You might try right clicking on Start, then click Explore to see if it shows up on the left side of the screen.

IS there an icon near the clock to click so you can safely remove the external drive? Is so use it, remove the USB cable then re-attach and see if there is any action near the clock suggesting the computer has found new hardware.

I had a portable drive not show up until i went to Disk Management and either manually assigned it a letter, or maybe changed its letter. Then it appeared everywhere.

owbist and mikie, Thank you both for your suggestions to try and get this working for me.

owbist: When clicking on Explore, the external hd does not show up. Have also removed the USB cable and re-attached it. I do get the confirmation that new hardware has been found, but then again..it still does not show up.

mikie: I went to Disk Management, and it is not showing there in order for me to manually do anything.
If either of you or anyone else has any other suggestions for this problem, I'm more than willing to try them.

I dont have xp running to look - but if you double click it in device manager, can you assign it a drive letter there ? Just dont assign it an existing letter. Personally I'd probably make it like U for usb drive.

When I right click on the seagate external hd in device manager, my only options are:
Update Driver
Disable
Uninstall
Scan for hardware changes
Properties

I'm sorry! I right clicked instead of double clicking on it. No, by double clicking, it brings up the Properties with tabs:
General
Policies
Volumes
Driver
Details.
Says the device is working properly. Have already gone through the trouble shoot. The device is enabled.

Perhaps try plugging your drive into another computer to see if it is recognised. Also try plugging a thumb drive or other USB type peripheral into your computer to try determining which is causing the problem.

owbist, Thanks. I have no other computer to try the hd on, but have plugged in an external dvd writer, and it works just fine.

I'm wondering if there is a switch on the drive to turn it on and maybe also want to ask,,,, do you have an ac power supply hooked to the drive and plugged in ?

Did you have to "install" the drive? DH and I have external drives from Maxtor, and both had to be installed. A CD came with his, but in the case of mine, the installation files were provided inside the drive.
I'm thinking that an uninstall and reinstall might solve your problem.

OK so now we know the USB port on the computer and the computer itself do not appear to be our problem.

You must know a friend, neighbour or relative who has a computer. Surely one of those would allow you to connect your drive to see if it is recognised on their machine?

The only other thing we have ignored is the USB cable used to connect to the computer. Do you have a second cable to try?

mikie, there is a push button off/on switch. The light is on as it's got power. I can hear some action going on inside it.

biwako, No installation cd came with it. Just plug & play type set up.

owbist, I have tried a different USB caable. Will ask friends if I can try this on their pc.

If all else fails, and I have to pitch this external hd, what would be the best/most reliable replacement for it? Do you need more information about my computer? If so, I may need help as to where to look for it. Thank you all for your time and patience with me through this. So very much appreciated.

What's the model number of this Seagate remote drive ? And has it ever worked ?

Seagate has lots of online support, trouble_shooting, knowledge base, support forums, some download softwares, ... you could spend a lot of time there but maybe something would stand out and catch your eye.
I would imagine a support telephone call if still under warrantee might be worthwile before you pitch it.

If you really do decide to pitch it - I'd gamble ten bucks to send you ups charges// Im a tinker'er!

When you bring up "My Computer", the external drive connected through a USB port may show as a USB device. However, on my computer (running XP), it is identified as a drive in the list of USB devices.

If you do find your way to this disk, run a full surface scan on it before using it. I had problems with a Western Digital external drive. It seemed to work ok but balked on copying a large number of big files. I did a surface scan and found that it had bad sectors. After these were marked off by the scan, I've had no problem with it in 3 years of use.

The surface scan is lengthy, but worth it.

I stumbled into a similar problem. Not saying this is for certain the problem...
Their solution was to unplug some other usb device then plug in the remote drive. Then add back other usb devices.

Apparently some other usb device was hogging the usb port or memory area and needed to be plugged in after the drive had already initiated.

Aww, good thinking Mikie. I had been pondering the lack of power perhaps but your idea seems more likely.

While I have never seen it reported this is the fear I have had with computers with minimal resources and too many USB connections. I seem to recollect originally they said that we could daisy chain 29 USB devices, wonder if anyone has put that theory to the test :-)

Does Your external drive have its own power source, or is drawing power from the USB port? There is a limitation on how power a USB port can supply. Check the specifications.

You are supposed to be able to daisy chain the data lines, but I'd be surprised if you could chain more than one power hungry device.

mikie:
The model # for this is: ST300003U2-RX. It worked just fine in the past. Just suddenly stopped showing up. I've researched the Seagate support, and nothing suggested has worked for me. I'll pass on your offer for USP charges...LOL, but thanks anyhow.

jemdandy: No, that does not show up for me.

I've unplugged all other USB devices except for this external hd. Have changed the usb cable a couple times, still no joy. It does have it's own power supply and everything is plugged in and turned on as it should be. Just does not show in "My Computer".

I'd probably check the voltage and take it apart and unplug/replug the hard drive and any other plug in connections and cross my fingers that it was a dirty or loose connection internally if it has proper voltage from the ac adapter.

I don't know how to check the voltage. Someone suggested I check to see if this external hd shows in the BIOS. But I don't know how to get there in order to look. Would you mind telling me how to do these things? I appreciate you staying with me on this.

