Hello all. I was wondering if someone would be able to help me. I have a Maxtor 100 gig external harddrive which isn't being read by windows.

Basically, I'll turn it on, I hear it start up and all...but it is just not showing up in My Computer. At first, I thought maybe it was the USB cable, but after using it on my modem it worked fine. I have tried everything to fix this problem, switching it on/off, changing plugs and USB ports.

It has been on for most of the year, I occasionally turn it off, and the blue light on the front is also flashing instead of being steady, which I don't think it did before. I'm guessing it is a problem with the hard drive itself and not with Windows.

Can anyone help me? I have several important files on there, thankyou in advance.

The life of an external Maxtor is about a year, in our experience.

If you cannot detect the drive so that it shows up in your BIOS or in the hardware list of Windows, it may be trouble. You can remove the drive from the case and try it in a computer to see if detected there.

Despite your tests, I would try an new or known working USB 2.0 cable, check all connections carefully by removing and resetting them. Be certain your power adapter is working and that no cables are crimped.

We see a lot of external Maxtor drives in our shop with mysterious problems... and even more with other brands.

Have you tried installing it as a slave on the same IDE cable with your hdd with your OS system on it?

Most any current hdds should last longer that a year unless they have be subjected to some form of trama, not just internal hdds but externals as well. I had a guy who had nocked his external hdd off the table and couldn't understand why that should effect it.