External hard drive won't appear on desktop

I just bought a Western Digital passport 250gb external hard drive and when I plug it into my iBook G4 (version OS 10.4.10) it will not appear (via usb 2.0). I tried plugging it into a macbook and it appeared. Any ideas would be very much appreciated.

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
I am not sure just which model drive this is. Does it get its power from the computer? If so, it might be trying to use a bit more power than the iBook can deliver through the USB port. Some USB ports are very marginal and can deliver only the barest minimum of power, which sometimes is not enough for an external device. A powered hub might help.
Good luck!

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    Kevin - There might be a few reasons as to why your external drive won't appear have you tried any of these suggestions:-
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    Double-click the Mac hard drive icon.
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    Click the Erase button and then click Erase from the confirmation window.
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    Hey, guys.
    I ran into a problem this morning that I've never ran into before and I wasn't sure where to write it but I thought this is best.
    Here it goes...
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    The only thing I can think of about your problem, given the information you have provided us, is to run Disk Warrior on your external HD.
    In fact, DW is particularly indicated in events, like:
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    You could actually buy your copy of DW Licence on-line and download it directly onto your internal HD, starting from this "Information you must read before you make your purchase" page. A hardware copy of the software you have so purchased, will follow by postal service (or currier, if so you choose), shortly.
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    So, no matter what, my opinion is that it is always well-spent-money those used to purchase your copy of DW: in the long run, you won't regret it.
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    Note: The information provided in the link(s) above is freely available. However, because I own The X Lab™, a commercial Web site to which some of these links point, the Apple Discussions Terms of Use require I include the following disclosure statement with this post:
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