[Honu]

For a HDD that died early and easily, the Maxtor OneTouch has a surprisingly durable ghost.

I put a new WD3200JB HDD into the Maxtor OneTouch case (minus the dead HDD), hooked it all up and connected it to my PC. But the XP Disk Management program doesn't see a new WD with 320 GB -- it shows a 128 GB (unallocated) Maxtor OneTouch.

Does anyone know how to drive out the phantom HDD and allow the new HDD to show up for work? Is XP wrongly detecting the Maxtor from the electronics in the external case? Or does XP have code in its memory that sees the old familiar Maxtor no matter what's plugged in?

Thanks for any advice.

[whiic]

I haven't had problems like this with my WD3200JB in OneTouch (1st gen) enclosure.

I don't really think that "128 GB (unallocated) Maxtor OneTouch" is a ghost. I think that is the WD, but Windows sees the drive as Maxtor OneTouch USB device. Nothing to worry, I'd guess. The 128GB is something weird though. It's the 28-bit boundary, but OneTouch shouldn't have that kind of limitation. Wasn't the original drive bigger than that? If it was bigger, and all the capacity with the (now dead) Maxtor was usable, then you could possibly find a workaround the issue by formatting it internally and then reinstall it into OneTouch case.

Some questions:
Are you using USB2 or FireWire?
The problem could be related only to one of the interfaces.

Have you installed OneTouch drivers?
Windows XP has it's own drivers and OneTouch functions without any extra software. Installing drivers do provide an utility to configure the automatic power-off feature, plus with Maxtor's drivers, the external drive shuts down when computer is shut down. With default drivers the drive stays on (until idle counter reaches the configured value and shuts the external down). I like the default drivers better than the ones from Maxtor, because that way it doesn't shut down + power up the drive on a system reboot.

Your OS: XP Home? XP Pro? What Windows Service Packs are installed?

This post has been edited by whiic: 08 April 2006 - 04:58 AM

[whiic]

888: If what you just said is true, it sound like Maxtor tries to prevent people from repairing their OneTouches with non-Maxtor drives. Sounds quite Fishy.

I'd mount the WD internally and see if it had it's original capacity available. If it does: format and try again.

If not, then I'm sorry. I didn't know that Maxtor would act that Dirty as to (semi)permanently damage other manufacturers' drives. If the max addressable space was reduced into 28-bit, maybe MHDD could fix it (re-enable SetMax and use SetMax to restore it), if WDs own utility couldn't?

I hope that what 888 said isn't the truth.

[Honu]

888, on Apr 8 2006, 04:40 AM, said:

Is it "OneTouch II" ?

If yes then it's a known issue now. I just talked to data recovery people yesterday and they said it's just so when you put another manufacturer's drive into OneTouch II, then it will be automatically set to maximum capacity of 128GB. Additionally, also the "SetMax" command will be disabled with it, so it is not even possible to set the drive back to its original capacity. It is not related to this WD3200 model, not even to WD drives, as they said it was happened with all other companies (except Maxtor) drives put into OneTouch II. The only way to restore the original capacity was using very special cracking tools only data recovery companies have access to. But as they said, they have still no idea why these things with OneTouch II happen as this was also a brand new first-time experience for them. May-be here on SR forum are some more knowledgeable people from Maxtor or Data recovery services who can give some more advice... That's all I know now, I have no more ideas.

Yikes! I don't think I can afford that kind of exorcism. But . . . this is (was) a OneTouch I (it doesn't actually have a number after it so I'm assuming that it's not a II).

Quote

I'd mount the WD internally and see if it had it's original capacity available. If it does: format and try again.

I'll try that. The WD is PATA and I think I only have two PATA plugins on my motherboard -- both currently used by DVD drives. I'll just unplug one of them and plug in the WD -- that won't screw up anything else will it? I assume XP will switch back and forth between these drives installing the right drivers as needed, right?

Quote

If not, then I'm sorry. I didn't know that Maxtor would act that Dirty as to (semi)permanently damage other manufacturers' drives. If the max addressable space was reduced into 28-bit, maybe MHDD could fix it (re-enable SetMax and use SetMax to restore it), if WDs own utility couldn't?

I've never used any utilities from the Maxtor. Any suggestion on how to use it to get the WD HDD back? The WD came from NewEgg w/o any software. I've downloaded WD Data Lifeboat (or something with a similar name). Is that the utility you mean?

Thanks for all the help so far. Keep your fingers crossed.

[Honu]

whiic, on Apr 8 2006, 02:55 AM, said:

I don't really think that "128 GB (unallocated) Maxtor OneTouch" is a ghost. I think that is the WD, but Windows sees the drive as Maxtor OneTouch USB device. Nothing to worry, I'd guess. The 128GB is something weird though. It's the 28-bit boundary, but OneTouch shouldn't have that kind of limitation. Wasn't the original drive bigger than that? If it was bigger, and all the capacity with the (now dead) Maxtor was usable, then you could possibly find a workaround the issue by formatting it internally and then reinstall it into OneTouch case.

I'll try that. The original HDD was 160GB -- that's why it didn't make sense to me that this would be reset to 128.

Quote

Some questions:
Are you using USB2 or FireWire?
The problem could be related only to one of the interfaces.

I'm using the FireWire. But it has two Firewire ports and one USB, so I guess I should give them all a try.

Quote

Have you installed OneTouch drivers?

Not with this new install. But they may be lurking on my internal HDD from back when there was a Maxtor inside the Maxtor case. I'll check that, too.

