I know we have some pretty computer-savvy people around here, so I thought I'd toss this out there...
The other day, for no apparent reason, I noticed my PC was no longer recognizing my external usb hard drive. I've tried all of the basic troubleshooting, such as unplugging/replugging, rebooting, etc, but can't for the life of me figure out why it disappeared or how to get the PC to recognize it again. It was always real simple plug-and-play, didn't even come with drivers. I never had a problem with it. I'm now fearing the drive simply crashed.
If you have any ideas on how I can get it to be recognized again, I'd appreciate any help, but if it has in fact crashed, is there still a way to retain the data that's stored on it? I don't have anything "important," such as financial records, personal info, etc. Just mostly far more important stuff to me, like a crapload of pictures I've taken and some audio files I've recorded....
Any help?