'My Book' external backup drive keeps 'falling asleep'

The light is on but nobody seems to be at home.

The WD external drive does not appear in Explorer. The only way I can get it to show up is unplug the data cable and generally fiddle about until it wakes up. 

The thing seems to show up when it wants (and not when I want).

Should I disable the automatic backup software and use the WD as a simple external hard drive? I have a smaller Iomega external HD which has been working perfectly for years.

Depending on the model of your drive and if it came with the WD smartware, you should be able to turn the sleep settings off.

check the user manual on page 46

http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/UM/ENG/4779-705053.pdf

Thanks I found the sleep setting and turned the sleep function off.

I presume that if the sleep function is on, the drive switches itself off after the set time and then reappears when there is some backing up to do??