My external HD will not read on my computer anymore. It spins and lights up as if loading, but does not connect.

http://www.techrepublic.com/forums/questions/western-digital-external-hdd-not-showing-up-in-my-computer-any-help

Is this an inbuilt drive or an external drive? If you're using USB, it needs a USB connection. It shouldn't need drivers as the computer will automatically detect a hard drive.

Have you tried connecting to a completely different computer to see if that recognised it?

I would assume the dvd player encrypted the drive so you could not copy the movies from your dvd player to your computer, so you could not burn them to prevent piracy. If you wanted to use the hard drive in your computer you will need to format the drive.

Okay the problem could be either with your computer or the external drive the first thing you need to do is try the external drive on another computer a friend's or someone's and see if it shows the files if it does not show the files on an another computer as well as your current computer then I suspect the problem is with the drive this is common especially if these drives have dropped or taking a file or gotten old if the drive is clicking and not spinning that's a big problem if the drive is spinning and you can hear it spin but it's not showing up on the computer there may be a different issue you may need to look towards data recovery for that external drive that's the best I can tell you at this time and based on the information you've given best of luck

Mmm, go into Device manager and see if any hardware has yellow symbol, especially USB root or plug n play devices.

If any have the yellow symbols then delete them and click on "scan for hardware changes" hopefully it will re-install non corrupt drivers.

Hi. Sometimes, there are compatibility issues on external drives. Most recent computers will read them while others may not. Either the external casing or the cable is causing this.

Do you connect via USB or firewire? Can you / have you tried another connection method?
Does it sound like the disk is spinning normally, or is it making a heap of clunking noises or not spinning?
The most common problem (assuming it has power, which it obviously does because it has a blue light), is the USB cable. Do you have another that you can try?
Let us know how you go with that and we'll continue...

open your external drive and check for connections. the hd might be loose.

How is this drive powered? If it is through the USB, then disconnect all other devices so connected[except for mouse keyboard] You may be make to much demand of the PSU. If it is separately powered then do this Start/Control panel/Ad min Tools/computer management/Storage/disk management to see if the system recognises it. Device manager to checkout the status of the USB. Check also the Bios to ensure the USB devices are on.[only if no other USB devices are running