Ext HDD Stutters.

Ive got a 1.5TB External HDD by Seagate. Every now and then it will stutter for a few seconds, Its not very old but when copying anything to or from it will randomly freeze.
Does it sound like its on its way out? got about 400gb of data on it that i dont wanna lose.
Thanks
Answer #1
Just backup, Replace & get a new HDD
Answer #2
Bugger lol. Ill stick with Western Digital, Never had a problem with them.
Answer #3
get “Hard Disk Sentinel” or seatools and check the drive
Answer #4
USB is slow.