Hello, I have a problem with my maxtor buslink 40gb USB 2.0 external HDD. I bought it a little over a year ago and so the warranty has run out. I had let my friend borrow it so that she may work on a powerpoint that wouldn't fit on a floppy. I had also let her borrow my laptop (an old IBM thinkpad 600). She is not the most technology savvy person i know, but i didn't think that connecting two adapters and a USB cord wasn't rocket science. She took it home and unknowingly plug in my 16V laptop adapter into the HDD's 12V plug and vice versa. She turned on the switch and of course nothing happened. So she calls me and tells me that the laptop isn't working, and that the HDD's light was flashing. This had never happened to me before, but I guessed what happened. So using the knowlegde i had gained from attending an A++ hardware class (attended a few times never got certified) I opened the drive and tested the circuit board (the one that the HDD sits upon.Worked fine. So I thought maybe it was the power supply wires but that wasn't it either. Then i looked at HDD circuit board and noticed that there was some residue on one of the lil' black chips...to my dismay it was some sooty substance that i assume was frome the chip frying. i have very important documents on the drive ( which ironically i was going to back up just this weekend ) is there any way i can replace the board without messing up the actual hard disks? What should i do? Please help me. -Frank

I think that you better contact Maxtor.

never lend friends anything you can't afford to lose. I never lend friends anything. You should be able to put the old drive on a new board and read everything. The friend should pay one way or another.