gtvr :
what OS?
Is this completely new? Did it ever work? If there's not data on there that you want to recover, can you get a warranty replacement?

I hope you don't mind me picking up on this thread. This guys problem was the same as mine and I see he never got back to you.
I am running windows xp, and the matxor is connected, have a light on the front, hear a faint clicking, drive doesn't show up in device manager, or my computer.
Maxtor program says to connect the device or turn it on.
Just before the Maxtor quit working, I was trying to look at some files. When it seemed to lock up. After that it wouldn't let my desktop start up from a cold boot with out unplugging it. It would hang. When I would plug it in later, the maxtor program came up with the message to plug it in or turn it on, but it program screen flickered the whole time as if it was trying to start.
I don't know what happened since, other than unplugging it several times and trying to get it to start, but now I can start my desk top whether or not the maxtor is plugged in and now the program doesn't flicker when I open it. It still doesn't work and everything is as before, light on and faint clicking.
I have some work files on this that I hope I can recover.