Xp desktop frozen how do i access mybook storage on laptop?

my xp has locked up i have my book external backup and am trying to bring up in my laptop. not sure what to do . I plug into USB but nothing happens? any help would be appreciated

What is the operating system of your Laptop? Did you encrypt your My Book with a password?

operating system of laptop is windows 98 xp i dont remember encrypting with a password

Windows 98 could make things quite complicated. What’s the exact model number of your WD My Book? It may not have compatible drivers.

model number is wd3200d032-000

and sorry my system is windows 2002 xp not 98