I've had a 320Gb Imation External HDD for approx. 2.5 years now. It is powered by USB for portability and has worked flawlessly for over two years.

A few months ago it started to develop a connection problem, if the USB connector at the laptop was knocked the drive would frequently drop out of communication with the laptop. the problem grew worse to the point where I decided to prise the connectors on the laptop and cable up to hopefully ensure decent contact and prevent the problem from happening again in the future. It seemed to work for a while but then the problem returned and grew much worse.

A few times with the original problem Windows7 asked if I wanted to scan and fix the HDD, this became a do you want to format request, and finally a this drive cannot be accessed. Well with many photos and films, albeit as a backup, formatting wasn't really a solution as I had no other means for backup available to me. I didn't use the drive for several weeks because I didn't really need to and CBA to face the problem, but after being bedridden with a pulled muscle in my neck/shoulder I wanted to access the movies to pass the time.

Having already tried to solve the problem by prising the contacts with limited success and by trying all available ports, I followed this route by holding the connector in place with several different angles, with no luck?

Well with nothing to go on I decided on using something I had never used before, the additional USB power connector which was supplied with the HDD. All of a sudden no issue at all, even when I wiggle the connectors?

So is it a problem with the power connectors on the the original USB lead, or have the USB ports on the laptop become unable to provide the necessary power for the HDD (even when plugged in)?

I could investigate the problem further, but as it isn't really a problem at the moment have no real desire to do so. Does anyone have any similar experiences or knowledge on the problem?

Don't know if it'll help, but have you tried disabling the "allow computer to switch off this device to save power" option in control panel? Maybe the laptop has turned the power off to the USB hub and decided not to turn them back on again.

I imagine the drive draws slightly over the 500mA supplied under USB soecifications, hence the extra adapter being supplied.

It's been working fine because a shiny laptop with shiny connectors can cope. Add a little bit of corrosion and you need to give it a wiggle.

Keep using the adapter thingy. It's what it's for.

And for the love of... make sure anything really important is backed up! I know the interwebs is a bit naff down there, but USB sticks are really quite cheap now - especially compared to replacing the data.

If you want a free ~300GB FTP account, drop me a line. I'll stick a private folder on the silly server; it's got a 100Mbps connection and only about 3 people using it

Thanks for the info guys.

As it isn't really a problem at the minute I'll not go and change any settings as no doubt I'll make the problem worse.