RelaX

I second Boner in his suggestion to call Maxtor.

Although I would check wether it isn't the cable first. Could be. Who knows.
Try unplugging it and plugging it back in and making especially sure it's plugged in correctly (no bent pins or anything), double-checking the master/slave settings, replacing the cable, etc.
If none of this yields any results (positive or negative, THEN I would buy Maxtor or Asus. This way you can avoid all those stupid questions by simply saying "Yes, I did that".
Anyway, good luck and let us know how it turned out, K?

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