Member Avatar for MAJ_Jimbo

Everyone!

First, forgive me...I'm new to the forum. I've been looking around and have not found my answer and wondering if you all can help.

I have a Maxtor One-Touch 250GB USB/Firewire external HD. Today...it made a bunch of weird noises when coping files to it and then it came up with an I/O error. Basically WinXP Home Edition on my system recognizes the drive in My Computer as a local disk with a drive letter. But when I click on the drive I get a "Request could not be preformed because of a I/O device error".

I'm looking to see how I can access the data? I've seen some information on this program "KNOPPIX" which I'm seeing is a program you put on CD to boot the computer with to view the files (correct me if I'm wrong). It there another program to move the files?

I tried going to the Maxtor website and finding HD tools, I could not find them. I'm used to using tools like Western Digital has that you can boot from disk, view the harddrive and possible fix any bad sectors or what have you.

The harddrive boots, it's recognized by Windows...so I'm thinking software can possibly do it...but not sure what software.

Anyhelp would be great as this HD has my files from Iraq (just got back) and I was working on doing a back up to DVD this week. Thanks!

Jimbo

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by VickiBraun

Dani AI

Generated

Practical, safe recovery steps for (and a nod to — good to know software can help): prioritize preserving the current state of the disk. Further writes or repeated random attempts increase the chance of permanent loss. If the data is mission-critical, stop and consult a clean-room recovery service; otherwise follow an imaging-first workflow so all recovery work is done against a copy, not the failing drive.

Quick workflow (DIY):

  • Try simple hardware checks first: swap cable/port, try a powered USB port or a different PC, and — only if comfortable and out of warranty — remove the drive from its enclosure and connect it directly (SATA or a known-good USB-SATA adapter) to rule out a bad enclosure bridge.
  • Create a full disk image to a separate, larger drive using GNU ddrescue. Do a non-retry pass first, then a retry pass. Example (replace device and paths accordingly):
sudo ddrescue -f -n /dev/sdX /mnt/backup/image.img /mnt/backup/image.log
sudo ddrescue -d -r3 /dev/sdX /mnt/backup/image.img /mnt/backup/image.log
  • Work only on the image file for file recovery. Use TestDisk to attempt partition/table repair and PhotoRec or file-recovery tools to extract files from the image.

Useful references: GNU ddrescue and TestDisk / PhotoRec.

Stop and get professionals if the drive shows repeated clicking, grinding, or very high failure rates during imaging — continued DIY attempts can make clean-room recovery impossible. Keep a clear record (serial, model, what you tried), always recover onto a second physical disk, and avoid any tools that write to the failing drive.

Member Avatar for VickiBraun

Hey, Jimbo, I tried to post long message, but the forum ate it. (I registered just to answer your post.) Don't have patience to rewrite everything, but I had same experience. Did lots of research, chkdsk, tried recovery tools, etc. One word: SpinRite Funky, but it worked (and was worth every penny of the $100) When you are done, toss that boat anchor, b/c Maxtors are infamous for crashing this way!

Good luck!

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