Usb Backup Drive Looses Connection

I am using a Windows 7 32 bit PC with an external USB backup drive. Every couple of weeks the backup drive "looses connection" and no longer appears in My Computer. When I pull the power plug from the back of the external USB backup drive for a couple of minutes and plug it back into the drive the computer then recognizes and sees the backup drive again.

Does anyone know why this is happening and how I can fix this problem. Could my external USB backup drive be going bad?

Thanks very much.

 

Hey Bill, I'm only guessing here but to me it sounds like the drive connection is loose or going bad. Not being able to see it so like I said it's just a guess but that seems likely to me. Sorry I couldn't do more.

 

Nick - thanks for your reply. The USB cable connections are tight and pushed all the way in. I could replace the USB cable to see if that fixed the problem. I don't understand why unplugging the power cable from the back of the USB drive fixes the problem for a couple of weeks then the drive 0nce again disappears from My Computer until I unplug and re-plug the power cable again.