WD external drive no longer recognized by Windows?

Only a couple years old WD external passport (?) 120GB USB connection to laptop (no separate power cord), and laptop is no longer recognizing the drive. I don’t see it in Disk Management, nor do I see it in Device Manager; the light is on and feels like disk inside case is spinning. Tried it in multiple USB ports which work fine with other devices - any suggestions?

I have USB sticks bigger than that hard disk

Probably find the controller is faulty, try a USB SATA cable and see if that works