karas667

ok so this is the best place i've been able to find for help with my problem, so i bought a Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 (in the form of a buffalo 1TB external drive) and its worked fine for me for about 2 years now, a couple of weeks ago i got a virus/error/my computer was just being retarded and wouldn't let me install any new programs or updates (it got to the "i've read and agree to the terms and conditions" page then the installation window just dissapeared) so i moved "everything" (every file, movie and photo i own) onto my external taking it to about 950GB full out off 1TB and began a full clean reinstall of windows xp my external worked fine for another couple of days, then one day i turned in on and nothing. The disc spins up fine but my computer and laptop dont even recognise that ive plugged something in, then i heard of then type ofproblems being talked about here so i started reading the thread and got to about page 7 befor i realised a ) this thread is really long and b ) most of waht is being said is going over my head (i have no idea what most of the abbreviations stand for) , im not some computer illiterate goon but im not as advanced as some of the users on here. as such im going to post as much information as i can here and see if anybody can give me instructions as to a home fix. the external inself is currently in multiple pieces as i took it appart and tried to install it as an internal drive and force my bios to detect the drive, this didn't work at all, obviously i can put it back together if needed. Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1000GB S/N: 9QJ16WXB ST31000340AS P/N: 9BX158-501 Firmware: SD15 Date Code: 08513 Site Code: KRATSG WWN: 5000C5000D4D6A88 (MIC) STX-ST31000340AS ( B ) this is all the information that there is on the acctuall HD in question any help appreciated and while waiting i will continue to slowly work my way through the rest of the thread, however i dont think this will be much help as most of the links are now dead. thx in advance to anybody who reads this and/or helps.