This is going to sound really stupid, but you’ve had no other responses so here goes: I just got a Seagate and all of a sudden, my computer (a Gateway running XP and that’s about all I can tell you) decided that the E drive was empty. After a few failed, fancy efforts to get them talking, I just unplugged the Seagate and plugged it back in again. The desktop and other hardware remained running. And when I plugged the Seagate back in again, it started up. I know not why. I apologize for the “attack with bobby pin” suggestion, but maybe that’s all it takes.