Syncing problem with external hard drive device

[jakkusto]

Hi,

About 4 months ago, I bought a Maxtor external HDD to back up all my data onto. I just built another computer with mostly new parts (except the HD). Before building the new system, I tried to back up all my old data to the external drive to transfer to my new computer, but the drive was having issues being recognized, so I brought it back to best buy where it was purchased and exchanged it for a new one (for free), and the drive also comes with a 5 year warranty(though it doesn't cover data loss, it's supposed to cover faulty drives). The new drive had no problems backing up all my data, and I proceeded to wipe the old drive...However, upon booting up with the OS and getting all the drivers in order, I encountered this problem(this is a copy of an email I sent to thier tech support):

"Hello, I've been using your 120 GB OneTouch 4 Mini to back up all my important files. I've upgrading my computer with all new core hardware EXCEPT for the hard drive, which I've wiped clean, reformated, and reinstalled windows xp home SP2. My question is, will I be able to retrieve all the data on my OneTouch and save it back to the original hard drive now that I wiped/reinstalled, and if so, how do I do this? The manual that came with your product did not describe how to do this, if at all possible. If this is not possible, is there any other way of retrieving that data off of the OneTouch and saving it to some other medium? Any feedback on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!"

I sort of downplayed the fact that I encountered this problem AFTER I had already wiped the old drive...and although the externall HD program installed successfully on the new computer, it would not allow me to transfer files from my external drive to the new one(in other words, it won't allow me to "sync" any files. Seagate customer service told me that,

"Having assessed the issue, I have established that it will need an in lab effort to recover all the information as the drive seems to have some hardware failure. You will be shipping the drive to a Seagate facility near to you in order for us to do the free evaluation. Once we have established the amount of data we can recover, a case manager will get in touch with further details. The cost can range between $700-$2200 provided the unit is a single drive. The cost is applicable only upon a successful recovery. There will be no fees to evaluate the drive and assess the amount of data we can recover. "

This is pretty shady, and I know this is an issue I'll likely need to resolve with the manufacturer on my own, but my question is that does anyone know of a way I can attempt to recover the drive data myself? I'm sorry if this is an "illegal" question for this forum, so if it is please let me know and i'll delete this post myself, as my intent is not to exploit this forum for that purpose. Just trying not to get royally ripped off by this company...on a last note, the manual that came with the drive has virtually no instructions other then how to install and warranty info, so it's a no go there.  Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

Windows XP home edition SP2
Core 2 Duo Intel processor E8400 (LGA775)
Asus P5Q mobo
XFX geForce gtx 260 896 Mb graphics card (single)
2 Gb DDR2 pc2-8500 Crucial Ballistix Ram - Kit (2 one gig sticks)
Maxtor 160 gb SATA HDD(internal)
maxtor onetouch mini 4 120Gb external HDD(USB 2.0 interface)
Rosewill 600W Performance series PSU
CD/DVD burner/player, Floppy Drive

[jakkusto]

Happy to report that I just figured out my own problem. Turns out you can in fact "sync" the files between the one touch 4 mini and your current harddrive, you just can't do it through the maxtor software. You don't need any third party software though, all I did was go to "My computer", double clicked on the detected external drive, then i double clicked the file "maxtor backup", and all my old files were right there under my old PC's name....all I had to do was drag and drop the files onto my internal harddrive, wait a few minutes while they transferred, and then I had all my files back. I'm going to assume since the external drive sorts backed up data by each PC's unique name(in other words, it creates a unique file for each unique HD that you've backed up data from) that you can easily manage several different HDs and successfully sync data to any harddrive you want. I'll mention this last little bit to clarify that you don't in fact need to save all your files under "My documents" for you to be able to recover the files...in my case, I had 3 different partitions (C (the windows partition), E, and F), and I had only backed up files from E and F from the old harddrive before I wiped it...I found them and restored them no problem using the technique described above. Piece of cake

[patio]

Glad we could help......