A friend gave me this tip, as odd as it sounds:

Place the drive in two plastic ziploc bags and place in the freezer until cold. Hook up to the computer and get some data. When it stops working correctly, rinse and repeat ;).

Sometimes the drive gets hot and won't work correctly anymore, but will work when it's cold. Of course this will only work until the drive finally gives up the ghost and croaks. If you really wanna get ur data, you might try it ;).

Laurie