I/O device error - External HDD

Sup guys.
External HDD.
'Maxtor Personal Storage 3200 300Gb 7200Rpm 16Mb USB2', using USB 1.1 because I'm a cheap fag who cant afford a newer comp.
It worked fine for a while, but soon noticed it was slowing down alot. Then suddenly, whenever i connected it, it just caused explorer to crash.
Re-installed the drivers, windows is fully updated, tried different USB's, tried 4 other comps, etc.
After it crashes explorer, i restart it (explorer not the comp - if i reboot whilst it is plugged in, windows wont load, even though 'boot from USB' is off in bios), and am able to see the drive in 'my computer', however, when i try to open it or right click it, it freezes again. Trying to get to it in CMD gives me the 'The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error' error.
Just tried formatting through CMD, but gave me the error 'All NTFS boot sectors are unwritable'

Any ideas on how to fix this? (google brings me inconclusive results which have failed me so far)

Why don't you just use it as an internal disk?  If it's not moving anywhere for weeks at a time, it'd save you a lot of hassle and it'll trasfer a fuckload faster.

Why would i buy an external HDD to use it as an internal HDD? i got it so i can transfer files easily, so no it wont be in one place for a long time.