rru

Hi, I'm having some problems with my SEAGATE External USB drive, 160GB (really only around 150 though). I searched past topics and I can't find anything exactly like my problem. I'll try to keep it short and simple but try to describe everything.
My computer is a 1999 model Gateway updated to XP home (about 2-3 years ago). I bought the drive around 2 years ago, plugged it in and dragged data I needed onto it. It worked fine and I had no problems. A while after that I borrowed a computer, an HP desktop with XP pro. No problems for a while but eventually I logged on one day and the drive appeared as unformatted, and asked me if I would like to format it now. I got scared and searched Google for hours and eventually called SEAGATE themselves and they did nothing but told me to buy their data recovery program, which didn't even work for me. I tried differed USB hubs, tried it on several other computers, replugged in all of the cords and had no luck at all. If I clicked on the icon in My Computer, My Computer would freeze and have to restart explorer, and when I go to Computer Management and check the drives, it appears with it Healthy, also of which I can't access through. I continued to turn it on each day as if nothing were wrong, and one of those days, out of nowhere my drive loaded up perfectly fine. I opened it and all of my files were there unharmed. This has happened over and over, eventually going back to it's normal state. I'm now back at my original Gateway, have been for the past 4 months or so. It's now doing the same thing and once again taking a while to go back to normal. I did a lot more research and I think my problem is I might have some bad sectors. As I said, I can't right or left click on the icon in My Computer to check my sectors, so I tried to do it through Run. It might be a completely different topic but I can't type in Run at all (after open), and therefore cannot check my sectors at all.
What I really need today is to know what's really wrong with my drive and if there is a way to fix it. If not, I'd like some recommendations on good data recovery programs. I've tried tons of those programs and I'm having trouble finding one that actually works for me. I only need at most 10GB of those files, the rest I can retrieve (though it's going to be a huge pain, I'm willing to go through it if it's the only way). What I'm thinking is, if my problem is unrecoverable I will just recover those few important files and reformat it, then check for bad sectors and repair them. I really hate asking for help but I am just so exhausted. If anybody knows a way to help me out I would be eternally grateful, and thanks for taking the time to read my post.
-rru