External Hard Drive Not Recognised Following Windows Update

Yes, a couple of times.

Ok, does it show up in disk management?

No.
It's still generating a 'unknown USB device' bubble, and is listed as unknown in the device manager too.

Should I hit it with a hammer?

Do you have the ability to remove it from the enclosure and hook it up inside your computer?

No. It's always just been connected via USB and it's been recognised immediately.

Until today, that is...

Can you try plugging it in to another computer?

It hooked up with my knackered old Vista laptop!

OK. It's sorted.

The problems seems to stem from the power supply.

I swapped it with a more powerful one from my housemate's external hard drive and it worked straight away!

Not sure why this is suddenly a problem though.

Thanks for your help anyway - it's much appreciated.