PLEASE HELP! My external Hard drive is no longer showing up when plugged in

I have a Western Digital My Book external hard drive using USB2. I have always plugged it in and the hard drive icon appears on my desktop. However, the drive does not appear anymore. It does not appear in the finder, but can be seen using disk utility. I have tried restarting my computer, trying different USB ports, and nothing seems to work.
I am completely loosing my mind, as I have not backed up the majority of the contents on this drive and need this drive to work!
Is there anything I can do? Is there anything I'm missing? Please help me quickly!

If the Disk Utility lists it in gray, click on the Repair Disk button for it or attempt recovery of its contents.
If the Disk Utility lists it in black, check the settings in the General and Sidebar tabs of the Finder's preferences. If that doesn't work, click here and follow the instructions.
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