Problem with W7 B/U or maybe ext. HD or???--strange

I’m not sure if I have a failing external hard drive or???
I have a Fantum 2TB external hard drive. I’ve had it for a few years and use it just for backups. It is partitioned into drives F,G,H. I recently got a new computer with W7 and did a Windows 7 system backup a few months ago on drive H.
I figured a new backup is overdue so I ran the W7 backup again. But, each time, at about 14% completed (but not at the exact same spot) the computer would suddenly not recognize the USB device. The first time it happened I was actually saving another file to the hard drive H: at the same time it was backing things up. I guess I shouldn’t do that?

Anyway, this has happened 3 times (I tried different USB ports, but that didn’t matter) in a row. Each time, the laptop suddenly didn’t recognize the external hard drive. (It would say something like unknown USB Device).

After the 3 failed B/U attempts on H: drive, I decided to do a complete system image backup, and this time I’m doing it on drive G and it ran perfectly. (It only took 35 minutes which surprised me -- how long should it take -- I have about 40 gb used on my laptop’s hard drive).

So, I’m not sure what to make of all this. Does it sound like my external HD is going bad? If so, might it just be on the H: partition (I can get by totally just using the F and G partitions.) Or could it be a problem with my new laptop (somehow I doubt it, but I’m not sure).

I’m not sure what to try next, if anything.

If it might be my ext. HD, I would appreciate recommendations regarding some free s-ware that could check my drive

Mel

Not likely HD failure.

W7 back-up is hokey IMO, when I was using it one week would be 30 min and the next week over 12 hours.

W7 back-up can only handle standard sector size 512. Usually this is only exceeded on drives over 2TB though but you can read HERE. So if you formatted with what they call 512E on H: it could be an issue.

the drive is about 3 years old.

I ran a few tests on the H: partition and the hd passed.

So, I'm not sure what happened

Mel

Have you tried a backup to G:, rather than just a system image? I'm just wondering if there is any difference using G: than with H:

I did the system image to G.

Is there any point following that with a B/U at this time?

I plan to do a B/U to G: in the near future.

Mel

I was just curious if it could somehow make any difference going to G:

I'm curious, so please post back when it does the next scheduled back-up.

but I usually wait a couple of months (I back up certain crucial files daily to another computer.

I am curious too.

Mel