external hdds not displaying...

[SooTyLaD]

i have 2 external hard drives, both western digital but different models... anyway, couldn't pinpoint when it happened but i can't get windows to recognise em anymore

when you power em up, all the lights come on, you hear em spin up etc, but windows makes no attempt to acknowledge either of their existence...

what could it be? what could i check to get em back up and running?

 

[SooTyLaD]

how do, i've tried them in different ports and no luck, chucked them both into the side of my laptop and its all fine and dandy, so something is stopping xp from registering my drives...

does anyone know of something else i could try?

they also don't show up in the 'Computer Management' section of the admin tools in control panel so i'm a bit lost on this one...