Just a personal opinion here:
It is likely the Drive itself that is failing -- you are fortunate you have had so many seasons of service from it.
The Driver, that is, the software, is not probably the issue although anything is possible. The code is pretty sturdy and it is also pretty simple stuff. Too bad it was such proprietary tangle-mash. Cannot get to the data without the code. Hateful stuff, that.
Get what you can from it -- do not poke at it very hard until you have done a full cycle of recovery of everything it wants to give you without trouble .. and then think about trying to force the issue.
There is no longer support for these vintage drives, no Driver support -- although a few of us still have the software floating about -- and there is no fixing it once the Drive "gives up the ghost" so-to-speak.
Retrieve what you can -- if it is very, very important data, then you might consider a forensic specialist before the Drive completely fails.
"Been There."
Again, this has been a personal opinion and not associated with HP, Toshiba, Western, or anyone else who may have had their paws in the Drives, the software, the bits, or the handling.
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