had taken it out and tapped
it on the floor to free any possible stuck heads. I knew this trick
sometimes worked with older drives. The support person told me that if
the drive was damaged internally, I would be charged for a replacement
drive. I also told her that the drive clicks five or more times during
POST. I don't know if it did that before my 'last chance' risky fix,
that wasn't a last chance risky fix after all now that I know it had a
warranty. ;-)

Option 1:
Return the Maxtor DiamondMax 10 6L250S0 GB SATA I 16 MB NCQ drive to
Seagate/Maxtor for a replacement drive. The replacement drive will most
likely also be a refurbished drive.
Risk the additional cost of a replacement drive if the warranty has been
voided.
The warranty expires April 16, 2009.


Option 2:
Buy two new Maxtor Maxline III 7V250F0 250 GB SATA II 16 MB NCQ drives
with 3 year warranties.
Cost: $130 more than Option 1 if the warranty on old drive is good
$50 more than Option 1 if the warranty on old drive is void

This seemed like a no-brainer until I read about the possibility that I
may have voided the warranty.

So all of you esteemed hardware veterans out there - have I toasted my
old drive and will it have internal damage? Has this in fact voided my
warranty?

Please help me write the final chapter in my article:
http://www.mindspring.com/~anorton1/..._Identity.html

I will tally up the votes for Options 1 and 2 and will update my webpage
with a summary of who voted and how you voted. I am doing this as a sort
of an experiment. Unless I have a really good reason not to, I am
letting you make the final(??) choice for me.

Voting ends 3 PM EST May 15 or until I place my order. Additional
comments/advice as to your choice is appreciated but not necessary.

Alan Norton
Reviews: ABIT AN8 SLI, ECS P965T-A & Foxconn 975X7AB-8EKRS2H Mb's
Choosing the Right Version Of Vista - Vista Confusion Article
Arizona Pics and Cute Animal Pics
http://www.mindspring.com/~anorton1/

Previously Pecos <anortRemOveThIs&2on21 (AT) mindspring (DOT) com> wrote:

My vote would be top move away from Maxtor, cut your losses and
get a new Samsung drive.

Arno

Pecos <anortRemOveThIs&2on21 (AT) mindspring (DOT) com> wrote
You shouldnt have done that with the symptoms you were
getting, the problem wouldnt have been stuck heads.

Yeah, but not worth trying unless the drive wont spin up.

Thats likely the drive recalibrating when it cant read the platters properly.

I wouldnt consider this, I dont like Maxtor drives and would buy samsungs instead.

Impossible for us to say given that we dont know how hard you 'tapped' it on the floor.

Hard to say whether Maxtor will use that as an excuse to void the warranty too.

"Rod Speed" <rod.speed.aaa (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote in
news:5asugnF2oqpccU1 (AT) mid (DOT) individual.net:

<snip sig>

Thanks. That is helpful.

I have two reasons for wanting to stick with Maxtor. My first Maxtor
drive, a 13.6 GB Pulsar drive, lasted 7 1/2 years and when I sent a
product reliability report to Maxtor in the form of an obituary for 'my
friend Max', they sent me a replacement. Purchasing another Maxtor
drive is my small way to thank them.

I thought that the clicking noises were crashed head(s) trying to reread
the platters, like the old floppies used to do when a floppy disk
couldn't be read.

Alan

Pecos <anortRemOveThIs&2on21 (AT) mindspring (DOT) com> wrote
Nar that noise was the floppy drive recalibrating too.

Crashed heads usually produce a continuous rasping sound as the heads continue
to gouge up the media. Heads stuck to the platter stops the platters from rotating
and the most you hear is noises associated with the attempt to rotate them. You
cant get clicking in that case because theads cant be moved by definition.

On Tue, 15 May 2007 06:39:15 GMT, Pecos
<anortRemOveThIs&2on21 (AT) mindspring (DOT) com> wrote:

Heh. I wouldn't buy maxtor either for this one reason: I have yet to
have one fail out of warranty. I had a 5.6GB that was screaming loud
and still under original 3 yearswarranty. Sent it back and got a new
20 GB that died before its first birthday. Sent it in and got an 80.
That one too died rather quickly after sounding like broken glass.
They sent me a 120 GB and I just got that 120GB chatter-a-lot drive
exchanged for a new one last fall. The latest hard drive went up for
auction so I don't have to put up with ever failing drives. Even when
Maxtor cut down warranty from 3 years, the drives I got still died
inside the warranty.

I should consider myself lucky since I make regular backup and the
Maxtor drive were used only for storeage, not for booting, Windows, or
apps. So the only loss were wasted time taking the dud out and
plugging in replacement.

Thanks for restoring my confidence again with this post.

I almost thought I had seen the first reasonable post from someone on Mindspring
and it was deeply troubling to me. Could I have been wrong all these years.
Glad to see now that Mindspring is still the home of the braindead and everything
else in the world is still as it is supposed to be. All is good now again.

"Pecos" <anortRemOveThIs&2on21 (AT) mindspring (DOT) com> wrote

"Folkert Rienstra" <see_reply-to (AT) myweb (DOT) nl> wrote in
news:464a4b5f$0$97269$892e7fe2 (AT) authen (DOT) yellow.readfreenews.net:

You are welcome. I am very pleased to know that in my very first posting
to Usenet asking for advice/help I have also unwittingly been of
assistance to you.

http://www.mindspring.com/
~anorton1/A_Case_of_Maxtaken_Identity.html#Update

<snip>

Alan Norton
Reviews: ABIT AN8 SLI, ECS P965T-A & Foxconn 975X7AB-8EKRS2H Mb's
Choosing the Right Version Of Vista - Vista Confusion Article
Arizona Pics and Cute Animal Pics
http://www.mindspring.com/~anorton1/