Stuck on blinking white light no access

I had same/simliar issue.  Blinking white light for hours.  I hard rebooted by pulling power cord, counting 10 seconds, then plugging back in.  Still got a blinking white light for 24+ hours.

I finally got the drive to respond after pulling power cord.  Removing external drive USB cable.  Then reinserting power cable.  I was able to reconnect in minutes. 

Hope this helps someone else.