External hard drive icon has disappeared

I have a 160gb acomdata external on FW. About a week ago the icon for the external disappeared (prior to the icon dropping out everything worked fine). Finder does not display it. If I use DU I can see the drive, get drive info and see the files on the drive, but DU will not let me do first aid on it nor can I mount the drive. What happened?

It's FAT32, here is the profile from system:
HM160HC:
Manufacturer: DMI
Model: 0x550
GUID: 0x1010055011EB12
Maximum Speed: Up to 400 Mb/sec
Connection Speed: Up to 400 Mb/sec
Sub-units:
HM160HC Unit:
Unit Software Version: 0x10483
Unit Spec ID: 0x609E
Firmware Revision: 0x353
Product Revision Level: 3.53
Sub-units:
HM160HC SBP-LUN:
HID Unit:
Unit Software Version: 0x0
Unit Spec ID: 0x1430
When I connect it to my PC laptop same problem the system will not recognize it.

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External Hard Drive Icons have disappeared from Desktop

I have 4 external drives, 3 G-Tech and 1 LaCie, I don't have them on permanently and today I switched them on for my usual backups but the icons didn't appear.My finder prefs shows External disks checked and indeed if I check/uncheck Hard disks they switch on and off but external disks there is nothing.
I can see the drives in Disk utility and can open them from there and my backup app "Databackup" can see them and backup files as normal. I've unplugged/plugged all relevant cables, shut down, restarted, verified disks (no problems) all to no avail. I haven't updated any software since I last used them (yesterday) so I'm at a loss.
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Hello ED
You don't say which of your Mac's the Drives are connected to or if there FireWire / USB?
If there chained FireWire, disconnect them all and try connecting the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th Drive in the chain directly to the Mac/iMac.
If there USB connected thru a Hub, by pass the Hub and connect them up one at a time directly to the Mac/iMac.
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I would like to know if you have to back up a macbook hard drive, can I use a external hard drive that has been previously used to back up several pc 's, or is it best to have a separate external drive for the Mac?

In the Mac side of things, backups usually come in two flavors: clones or incrementals.
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Ferd II,
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Apparently spontaneously (has worked fine in the past!) I cannot get a desktop icon for my La Cie external hard drive to appear. I can see the hard drive in Desktop Utility and can eject it through there but the verify and repair options aren't highlighted.

I hear it spinning- I think?
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I just used Disk Warrior to rebuild the directory- no luck.
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I wrote to Lacie- but they are so slow in responding- it will be days.
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No. I just checked and it's not there. . .
BTW, Thanks for your quick response!!!!
The circle blue light rings are illuminated on on the front of the Western Digital External but interestingly enough, the inner ring which is usually as bright as the outer ring is dimmer? Not sure what that's indicating. Maybe it's just reflective to the point that it's no connected to the eMac current;y. . .

External hard drive icon has disappeared

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