External hard drive icon won't appear on desktop

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?
That may not be so good because it suggests the power is getting to it and it is something else more critical to the functioning of the drive that is wrong. If it is the enclosure you could try moving it out of the enclosure into a different one, or into the computer.
I just used Disk Warrior to rebuild the directory- no luck.
Ah, so did Diskwarrior see the drive? I didn't think you could see the drive in Disk Utility.
I also replaced the firewire Cable- no luck.
Good try but the flashing blue light suggested something else to me.
I'm now doing to bring it to a local Computer Store to try to retrieve the information.
Try using an application such as [Data Rescue II|http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue.php] or [FileSalvage|http://subrosasoft.com/OSXSoftware/index.php?mainpage=product_info&productsid=1]. Both have free trial versions that let you see if the software will help before you decide to buy. You will also need a second hard drive equal to or larger in size than your first drive.
I wrote to Lacie- but they are so slow in responding- it will be days.
Ummmm....

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    I'm now doing to bring it to a local Computer Store to try to retrieve the information.
    Try using an application such as [Data Rescue II|http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue.php] or [FileSalvage|http://subrosasoft.com/OSXSoftware/index.php?mainpage=product_info&productsid=1]. Both have free trial versions that let you see if the software will help before you decide to buy. You will also need a second hard drive equal to or larger in size than your first drive.
    I wrote to Lacie- but they are so slow in responding- it will be days.
    Ummmm....

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    my external hard drive icon is gone?

    Ferd II,
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