Windows Delayed Write Failed for my HDD

every time I try to drag and drop files into my HDD, i get a balloon message saying "Windows Delayed Write Failed for G:" etc etc. i use my external as a dungeon for keeping my music, so iTunes reads off of my external just fine. every time i try to drag or export files into the HDD (500GB iomega), the external is rendered useless unless i replug it back in.

i've tried a few quick fixes.



has no effect. any ideas?

 

It's possible that the disk is failing. Make sure that all your files are backed up (as usual - all hard drives will fail).

The fact that the cache settings are not even available is worrying. Setting the drive for "quick removal" would stop the cache from being used and possibly stop the write failure errors.

Check the drive with HDTune using the error scanner (Uncheck "quick") and pay special attention to its SMART (Self-Monitoring And Reporting Technology) status. The drive's internal monitor is the first to detect problems.