Quantum Drive Common Problems
Like with many other drives, the Quantum’s most common problem is with bad sectors. After some time, the magnetic media that the platters are covered with begins to decay. Because of this, the domains are unable to turn in the desired direction and this equals bad sectors.
When the drive hits this unreadable data (bad sector) it may begin scratching, freezing and even clicking loudly . This causes even more damage to the surface and heads and could mean more data loss. This is why it’s imperative to immediately stop the computer and consult an expert data recovery specialist in the event that you experience any of the above symptoms! Failure to do so would most likely lead to permanent data loss. The tech labs have special tools for reading the raw (bad) sector data, while ignoring checksum check. This is normally the only to recover a good amount of data from an LBA.
Clicking / Knocking
Another symptom that is quite common for Quantum HDD is a knocking or clicking noise that can be heard when the drive spins up . The spinning normally quickens, another click sounds and then spinning stops. Although the most common reason for knocking or clicking is bad heads, you should first rule out corrupted firmware as the culprit as this can also produce clicking.
Corrupt Firmware
Well known for their firmware issues, Quantum hard drives have very sensitive firmware. If just one of the modules is corrupt, the drive will fail to properly initialize and data will become inaccessible as it stops working. The HDD in this instance either:
– doesn’t show up anywhere in the BIOS
– doesn’t read data
– doesn’t boot up
– shows wrong S/N
– shows a 0 capacity
Trying to read data or boot up will give you one of the following error messages (or similar):
“Primary Master Hard Disk Fail”
“USB Device malfunctioned”
“No operating system found”
I’ll say it again: DO NOT attempt to fix any of these issues at home. Most need to be seen to in a class 100 clean room, or with specialist equipment. Attempting to fix these problems on your own will most likely result in unrecoverable data.