BleepingComputer.com: maxtor one-touch 4 ext HD not recognized & making beeping noise

i would really appreciate anyone's help with my issue:

ive had a 500-gig Maxtor One Touch external hard drive for awhile now.
a couple months ago it just flat-out stopped working.

whenever i plug it in and connect it through USB to my laptop, it doesn't get recognized.
this sort of thing happens sometimes i understand.
usually unplugging/rebooting/etc. will do the trick.

but this time around, everytime i plug it in, not only is it not recognized, but it's making this odd muffled beeping sound.
it will beep intermittently for about 5 minutes then it will stop.

when i called for support from maxtor, they told me it sounded like a power supply problem.
so i bought a hard drive USB docking station to see if that did the trick.
nothing doing.
its still making the beeping sound.

this is a very very frustrating issue because i can't seem to get a straight answer out of anyone.
i figured the only way i could get an answer was if someone had experienced the same beeping sound.

also im not worried about the actual hard drive so much as a i care about what's on it, which is about 200 gigs of some very rare music that i've spent hours upon hours searching for and collecting.

i'm not too proficient at fiddling around with stuff in startup mode or anything like that.
i can do anything on windows as long as i have directions, so forgive me if i ask relatively simple follow-up questions if you give advice.

if anyone has heard of such a thing, or can tell me if im up the creek, i just want to get some closure on this.

thank you

I've never heard a hard drive beep...under any circumstance.

The system/motherboard is the only computer-related item I have ever heard beeps from.

You sure that these sounds are coming from a hard drive?

FWIW, http://en.kioskea.net/faq/sujet-344-how-to...ive-short-beeps

Louis

hamluis, on Jun 16 2009, 05:08 PM, said:

thanks. that link is helpful, and great for future reference as well

the beeps are definitely coming from the hard drive, and its most similar to the motherboard beep description.

The Seagate website (Seagate owns Maxtor) has this: "Note: OneTouch and FreeAgent drive users should use the diagnostic feature built into the OneTouch Manager or FreeAgent software."

Have you attempted to run such?

I would run the Sea Tools for Windows diagnostic on the drive...before contacting Seagate/Maxtor.

If the drive is no longer under warranty...I would remove the actual hard drive from the enclosure...and then attach the drive directly to the motherboard. I would then check the BIOS for recognition of the drive, ensuring that the jumper on the drive is properly set.

Louis

I had this exact problem with my Maxtor 500GB Drive. Mine came with a 5 year warrentee, so it would benifit you to check if your warentee is still active. Maxtor honored the warrentee and sent me a "Certified Repaired" replacement. However, now the exact same thing is happening to my replacement 500GB hard drive. I am going to call Maxtor back and try and get a refund.