An external hard disk can be added at 2635? - IBM ThinkPad 380ED

Your data is already gone. The drive is raw. No partition no format.
here is a link to a free data recovery program, this probably wont work but may be worth a try
http://getdataback-data-recovery-for-ntfs.soft32.com/free-download/?lp=dsa&tg=us&kw=_cat%3Asoft32.com&mt=b&ad=35354358678&pl=&ds=s&gclid=CIa78aSmk74CFc5ffgod9gEAlA

just be sure to opt out of all garbage they want to infest your computer with.

1) click start
2) right click on "computer" or "my computer"
3) click manage
4) IF you get a user account control popup click yes
5) double click on storage
6) double click on disk management
7) identify your disk, it should be empty and most likely named "disk 1" or maxtor drive or something
8) right click on it and select format (quick format, default allocation size, NTFS)
9) voila!

-Luke

Try going to control panel / administrative tools / computer management / disk management this will give a detailed view of all of your disks this will also if it needs to have a volume added if so just right click the disk and add volume.

You've got a "hardware" problem with the disk-drive. Windows cannot write an updated 'MFT' ("Master File Table") to reflect files that you have added/deleted/updated on the Maxtor.

Copy all the files from the Maxtor, e.g., onto another external drive, or "burning" to DVD disks, and then replace the Maxtor disk-drive.

There are other options in disk utility, connect it up and open the disk utility, if it shows up select it and see what you have.

you can this many different ways. The most straightforward is to go to the drive and select "folder and file options" in the view menu and selct "show hidden files", that way when you copy and paste you will get every single file. The other way is to use a program such as Acronis Tru Image and use the clone option. I am assuming that you want an image of your C:\ drive.

The computer cannot find the operating system, the disk error message means it cannot find the hard disk, you most likely have a faulty hard disk or less likely a faulty disk controller.

You can test the hard disk by removing it and connecting it to a USB hard drive adapter and plug it into a working computer's USB port. If this computer cannot detect this drive as an external drive then you will know your hard drive is faulty ad you need to buy a new one and install Windows and programs etc..

Have you rebooted to see what the drive comes up as after reboot?

update bios ibm thinkpad type 2635

Your problem sounds like the system isn't finding the hard disk