My Windows 7 Laptop Has Stopped Finding My WD External Hard Drive

Hi, i really hope someone can help.

I have a Windows 7 Laptop which i bought in January, at the same time i bought a WD 2TB external hard drive to back up all my files onto (last laptop broke and i lost everything so decided to keep everything off the laptop itself)

This has been working fine for me until last week. I was using my laptop with the hard drive plugged into the USB port transfering files across when the hard drive suddenly disappeared off my laptop. since then when i plug in the external hard drive the laptop doesnt recognise that there is any hardware there. I have tried plugging in other USB devices and they work fine so pretty sure it isnt the USB port thats damaged and i have tried searching for new hardware in the control pannel but it doesnt find anything. I have also done the right click on my computer and go to manage to change the disk number that have seen suggested on other forums but it doesnt show up on there so cant change anything there
The light on the hard drive comes on and starts flashing as soon as i plug the USB into the computer but doesnt show up at all. i have tried restarting the laptop and reinstalling the drivers but this hasnt helped at all

Couple some please help me figure out what i need to do to sort it out? i am getting pretty desperated because all of my files are stuck on it!

Try to uninstall & install the wd external driver files.

restart and check it...!

Hello sleepdep. Welcome to the forum.

Have you tried connecting the external drive to another computer (preferably a desktop computer?) Is it recognized there?

Is this a portable drive (powered by USB alone), or a desktop drive (with it's own power supply)?