With over 25 years of hands-on experience, Coventry Data Recovery is the trusted name in Maxtor hard drive recovery for individuals, businesses, and institutions across the UK. Whether you’re dealing with an old Maxtor IDE desktop drive or a modern SATA external disk, our team of engineers specialises in complex recoveries involving both mechanical and logical failures.
We provide comprehensive, in-lab recovery solutions for Maxtor internal and external drives, RAID arrays, servers, and legacy backup systems.
Top 15 Maxtor Hard Drive Models We Recover From
We have experience recovering data from all Maxtor models, including these popular lines:
- Maxtor OneTouch III
- Maxtor OneTouch 4 Mini
- Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9
- Maxtor DiamondMax 10
- Maxtor Basics Portable
- Maxtor OneTouch II
- Maxtor Shared Storage II
- Maxtor DiamondMax VL40
- Maxtor Atlas 10K V (SCSI)
- Maxtor MaxLine Plus II
- Maxtor OneTouch 4 Plus
- Maxtor STM31000340AS
- Maxtor OneTouch Turbo
- Maxtor Basics Desktop
- Maxtor M3 Portable Drive
Supported Interfaces and Systems
We recover data from any Maxtor hard drive interface, including:
- SATA, IDE (PATA), SCSI, SAS
- eSATA, USB 2.0/3.0, FireWire
- PCIe, NVMe, M.2, U.2
And support all major systems:
- Windows XP to Windows 11
- macOS and OS X
- Linux (ext2/ext3/ext4)
- RAID arrays, NAS units, CCTV, Legacy Servers
Common Maxtor Hard Drive Issues and Our Recovery Process
Below are 20 of the most common Maxtor hard disk problems we resolve, including how we recover the data for each case:
1. Mechanical Failure (Head Crash or Seized Motor)
- Symptoms: Clicking sounds, spinning stops abruptly.
- Recovery: Open in cleanroom, replace damaged read/write heads using a compatible donor. Full disk imaging is performed to extract data without further damage.
2. Bad Sectors
- Symptoms: Slow performance, file corruption.
- Recovery: We use hardware imagers to bypass bad sectors and reconstruct partial or damaged file systems using error correction tables.
3. Firmware Corruption
- Symptoms: Drive spins up but isn’t recognised.
- Recovery: Maxtor firmware modules (ROM and SA) are reconstructed manually or replaced using a donor ROM. We reprogram microcode blocks where needed.
4. Logical Corruption
- Symptoms: Files missing, partition lost, “RAW” drive.
- Recovery: Logical volume analysis followed by sector-level parsing to rebuild NTFS, FAT32 or HFS+ structures.
5. PCB Failure
- Symptoms: Drive is completely dead or smells burnt.
- Recovery: Faulty PCB replaced with a compatible board; BIOS ROM chip transplanted and adaptive data reprogrammed.
6. Drive Not Recognised by BIOS/System
- Symptoms: Not detected on boot, or shows 0MB.
- Recovery: Evaluation of controller IC, firmware, and interface integrity. Terminal access tools used to communicate directly with drive firmware.
7. Power Surge Damage
- Symptoms: No spin-up or fried board.
- Recovery: Diodes and TVS protection circuits repaired or bypassed. Components such as controller ICs are replaced to restore drive power.
8. Accidental File Deletion
- Symptoms: Files lost after deletion, emptied Recycle Bin.
- Recovery: Using non-destructive recovery tools to scan MFT entries and journal logs. File carving techniques used when metadata is gone.
9. Formatted Drive
- Symptoms: Data lost due to reformatting.
- Recovery: Original partitions reconstructed. We avoid writing to the drive to prevent overwriting critical sectors.
10. Overheating
- Symptoms: Drive cuts out after extended use.
- Recovery: Cooling protocols used during cloning. Thermal damage assessed and drive stabilised for safe imaging.
11. Head Stack Misalignment
- Symptoms: Clicking or stalling after shock/drop.
- Recovery: Opened in a cleanroom, head stack realigned or replaced. Imaging done on a sector-by-sector basis to avoid recontact damage.
12. Stiction (Heads Stuck on Platters)
- Symptoms: No spin, faint buzzing.
- Recovery: Heads gently released using microtools. Platter integrity checked before full clone.
13. Partition Table Corruption
- Symptoms: Drive shows as unallocated space.
- Recovery: GPT/MBR entries manually rebuilt using low-level forensic tools.
14. Firmware ROM CRC Error
- Symptoms: Drive clicks and never completes spin-up.
- Recovery: ROM chip reprogrammed using donor ROM and reloaded with adaptive data.
15. Encrypted Drive (OneTouch Password Protection)
- Symptoms: Forgotten password or corrupted encryption app.
- Recovery: Proprietary encryption layer reverse-engineered. Password attacks or chip extraction used where necessary.
16. SCSI Bus Failures (Maxtor Atlas Drives)
- Symptoms: SCSI error codes, failure to mount.
- Recovery: Bus termination issues corrected. Data extracted using SCSI-specific imaging hardware.
17. Platter Contamination (Smoke/Water Exposure)
- Symptoms: Contamination from fire, flood, etc.
- Recovery: Drive disassembled, platters cleaned using ISO-certified ultrasonic equipment. Imaged using read-safe heads.
18. NVMe Controller Failure
- Symptoms: Detected by system, but unreadable.
- Recovery: NAND chip dump with ECC decoding. Mapping table reconstructed manually.
19. Corrupt HPA/DCO Settings
- Symptoms: Drive appears smaller than expected.
- Recovery: Hidden sectors unlocked and original capacity restored via ATA commands.
20. SMART Lock or Firmware Lock
- Symptoms: Drive reports failure and locks further access.
- Recovery: Terminal access used to override SMART lockout. Firmware modules reset or patched.
Why Choose Coventry Data Recovery?
- 25 Years of Industry Experience
- Cleanroom Environment
- Maxtor Legacy and Modern Model Expertise
- Advanced Firmware, Microcode, and Physical Recovery Capabilities
- Fully GDPR Compliant
- Free Diagnostics – No Recovery, No Fee
Need expert help with your Maxtor hard drive?
Contact Coventry Data Recovery today for a free diagnostic. We’re here to help recover your data safely, securely, and quickly—no matter the fault.