Quote

Windows XP has it's own drivers and OneTouch functions without any extra software. Installing drivers do provide an utility to configure the automatic power-off feature, plus with Maxtor's drivers, the external drive shuts down when computer is shut down. With default drivers the drive stays on (until idle counter reaches the configured value and shuts the external down). I like the default drivers better than the ones from Maxtor, because that way it doesn't shut down + power up the drive on a system reboot.

This gets back to the last question, too. How do I determine if Maxtor drivers are being used and if so, how do I remove them? I'd probably go through device manager to see what it's using, right?

Quote

Your OS: XP Home? XP Pro? What Windows Service Packs are installed?

XP Pro SP2 -- which is why I thought the 28-bit problem wouldn't come into play.
Thanks

[bennt]

Honu, on Apr 8 2006, 12:15 PM, said:

XP Pro SP2 -- which is why I thought the 28-bit problem wouldn't come into play.
Thanks

The 28 bit problem would actually be 137Gb, not 128Gb. So I suspect it is something specific to the Maxtor Onetouch.

Might also be worth hooking it up to another computer to see if it has the same problem.

[Honu]

bennt, on Apr 8 2006, 11:16 AM, said:

ight also be worth hooking it up to another computer to see if it has the same problem.

Good idea. I'll do that before trying it inside of this computer.

This post has been edited by Honu: 08 April 2006 - 01:54 PM

[Honu]

Thank you all for your help. I'm the proud father of a new external HDD! I named him "F." He weighs 300GB.

I don't think it was just a single change that made the difference -- more like a combination of your suggestions. Switching from firewire to USB seemed to clear out the 128GB problem, leaving the drive open to learn something new. (Thanks for that suggestion, whicc.) When I rebooted, Windows wanted to load Maxtor OneTouch drivers. I cancelled out of that and tried to install it with WD's Data Lifeguard Tools 11, but it didn't support the WD3200JB. Maybe I wasn't using it correctly, though. I ended up letting it use the Maxtor drivers and, voila, it appeared in disk management as unformatted 300GB. The rest was easy and it allowed me to copy files between it and the other drives. So I guess it's okay.

Now I have to find solid backup software and turn 'im loose.

Thanks again for all the help. Whew!

[whiic]

bennt: "The 28 bit problem would actually be 137Gb, not 128Gb."

You're correct (in a certain way) - the limit is 137 GB (gigabytes) or 128 GiB (gibibytes). Notice though that Windows calls the gibibytes by WRONG name. The "Windows' gigabytes" aren't gigabytes at all, as they don't follow the rules of Système International d'unités (SI) where kilo is 1000 (not 1024)!

The 137 GB limit appears as a 128 "GB" limit because Windows tells the capacity is 128 GB instead of 128 GiB. It's the same reason why for example 200GB drives appear to have less than 200GB capacity formatted. Certain dummies blame formatting for the "data loss" but there's no lost capacity, just a different interpretation of what the word "gigabyte" actually means.

Honu: "How do I determine if Maxtor drivers are being used and if so, how do I remove them?"

The Maxtors' drives are on the CD that came with the enclosure. If you hadn't installed what was on the CD, then your PC is using the Windows' own drivers.

Honu: "Not with this new install. But they may be lurking on my internal HDD from back when there was a Maxtor inside the Maxtor case."

New install? As new Windows install? Or installing a new drive into the enclosure?

If you installed the drivers' before changing the drive inside OneTouch from Maxtor to WD, it doesn't matter: the same driver is used for your WD as well. No need to reinstall it. (The drivers are installed into Windows - not into the enclosure.)

If you have reinstalled your Windows, the installed drivers' are gone (the can be reinstalled from the CD). The drivers' are certainly not lurking in your enclosure.

But, as your enclosure works: don't try to fix something that isn't broken. (i.e don't install or uninstall any drivers)

Honu: "Switching from firewire to USB seemed to clear out the 128GB problem, leaving the drive open to learn something new. (Thanks for that suggestion, whicc.) When I rebooted, Windows wanted to load Maxtor OneTouch drivers. I cancelled out of that..."

The Windows was searching the right drivers from it's own selection of drivers, and apparently because it started working, found the right driver. And apparently you weren't able to cancel it... Actually there was no need to try cancelling it. Anyway, no harm done as it works.

Hone: "WD's Data Lifeguard Tools 11, but it didn't support the WD3200JB. Maybe I wasn't using it correctly, though."

WD Data Lifeguard only functions with drive installed internally into motherboard's own IDE connector. It cannot see USB drives. The idea of using Lifeguard or MHDD was only as a last resort if the drive appeared 128 GiB when mounted internally.

My guess is that the main contributor was that you changed from FireWire to USB2. See, I've only used the USB2 with my WD3200JB and I had no problems at all, not even temporary ones.

So, summa summarum:
It's OK to use OneTouch for other manufacturers' drives if:
- you use first generation combo OneTouch and
- you use USB2.

I can't guarantee OneTouches that have only USB2 will work, nor can I say that the ones with just FireWire will fail. Actually I can't guarantee that what happened to Honu isn't just isolated to certain combination of hardware.

Honu: "this is (was) a OneTouch I (it doesn't actually have a number after it so I'm assuming that it's not a II)."

First generation OneTouch has a blue plastic front and back panels.
Second generation OneTouch has grey plastic panels and the front panel is decorated with a grille.

That's the easiest way to recognize a first gen OneTouch.