External Harddrive problems

[AeonAlex]

I am not exactly sure what happened. This morning I got up and realized my external harddrive (SimpleTech) was not working. It shows up on the My Computer screen yet when I turn it off, it's still there. I go inside the hard-drive and it says "This folder is empty". When I turn it on, my whole computer freezes for a second, then it goes back to normal. So, I am at a loss on what is happening here. Is there a way to retrieve the data? Any ideas guys?? 

Thanks!!

[patio]

Power down and re-boot...
Let the machine run for awhile instead of trying anything right away. 3 to 5 minutes should do...grab a cup of coffee.
This is to make sure everything fully loads.

Right clik My Computer and select "Manage".
Then select Disk Management...give this a minute to fully load as well.
Find the external HDD and right clik it and select Properties.
Post back with all the info shown...don't attempt to fix anything yet or you may never see that data again.