Removable USB storage doesn't display on My Computer

[roxy]

I have had an external usb removable storage unit for several years (maxtor). I used it in both of my laptops and never had a problem with it. A few days ago, I plugged it in and it just didn't display on my computer or explorer. I tried all of the usb ports and nothing happened. (I did it in both laptops). It shows in the device manager under drives and on the safely remove hardware, but I cannot make it appear in my computer or explorer. Also, it doesn't appear on the Disk Management. I placed a standard usb device and it works perfectly, it even shows in the Disk Management under Disk 1, which it doesn't show when I plugged in the Maxtor unit. Can anybody help me with this issue??? I am new on this forum, but I heard only great things about it. Thanks

 

[Daveskater]

If this is an external hard drive then it sounds to me like the drive is dead. If it's one that you put in an external caddy, try plugging it into the PC inside.

 

[raybay]

Maxtors have become notoriously unreliable, particularly when on the low, low power of a externa connection.
I would insert it jumpered as a slave in the desktop, with the other drive jumpered as master.
You will soon know if the drive is bad, but to be sure, download the drive fitness test from www.seagate.com, the owner of the Maxtor drive system, and test it on the slave if it spins and can be detected.