Hi, I'm desperately looking for help... I'm using Sony Vaio desktop, Windows XP Home edition and three Western Digital External Disk (1 - 120GB, 2 - 80 GB). I run into problem when I tried to copy or cut files from the 120GB external disk. I'm getting the "I/O device error" when I try to move the files. The external drive contains mostly pictures (average file size of 3 Mb) and home videos (average file size of 10 Gb). I'm planning of re-formatting the drive but wanted to spare my files first. I noticed that only the 120Gb drive is having this problem. I tried moving files (4 Mb) from the other external disk (80 G) using the same USB port and it works fine. That eliminates my suspecion on the USB port to be bad. I did download Western Digital tool and try to fix the external disk and it fails. I was then told I need the expertise of data recovery. I also tried to browse the internet and found some trial software but all failed. I'm looking for someone who can tell me what to do or recommends any tools out thier that can help solve my problem. I tried checking how much they charge recovering data and it is so expensive. Some charge by the size of the file which I have at least a total of 60Gb...I'm also looking for a good software that I can use to keep my external drive stay out of error. Any advise is greatly appreciated. Regards, Maggie

This happened to me just recently when I tried to edit a jpg on my Western Digital USB 120gb external drive. I lost the format when my Laptop (XP PRO) froze on me. Please let me know what you did to recover. Thanks Tino.