'Windows Explorer has Stopped Working' < External Hard Drive Error

[Sekina]

Hello. I have looked this problem up on the internet, yet none of the answers have been of much help to me. So now I turn to the experts. Recently my external hard drive (500gb, 400gb free space, Seagate Expansion Portable Drive) has come up with what seems to be a common error: "Windows Explorer has stopped working." I go into my hard drive and five seconds later the error message pops up, then it goes 'windows explorer is restarting.' All my icons disappear for a moment then reappear and my external hard drive has shut down. It never used to do this before - it's just started doing it a few hours ago. My computer is a Windows 7, and the antivirus I use is bullguard (if it's of any use.)
I scanned my device for malware or errors but it says there's nothing wrong. Keep in mind this is only on my external hard drive. It never happens anywhere else on my computer.
Your help is greatly appreciated!

~Seki

[Geek-9pm]

Does this external HD have its own power supply? I believe it does.

Some uses report the segregate drives can fail after a few months. That should be rare, but I have seen that in more than one credible place.

If the drive is inside of warranty , take it back now!

But if the problem is the power and interface, you can test the HD by putting it into a desktop PC as the slave drive, or secondary drive.

A new enclosure is about $30 here in the USA.

[Wyngs]

That's similar to an annoyance I'm having with W7 and an internal drive in a desktop. If I have more then one web page up and use the X to close one of them, then after it's gone a window pops up saying IE has failed. This happens almost every time under these conditions, yet the other web page(s) continue doing just fine.

It's more of a bother then anything, but thought I'd mention it seeing the problem above.

[truenorth]

Do you have the ability to try this external on a different computer?truenorth