Third external drive that won't show up! OS or time machine issues?

Hi,
This is driving me crazy...
This is my third seagate drive manifesting similar issues which leads me to believe maybe there is an issue not with the drive, but with my operating system (maybe Time Machine)??
My original extenral drive (set up to be backed up using time machine) one day would no longer show up in finder. (My macbook pro still under warranty; I went to Apple genuises. Drive at first took a while to power up, then next try didn't. It wouldn't "mount," they showed me in Disk Utility. They said problem was the drive. I returned drive and got a "new" refurbished replacement as I was still under seagate warranty also.
Then same thing with next one, showed up at first to do back-ups then intermittently--and then, it, too wouldn't even power up. Returned that one.
NOW I HAVE A REFURBISHED REPLACEMENT THAT DID ONE SUCCESSFUL BACKUP AND TODAY, PLUGGED IN AS USUAL, WILL NEITHER POWER UP NOR SHOW UP IN FINDER. (I have tried numerous outlets, btw).
I won't go into the whole story, but in case it's relevant: I have had major issues for over a year with Time Machine (since updating to Mountain Lion and changing my internal HD). Time Machine can't find my time capsule disk. There were other system failure problems with my computer which after my HD was wiped out TWICE have not recurred; nor were they ever clearly diagnosed.
Could the above string of issues be a software problem with Time Machine (or my operating system) causing all the rest of the issues???
I was about to box up the second Seagate and return it! Now the identical problem showing itself with the new one!!! What to do?? (Because TC not being found and this disk not showing, I have no backups I can rely on at the moment... Makes me very nervous. (I am going to look into clones etc. but want option for successful TM backup as well.
Thanks!

just want to add, that these are Seagate drives for MAC: Free Agent GoFlex 2 TB.
I have disconnected. Rebooted computer, reconnected. To no avail.
Have checked with firewire and power cords from second and new drive in varying combinations. No powering up. no showing up in Finder. (I did install the software that came with the new drive.
Also, when I just tried to back up via TM it looked for the seagate that I have just erased with a 3-pass security, preparing it to return to Seagate. I wanted to delete it from list of back up disks in TM and it does not give me option to do that.
So now, I have two big check marks, one next to Time Capsule and one next to the second seagate in TM preferences telling me that disks are not available. (Btw--after not finding Time Capsule for months, one day, TM was able to findTC and did a back up two weeks ago, then couldn't find it anymore after that.
Just wanted to give full picture.

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2014-04-20 13:42:08 -0400: Disk Utility started.
2014-04-20 13:44:30 -0400: Preparing to erase : “Terra 8”
2014-04-20 13:44:30 -0400:           Partition Scheme: GUID Partition Table
2014-04-20 13:44:30 -0400:           1 volume will be created
2014-04-20 13:44:30 -0400:                     Name                    : “Terra 8”
2014-04-20 13:44:30 -0400:                     Size                    : 2 TB
2014-04-20 13:44:30 -0400:                     File system          : Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
2014-04-20 13:44:30 -0400: Unmounting disk
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