How do I get my mac powerbook to recognize an external hard drive

I just purchased a Hitachi external hard drive to back up my PowerBook G4--Mac OS X v 10.5.8 (1.67 GHz PowerPC G4 processor).  The computer will not recognize the device.  I have reformatted it via another mac and it still will not be recognized.  It is plugged in via USP port and the device does light up but it never blinked.  I have gone to Finder and it is not listed.  I have go to Disk Utilities and it is not listed.  HELP!
I have tested the USP ports and other devices (flash drives, printers) work. 
Thank you.

Hello,
You say you formatted it using another Mac, which Mac would this be and what did you format the drive to?
I wonder if the device is USB 3.0 only and as a PowerBook has only USB 2.0 port it's just not recogniszing it.
I have also know the leads to be at fault in the past. I have an external drive that simply wont work on my PowerBook using the USB lead it came with, but a longer older lead it works fine. On My MacBook it works fine with both leads (Strange) So you may wish to try another USB lead.
Is the external drive powered from the USB port or does it have an external power adapter?
If it uses the power from the USB, it could simply be the PowerBook's USB 2.0 ports are not powerful enough to power the drive.
All the above are possibilities.

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