MDL: WD5000C032-002 Worked fine for 3 years; Now not showing up in My Computer

I’ve noticed that there seems to be more than usual problems when using between XP and Vista and Windows 7. Something is apparently corrupt I saw these posts  http://community.wdc.com/t5/My-Passport-for-PC/How-to-eliminate-potential-problems-on-USB-Powered-Drives-and/td-p/118262 and http://community.wdc.com/t5/My-Passport-for-PC/System-will-not-read-this-Hard-Drive/m-p/117846#M3739  post 8

Joe