Personally It sounds like your hard drive is done for. I have a buddy that works on computers and he's told me about hard drives with similar problems. He's always had to send them back or replace them.
I know you don't want to hear this but it's more that likely the truth. I would suggest however that if you get another hard drive that you got with a western digital. My friend that works on computers has had more problems with seagate than any other brand.
I know you've had this for awhile but I've had my hard drive on my computer for like 4 years now with no problems and it's western digital and another 1 tb external for over a year also western digital. Hope this helps in some way.
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.