Windows 7: external hard drive problem

i have a freecom external hard drive and it has stopped working not sure why it as all my photos on it.
it just stopped showing the drive.
i have taken it out of case and tried in pc still not found but when i try program file scavenger it finds it all my files are there what could be wrong with it help please. could it be a virus
its a usb drive

Ran Partition Wizard Recovery Wizard full scan. It finds partition, can explore the data, but won't recover it.

Trying Seatools for WIndows on it now. It is a Samsung HD. Installed it externally.

i formated my hd it was 250gb how come now it shows as 31.49gb can anyone tell me whats happend

Looks like the MBR or the MFT is fouled up. The MBR you can repair with the bootable CD of Partition Wizard. The MFT is more difficult. Try Recuva to recover your files.

Hopefully its as whs suggested and recoverable, worst case the rest of the drive could be damaged and its only showing you the remaining usable areas

i have formated the drive taken of every thing i needed it was 250gb external drive the only way could get drive to work was to try internal so why has it shrunk down in size.
im going friday to buy new external hard drive 2tb
i really think this one there is something wrong with it gregrocker has been helping me in the past with this problem.
im looking at buying one of these if anyone could give me advice
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/wester...12031-pdt.html

hard drive was us in the en bought new one