Restoring files that were on an external disk

Hi!
Time machines does a backup of my Macbook Pro as well as of an external disk on which I keep multimedia files.
Entering Time Machine, I'm able to retrieve files that were on my external disk no problem as long as the external disk in question is connected to the computer. Then, I'm able to go back in time, and search for files.
However, if the external disk is currently not connected to the computer, then, when I access my Time Machine backup, I do not see this external disk listed (I see only my Macbook Pro folders), even when I go back in time. So I do not seem to be retreive files associated with this external disk.
Is this normal?
What if I loose my external disk, how will I be able to retrive the backup files from my Time Machine backup disk?
Hope this is clear... :-)
Thanks

Tic_Tac wrote:
... What if I loose (sic) my external disk, how will I be able to retrive (sic) the backup files from my Time Machine backup disk? ...
Since you haven't got any replies so far here is what I would do, but don't know whether it would work. Worth a try.
Connect the external drive and run a manual Time Machine (TM) backup. Disconnect the external drive. Pretend you have lost it
Connect another GUID Mac OS X Extended (Journaled) format hard drive with a partition of the same size as the external drive and rename the partition to the same name as the external.
Can you now see the TM backup of the external drive?

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Date: Thu, 18 Jun 2009 12:43:47 -0600
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Script to search and relink linked image files that were moved?
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