It seems there’s a common problem with these devices suddenly refusing to appear in anything besides My Devices and Printers. I had found a possible cause for my problem, and acquired a new usb cable (which was an endevor in itself).
Here’s where the new problem comes in. After plugging it in with a new cable, it doesn’t not open an explorer browser. Instead, it asks Open With? and wants me to choose a program to view a file. It still doesn’t show up anywhere beyond My Devices and Printers, even after deleting and reinstalling drivers (as well as using another port). However, this at least has a reaction from my computer, where before (and after several months without a problem) I was suddenly only able to eject it.
If the drive is not seen when you connect it to your computer please try:
1- Connecting the power adapter to the wall directly.
2- If the computer is a desktop, connect it on the back USB port (directly to the PC, not through a hub).
3- Make sure you hear the connection sound windows makes when recognizes a USB device.
4- Go to "Disk Management” to verify if the drive shows up there.
If the drive shows up in disk management but it is not seen on Computer, then it means the partition is corrupted and you will have to format it in order to use it again. Please note that formatting the drive will delete all data stored on it.
If the drive is not seen when you connect it to your computer please try:
1- Connecting the power adapter to the wall directly.
2- If the computer is a desktop, connect it on the back USB port (directly to the PC, not through a hub).
3- Make sure you hear the connection sound windows makes when recognizes a USB device.
4- Go to "Disk Management” to verify if the drive shows up there.
If the drive shows up in disk management but it is not seen on Computer, then it means the partition is corrupted and you will have to format it in order to use it again. Please note that formatting the drive will delete all data stored on it.
Thank you for the reply. In regards to your suggestions:
My external hard drive is the desktop kind that has to be plugged in to the wall to run.
My only computer is a laptop.
It does make the connection sound when plugged in.
It does show up in disk management, but it shows as an unknown disk that won’t initialize (responding with a message about an I/O device error) except the properties state that it is working properly with updated drivers. Except the Volumes tab says the type is unknown, the status is not initialized, the partition style is not applicable, and the other values (capacity & the other two) are 0 MB.
