Drive was connected on main USB 2 ports at front (and rear) Also have USB printer (off) and bus powered 4 port USB2 hub on other rear socket. Would that be enough to cause power problems? Drive has mains adaptor power supply.
Keef has intrigued me with the query about Maxtor..............................
Will check event logs.
It just 'dies' whenever I try a large write to it. I can copy a small text file ok, but time seems to be a function. Event 51 and 57 so no clues there?