how can i recover data on my maxtor external hard drive?

You don't say what the problem is with the hard drive?
If it's 'dead' then you could try the following:
download utilities from Maxtor web site
buy an IDE/SAT to USB cable from Ebay and try to recover the data that way.
If the drive is definately 'dead' you will have to engage with a data recovery speacialist and get your £££ out.

Of course you data is backed up, isn't it :-)

arc
March 2008