External hard drive can't be recognised.?

Try a different / new cable from the drive to the computer. Also different ports

Hope the platters didn't crash ><

Is it working on other computers? If not it's fried.

First try unplugging (and removing the battery on a laptop), press the power button for five seconds. Leave it for two minutes and try the USB again.

If that doesn't work, remove all USB devices....

Restart in Safe Mode*

Open Device Manager, click Start, and then click Control Panel. Double-click System. On the Hardware tab, click Device Manager.

Double click 'Universal Serial Bus Controllers'. Right-click every device under "Universal Serial Bus controllers", click Uninstall and click OK for each instance. Don't worry, Windows will re-build them.

Restart normally and try again.

*Note: On start up (before Windows loads) keep tapping either F5 or F8 (be aware that some manufacturers use F8 for system recovery!) then use arrow keys to highlight 'Safe Mode with networking' and hit Enter/Return, click on a user account, enter the Administrator password (if you don't know it, there probably isn't one so leave it blank) and hit Enter/Return.

©Techno

some older Linux distos don't recognize ehardrives. try formatting it to by going into properties also format it to fat32. also shut down turn back on or take out battery. also old windows os's don't recognize external hard drives. if you are using a school or work computer try your home computer because some companies block the use of USB devices

Yes, try it at some your friend. If work, then you have dome software malfunction(need drivers reinstall) or malfunctioning usb port. If not, then toss it into river