what is going on with time machine or my ext hard drive?!?!

[muymal]

i have a simple tech 200gb ext hard drive. idk what is going on, but everytime i try to back up, it would start for a while then all of a sudden, it says "device improperly removed" while it is still plugged in! and sometimes it wouldn't even recognize it.

i try restarting leaving it plug in and i try unplugging and replugging. nothing works!

please help

[Eidorian]

Sounds like a bad hard drive or I/O connection.

[muymal]

ah damn it, i had the hard drive for less than 6 months! sigh

[MacBass]

Does the HDD have a separate power supply, or is it bus powered? It could be a bad connection with power, a drop in power would cause the drive to restart and be "improperly removed".

[muymal]

it's bus power, why is there a sudden drop in power if that is the case?