Question Old HDD not being recognized via IDE-to-USB adapter

[mattrickman]

I have this old Maxtor HDD I am trying to get data off of for a family member. According to them their HDD stopped working and asked me if I could get some documents off of it.

I bought a IDE to USB adapter to try and access the contents, but when I plug everything in my computer doesn't find any media on the drive it is plugged into. Using FTK imager/autopsy it says no media found in drive F:\ when I select my data source.

I can confirm that the drive is receiving power and the disk is spinning. I believe the pin settings on the HDD is also set to 'master', though it didnt seem to change anything when I changed it.

What is odd is that the USB device is only recognized when I have the power to the HDD off. When I turn the power on the device on and unplug it -> replug it, Windows doesnt sense any USB device. But as soon as I turn the power off, it recognizes it.

Any recommendations? Or am I just SOL?

 

[jay32267]

I just want to make a comment on adapters.

I've used the USB to IDE adapters.....as well as Parallel to USB adapters etc....
What I find is.....
Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't.

For example.....I was using a Parallel to USB adapter with a printer just fine.

I swapped the printer with the exact same model and it didn't work....but that printer works just fine everywhere else.

 

[popatim]

I don't think the USB/IDE adapter shows up if a drive is attached because it passes the drive info over as the 'device'.

It's been a long time since I used mine but that is what I think I remember happening.

Does the size show up correctly for F: ?

 

[mattrickman]

I don't think the USB/IDE adapter shows up if a drive is attached because it passes the drive info over as the 'device'.

It's been a long time since I used mine but that is what I think I remember happening.

Does the size show up correctly for F: ?

It does not. My PC seems to only recognized the USB device itself. It says that there is no media attached/found to F:\. And the size indicates 0 bytes.

 

[fzabkar]

ISTM that the drive may be in the Busy state, in which case the bridge firmware would probably hang while waiting for it to come Ready.

What is the model number of the Maxtor?

 

[mattrickman]

ISTM that the drive may be in the Busy state, in which case the bridge firmware would probably hang while waiting for it to come Ready.

What is the model number of the Maxtor?

It is a Maxtor 5T040H4

 

[fzabkar]

Maxtor drives can be configured for "safe mode". This is a diagnostic mode that is available to special data recovery tools. Safe mode is accessed via a jumper setting. I don't know which setting is appropriate for your model, but here are the settings for other Maxtors:

http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=115&t=191

You won't have access to your data, but the drive may at least identify itself with a factory alias. In this way you can confirm whether the PCB is working.

The standard jumper settings are pictured on page 15 of the PDF:

https://www.seagate.com/staticfiles...ation/manuals/dm_plus_60_ultra_ata_manual.pdf

I would remove the Master jumper and place it over the two leftmost pins on the bottom row of the jumper block (like the DiamondMax 10 Sabre).

I'm assuming this is your PCB:

https://sep.yimg.com/ay/yhst-144375...h2-20gb-tah71dp0-4200-pcb-circuit-board-3.gif

 

[mattrickman]

Maxtor drives can be configured for "safe mode". This is a diagnostic mode that is available to special data recovery tools. Safe mode is accessed via a jumper setting. I don't know which setting is appropriate for your model, but here are the settings for other Maxtors:

http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=115&t=191

You won't have access to your data, but the drive may at least identify itself with a factory alias. In this way you can confirm whether the PCB is working.

The standard jumper settings are pictured on page 15 of the PDF:

https://www.seagate.com/staticfiles...ation/manuals/dm_plus_60_ultra_ata_manual.pdf

I would remove the Master jumper and place it over the two leftmost pins on the bottom row of the jumper block (like the DiamondMax 10 Sabre).

I'm assuming this is your PCB:

https://sep.yimg.com/ay/yhst-144375...h2-20gb-tah71dp0-4200-pcb-circuit-board-3.gif

Thanks for the resources. I tried the suggested jumper settings, and all the other ones just in case -- but it didn't make a difference. The hard drive spins up, but still doesn't seem to be picked up by my computer.

I plugged in a different hard drive that I know works to make sure that my USB adapter wasn't the problem as well. It is definitely something with the hard drive. I might just be out of lucky with the resources I have available.

 

[fzabkar]

Sorry, your drive is a "Rigel". See the safe mode jumpers on page 16 of the following PDF:

https://www.acelab.ru/dep.pc/doc.pc3000dos/060713.001/Maxtor_DSP_POKER_ARDENT_ver4.pdf

 

[mattrickman]

Hmm, maybe I am misunderstanding but according to the diagram I need 2 pin jumpers?

This hard drive only seems to have one.

Picture for reference:

https://imgur.com/a/m2MGmPB

View: https://imgur.com/a/m2MGmPB

 

[fzabkar]

Yes, you need to find an extra jumper, or you could use a pair of tweezers. You only need to short the extra pins while the drive is powering on, then you can release the tweezers.