My archos 605 not showing on my laptop

You could contact Archos, but I gather their minimum cost for repair is $85. Plus shipping and parts.
A suitable hard drive would probably be around $100.
Amazon has a new Archos 7, 8gb wifi + 16GB microSD for around $200.
While the memory is smaller it is more rugged and better suited than a hard drive for a portable device.

On the Archos:
In the settings menu from the front screen, set your Archos to 'PC Hard Drive' instead of Windows Media Player.
If it doesn't show as an external hard drive when you plug it into your pc, do this....

On the pc:
Go to Start\run, type diskmgmt.msc and click ok to take you into Disk Management.
Your Archos should show as a drive in here and you can associate your new drive with a drive letter.

If you cannot see your Archos in this windowafter you've set it to 'PC Hard Drive' on the Archos, then you may have a dodgy usb cable.

Hope this helps......

I need to pay to get wifi on my archos 605 wifi

You may require a driver to work with your device. Try downloading driver from company's web site.

from what i gathered with my archos 5 it is due to a power issue so the archos does not provide enough power to make the external hd work

Archos Dish Network Plug-In says:
FREE Dish Network Plug-In  

 Quickly transfer hours of your favorite TV programming from select DISH Network DVR receivers and enjoy the shows you watch every day- on the go.

 DISH Network customers with ViP622TM and ViP722 TM DVR receivers can enjoy this next generation of PocketDISH service with Archos 605 WiFi and Archos 705 WiFi models

 This plug-in is free for DISH Network Customers.

 Not a DISH Network customer? Find out more at www.dishnetwork.com and get the most out of your Archos player today

i had the same problem what i did was i downgraded my 605 to
Archos 605 Wifi (20GB-160GB) OS v 2.0.10

then i upgraded to Archos 605 Wifi (20GB-160GB) OS v 2.1.04
heres the link for 2.0.10 http://update.archos.com/5/a605/a605_r2.0.10/firmware_a605.aos
and heres the link for 2.1.04 http://update.archos.com/5/a605/a605_r2.1.04/firmware_a605.aos

This can happen to any external drive on a pc. If the Archos is set to PC Hard Drive mode, then plug it into you PC and click Start, click Run, type compmgmt.msc, and then click OK.
In the console tree, click Disk Management.
You can now allocate a drive letter to the Archos.
If you cannot see your Archos in this window, then you may have a dodgey usb cable.

I wouldn't waste your money on it, I would just take out the IDE notebook hard drive, and use it as an external mobile hard drive. However, if its a Hitachi, I wouldn't trust having your important data on it. No offense, I have just worked on many Hitachi hard drives, the mechanical design to the Hitachi hard drives pitiful.

in the archos....select SYSTEM....change windows media player to PC Hard Drive and this worked for me