Friend, using WinXP Home. HP desktop 160gb HD (Maxtor)
bought a comstar unit with 500gb HD External.
When first plugged in the external drive came up as G:\ and was able to transfer a couple of files to it.

When, he wanted to add some more files to his external.
He powered up the external, but this time got the Boing but no visible drive in Explorer.
Reboot, with external on and waiting, tried different USB ports.
Still not in Explorer.
Had him check AdminitrationTools/Computer Management/Disk management/ and device manager.
both show the drive as recognized and active?
Next step he will bring here and we will try to see if recognized on my system!

Assistance, suggestions.