External hard drive not recognised

I plugged my WD external hard drive into my laptop today and the light is blinking but the drive is not recognised on the laptop.  What has happened? and how can I retrieve my data?

Hello,

If the drive is not seen when you connect it to your computer please try:

1- Disconnect the drive from the computer and restart the computer.

2- If the computer is a desktop, connect it on the back USB port (directly to the PC, not through a hub).

3- Make sure you hear the connection sound windows makes when recognizes a USB device.

4- Go to "Disk Management” to verify if the drive shows up there.

If the drive shows up in disk management but it is not seen on Computer, then it means the partition is corrupted and you will have to format it in order to use it again. Please note that formatting the drive will delete all data stored on it.