External hard drive not recognized

[Doctor Gallop]

Hello People's,
I saved the Hard Drive from my old laptop...bought an external hard drive...
hooked everything up correctly...can hear the enclosure running...light is on...
but my PC [running Windows XP] does nothing!
No pop up windows or anything.
I am a real layman at this stuff, so can someone explain to me in simple terms what to do to get this thing up and running.
Thank You.

 

[coolermaster]

Run a diagnostics on the drive.

or

Use a desktop and connect the drive directly to your motherboard using IDE or using S-ATA.
Sometimes, failing drives will now show up via a USB connection. Alternatively, check to see if the drive is seen on another OS such as Linux or Mac.

 

[DelJo63]

connect directly to the system, NOT via a usb hub.