Why does my external hard drive disappear?

I've tried USB2, Firewire 800, and network connection (Time Capsule). None of the drives stays connected long enough to get a backup done. The drive just disappears and the backup stops. i tried this with a brand new drive from Western Digital, and also bought a brand new 3TB Time Capsule. They just don't work! With the new WD My Book Studio, made for Mac, it only stays connected for less than 5 minutes, then disappears. The backup stops because the Mac can't find the hard drive.
I have a 27" intel-based iMac with Mountain Lion.
I'm very frustrated that I can't do a simple backup. I'm thinking of leaving Apple computers over this. i currentlyh have two 27" iMacs, an Air Book, and iPad 3rd gen, and iPhone 4S. So I am a Mac addict.
But if I'm going to have these kinds of problems I may leave Macs forever and use Windows. Seems like Apple and the MAc computers have lost their edge, especially after going to the intel chip sets.
Will anyone out there please give me some tips on how to fix this problem!
Thanks,
Gary

Hi Gary, certainly frustrating.
Only thing I can think of trying is booting from your Restore Partition using CMD+r, then try to install on one of those drives... if it lasts long enough... thinking this may tll us if it's HW or SW issue.
Though if you had a 10.6 Install Disc to boot from I think that'd be a better test.
Or...
Open Console in Utilities & see if there are any clues or repeating messages when this happens.

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My iMac is running OS 10.6.4 with a 313 GB HD and my time capsule is 500 GB. I purchased my first iMac 2 years ago. Shortly thereafter I decided that I needed to be backing up files that I have been creating and building especially my photos and music files so I purchased a time capsule which I have been using as an external hard drive not as a wireless router. It is hard wired to my Mac. I use another wireless network. I have used Time Machine a few times and it has worked well for me. So far this simple set up has met my needs.
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Does Time Machine only work with Time Capsule or will it work with other external hard drives?
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The folks at my Apple store tell me that Time Capsule can be used just to store data but I have heard otherwise in the forums.
It can be used for Time Machine backups and other things, but trying to use the same one for both presents problems, because of the way Time Machine works (filling-up all the available space before deleting the oldest backups) and the fact that you can't partition a Time Capsule's internal HD to separate your backups from the other data. Plus, you can't back up the other data.
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It won't extend the TC's internal HD -- backups can't "span" the two. In your setup, you'd be much better off connecting an external HD directly to your iMac. The advantage of a TC is, since it includes a wireless router, you can use it to make a wireless network and do backups wirelessly. That's what a lot of laptop owners do.
What is the difference is between USB and firewire?
FireWire is faster and more reliable for large amounts of data transfer. It also requires less use of your Mac's CPU, since the FireWire chipset does some of the work that your CPU has to do with USB.
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I do realize that Time Capsule only backs up new files and any changes so I wonder how long I can continue with this arrangement.
Yes, that's a concern. It varies greatly depending on how you use your Mac, but our general "rule of thumb" is that it needs 2-3 times the size of the data it's backing-up.
There's another consideration: Time Machine can back up FROM your internal HD and external HDs that are directly connected via USB or FireWire (if they're formatted for a Mac), but it cannot back up from any network drive, including a TC's internal HD or a USB drive connected to it. So if you move some data from your internal HD to an external HD connected to the TC, you'll need some other way to back it up.
Forgive me, but I'm not sure why you have a Time Capsule in your setup, if I understand it correctly. You have one iMac, no laptops or other computers, and you use a different router for your network, right?
Your best bet may be to get one external HD for the "overflow" of things you don't have room for on your iMac's internal HD, and another, much larger one, for Time Machine backups of both.
I'll press my luck here and also suggest yet another external HD, perhaps a portable, for "secondary" backups. With a portable, you can take it to a secure off-site location, such as your safe deposit box, workplace, relative's house, etc., and also be protected against fire, flood, theft, direct lightning strike on your power lines, etc. See #27 in [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] for more.

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