Windows 7 won't detect my Hitachi External USB HD

I bought a new computer (Lenovo H320 Desktop PC), and a Hitachi 250 GB External USB to transfer my data files from my old computer which ran Windows XP SP 2.
The external drive worked perfectly on my old computer.
The external HD is plugged in to a USB socket on my new computer which was tested with my printer and is functional.
The light is on on the External HD, so it is getting power.
I've run the Device Manager, and Add New Device more than a dozen times with the same unsuccessful results.
Checking the internet, I've seen that mine isn't a singular incident, but I haven't been able to find anything relevant to my own situation.
I've run the diagnostic tool Mats_Run.devices from the Microsoft Windows 7 website. It says that 'Hardware changes might not have been detected'. It says that a 'Scan for Recent Hardware Changes' succeeded. But it did not add the External HD when I check again under Control Panel->Hardware and Sound->Devices and Printers.
Please Help. I need the contents of my external HD badly.

Jeffrey1605 wrote:
The external HD is plugged in to a USB socket on my new computer which was tested with my printer and is functional.
Have a look in the Windows Disk Management utility and see if the drive is visible there. If it is visible to the Disk Management utility but is not allocated a drive letter (or other volume ID), it will not appear elsewhere in Windows.
Since you have been using the drive with an XP system, you may need to change the drive letter if it overlaps with a drive that is already allocated in your Windows 7 system.
Cheers,
Bill
I don't work for Lenovo

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