I am using an external drive for a time machine backup. It has disappeared from the desktop. How do I get it back again?

My time machine backup disc, which has been working ok for a couple of years has suddenly disappeared from the desktop. The time machine program tels me it is unavailable. I have checked that the drive is working by booting up in Windows. and Windows can see it  and read it ok. What has gone wrong, and how can I fix it?
I have tried unplugging it and reconnecting, but it is still apparently not seen by the system.
I could use Windows to reformat it, and start again, but this would loose all my previous backups, and I've no guarantee that the system would notice it even then.
Has anyone any ideas?

I think it's formatted on FAT 32 system, but I'm not sure. It's been working for a couple of years so far without any problems, so I think it must be compatible with Mac. The problem is that all of a sudden, the Mac doesn't acknowledge that it is present.

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    50maz wrote:
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