I'll note a link to where recovery from externals is discussed a lot. -> http://reviews.cnet.com/5208-7813-0.html?forumID=67&threadID=28919&messageID=328179
All the usual methods are covered so avail yourself of that discussion.
Bob
I have just bought a toshiba hard drive and it appeared to work well at first. My son put all his itunes on it to clear some space on our windows xp, packard bell pc and my photos and documents. he deleted his itunes library from the main pc.
The day after, when we came to swich back on the pc the new external hard drive has disappeared from my computer, the light is on the new ext harddrive but i cant find it anywhere on the pc. I have rung the shop and they said they will refund, but will i be able to recover the music back and most of my letters and docs.
thanks for any help.

Chowhound
Comic Vine
GameFAQs
GameSpot
Giant Bomb
TechRepublic