Can't see external drive in Finder

Hi all - I have been using 2 external drives with my Mac with no issues, but suddenly I can't find them in Finder when I plug into my Mac. I have tried changing the USB cable and different ports and I have clicked the 'external drive' box in Finder preferences. I can see the discs in Disk Utility however. Does anyone have any idea how I could fix this ?
Thanks in advance !

Might be corrupted desktop and Finder preferences ..
Disconnect the external drive.
Open the Finder. From the Finder menu bar click Go > Go to Folder
Type or copy and paste the following:
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.desktop.plist
Click Go then move the com.apple.desktop.plist file to the Trash.
Same for  ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist
Move the com.apple.finder.plist file to the Trash.
Restart your Mac, connect the drive. Go to Finder > Preferences > General
Make sure:  External disks   is selected.

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