Mac Mini won't read my external drive

Bought a Seagate 500GB external harddrive for my mac mini, and stored about 100GB of information in the harddrive. Now, the mini won't read the external harddrive. I am wondering if there is a way to retrieve it... Can someone help me? I don't think I can afford to loose 100GB of information.... Any help is greatly appreciated!

Clearly it has worked previously since you have data on it, but you haven't indicated what model of Mac mini you have (which can make a difference in terms of troubleshooting steps) and what circumstances surrounded the 'disappearance' of the drive - particularly as Boece says, whether it was disconnected (or powered down) without being first ejected from the desktop.
If the drive isn't being seen in the profiler, there is a possibility that the drive is not, in itself, faulty. A damaged cable, a faulty hub or a problem with the system's USB ports could be responsible. Since you don't give any detail about your system, it's hard to focus better on advising appropriate steps - however, if you are using a hub, remove it and connect the drive directly to the system, preferably using a different cable. If it mounts, then it was the cable or hub. If not, then open Disk Utility (in Applications>Utilities) and see if it appears in the drive list on the left.
If there's no hub and the cable checks out OK, then you might next perform a PMU reset (if it's a G4 mini) or SMC reset (if it's an Intel).
To reset the PMU for a G4 mini
- Unplug all cables from the computer, including the power cord.
- Wait 10 seconds.
- Plug in the power cord while simultaneously pressing and holding the power button on the back of the computer.
- Let go of the power button.
- Press the power button once more to start up your Mac mini.
To reset the SMC on an Intel mini:
-From the Apple menu, choose Shut Down (or if the computer is not responding, hold the power button until it turns off).
-Unplug all cables from the computer, including the power cord and any display cables.
-Wait at least 15 seconds.
-Plug the power cord back in, making sure the power button is not being pressed at the time.
-Then reconnect your keyboard and mouse to the computer.
-Press the power button on the back to start up your computer.
If those steps don't help resolve the problem, post back with more information.

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