The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error

Hi all,

I recently purchased a 3 TB WD Elements External Hard drive, its been working perfectly for the past two months (videos), but I accidently plugged directly into a wall (no surge protector) and since then it has been acting up.  First it wouldnt even show up in My Computer or Disk Managment, but on a reboot and re-plugin, it shows in My Computer, shows that there is about half used up space (which is correct), but when I try to open any folders I get that message “The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error.”

I have no idea what to do, i just formatted a refurbed 2 tb wd hdd and if i have to do it again i just may have to pull out what little hair i have left,

Small note: at some point windows was asking for a driver for the hhd, but i thought wd hdd came with the proper drivers already, im running vista 32 bit

any help would be much much appreciated 

cheers

Are you able to scan the drive for errors using the WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostic software?

http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/940