Too true. Let's just say I should have known... don't use Samsung hard disks... I couldn't recover anything. This hard disk is only 2 years old. My 5 year old 1 Gb Fujitsu still works fine.
I now have an 80 Gb Seagate - it's not the best brand around, but it was great bang for bucks - only US$95 (AU$185).
Did I read that right, an 80GB Seagate for only $95?! That's like...?70 or maybe less...
I bought an external CD-RW yesterday... believe it or not, I've never owned a CD burner... now I have a portable USB one... works great. At least now I can back things up...