I have never used cooling pad is it something that even needs to be recognized or just uses the power? Do any USB devices that need to be recognized work? Have you started with OS disk in and Disk support on and tried devices. How do...
I am with qhn's thoughts. I can all but rule out mechanical HDD issue. The fact that your HDTune is basically a flatline shows the bus is holding things back bottlenecking. It looks exactly how a fast external HDD can look on a USB 2.0...
Do what I did and not even for W7. I replaced my 2MP Toshiba that cost $190 with a 10MP Cannon for $170. I like my Cannon so much more.
Edit: Unless you are talking onboard?
If you can do with out fire wire eSATA or express card Asus G73JH is about $1600. You could upgrade it with your budget. This would give you comparable aesthetics to the AlienWare at lower cost.
So I think you should look at all 3.