I don't think a usb hard drive would show in bios but the usb port and legacy usb port might have a enable/disable switch there.

When your computer first powers on it usually briefly shows press F2 (or something) for setup. That's the bios. Have to be fast usually leaning onto that key. The window of opportunity to press it is very short. Then the navigaion keys are across the bottom, usually.

What I found when into the BIOS was:
Diskette Drive A 3.5 inch
Primary Drive O Hard Drive
Primary Drive 1 Off
Secondary Drive O CD-Rom Reader
Secondary Drive 1 CD-Rom Reader
Boot Sequence Enter
System Memory 512 MB ECC RD Rom
AGP Operative 128 MB
CPU Information Enter
Integrated Devices (Legacy Select Options) Enter
PCI IRQ Assignment Enter
System Security Enter
Keyboard Numlock On
Report Keyboard Errors Report
Auto Power On Disabled
Remote Wakeup Off
Low Power Mode Disabled
AC Power Recovery Off
Fast Boot On
Suspend Mode S3
System Event Log Enter
Asset Tag
Should I click into the Integrated Devices (Legacy Select Options) and see what's in there? I know absolutely nothing about these things, and don't want to do something I'll regret later.

when you exit bios it will give you key press or options to Save Changes so look anywhere you want just dont save unless you're quite sure.. might avoid any Lock or Password... those do get people in trouble. There's probably another screen page 2, 3 or ? Seem to be short on settings anyhow.

In the Bios, use the up down arrows on the keyboard.
Find Advanced BIOS Features > hit enter key.
Use the down key to "Boot Other Device", make sure it is Enabled, if not hit enter and change.
Hit the F10 key to get out of bios and save changes.

Should show up in My Computer under Hard Disk Drives \ Local Disk.

"Primary Drive 1 Off"
This is the external HD, which is set as a Master Drive by the jumper on it and will be a Primary Drive.

Primary Drive O Hard Drive is your Drive C:

mikie, I see nothing in the BIOS to go to any other pages.

randy, I cannot find the Advanced BIOS Features, and see no way to find anymore pages. Anymore help to get there would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Sorry, we all don't all have the same bios on our boards.
I'd have a look under "Boot Sequence Enter" and see if there is anything about other devices.

I would have already checked the power plug and ide or sata cables inside the enclosure, unplug/replug.

randy, I looked in the Boot Sequence, but there was nothing there about other devices.
I've not opened this enclosure, as it takes a tool that looks like a star driver, but nothing like what hubby has.

I think I would go to Device Manager and Uninstall.
Next time you reboot, Windows will recognize New Hardware and install the drivers for it.

btw, the screws probably take a tork driver, sometimes you can use a small phillips or allen to undo them.

One of your function keys may give you a boot sequence menu. Which,,, may or may not be in your owners manual. My laptop Function keys at start all seem to have special functions or unique screens that divert from the norm.

Some computers, a simple press of the C key at start and it presents some extra choices. C for Configurations ?

Will do this again. Thanks for the information about what to use to try and open the enclosure. I've had enough of this for one day, so will try tomorrow if time permits.
Something new/odd: In My Computer, it's showing a removable disk. Says it's a HP. Double clicked on it, and it's telling me there is no disk. I don't know where this is coming from, as there is nothing plugged in pertaining to this.

Right click it and Eject. Might open pandoras box.

mikie, when I right click it and then click Eject, I get the message there is no disk inserted. Please insert disk and try again.
I just realized that you tried helping me back in August with this blasted thing!
On the F removable disk properties, the General tab shows this:
Name: HP USB Device I don't understand this at all, as the only HP product I own is a 3 in 1 printer.
Description: shows nothing
State: The drive is empty
Statistics:
Mount 0
Last cleaned: Unknown
Deferred dismounts: shows nothing
Retain dismountable media for 5 minutes
Enable drive is checked.
Under the Device information:
Manufacturer (Standard disk drives)
Model: HP USB Device
Serial number: shows nothing
Revision: 1.00
Device Name: \\.\Physical Drive 2
Drive letter: F
Device Address
Port: Bus:
Target: LUN
Under the Security tab:
Everything is checked to allow
In disk management it shows Disk 2 Removable (F)
No media

Sounds like the F is your portable Seagate.
And windows has installed the wrong driver... or an HP portable drive is the exact same thing. Can you find the HP F drive in device manager... maybe update/Search for new driver on it ?

Handful of things it could be... but taking it apart to check its connections internally in the case is the one step I'd want to do .. the hard drive probably plugs into an end fitting/connector and may have wiggled loose.

Or it could be the drive is bad and.or simple lost the file showing how it is formatted. An unformatted drive may show up as no disk installed.

If it doesnt have any critical data on it, you might right click and select format,, see what happens. But understand that will erase everhting on the drive, if formating it even works.

Try saving a file to F drive.

Wizard could not find better match for drivers. Cannot save anything to "F" drive. Says I need to insert a disk. Didn't figure I had much to lose, so tried to format, and again, it says I need to insert a disk.
I'll have hubby find the right tool to use on these screws and try to get into the case. Thanks again.