External harddisk problem

Hi, I have a problem with my hard disk, I was hoping someone out there has some advice for me.
I have a Samsung HD300LD, an external HD with 300 gigabyte space. I started having problems when I had only 60 gig free space left. If I wanted to add some data, it would just crash. I don't know how to explain this further, it just stopped "turning".
Ok, I thought maybe 60 gig free is the limit, it's full now and it needs some space to think. So I deleted 20 gig and now have 80 gig free, but this doesn't help. It still crashes when I try to save something on it.
I can still access the files on the HD, I can play video files for example, and I can also still copy things from it. It just doesn't want anything else on there.
Does anyone know what I can do ( preferrably without losing the data that's on there)? Thanks in advance.

 

I wonder if the file table/index is screwed up? Try this if you are using windows XP:

choose 'run' from the start menu
enter 'cmd' and hit enter
type chkdsk (your external HD's drive letter followed by a colon) /f

it will look something like this- "chkdsk c: /f"
That will run a scan and see if there is a fixable problem, and the /f command will enable it to fix it.

Alternatively you can try a Linux LiveCD (bootable cd that runs in memory with no installation) with a hard disk utility that can read USB hard drives and work on them (can't think of one at the moment)

Your drive may be in the middle of failure- if you can I would back up as much as you can immediately in case the drive does choose to crash completely.

 

Thanks for replying.
I've tried the chkdsk option, and it goes through three fases and then it gives somes feedback about how many KB do what on the drive. Does it have to say that it fixed something? The output looks normal.
If you go to properties, there's this error-checking option under Tools, but it also crashes when I try that.
I'm sorry, I don't understand your advice about the Linux-CD. I'm using XP, if this is any help.

 

Sounds like either a communication problem with the USB connection or the disk is toast - I suggest backing up all that data elsewhere ASAP, and check the disk for errors and whatnot.

 

yeah backup all of the data and completely format, then try again.

 

or run a full sector scan? think it is chkdsk /f /x /r

 

I've tried this last option, chkdsk f:/f/x/r
It gets stuck in the fourth fase, at 1%, then it crashes. The good news is that I just found my receipt back, so I guess I'll trade it in for a new one. Thanks for trying to help me guys.

 

Nice - Good luck!