dead external drive?

So I have an external USB drive which I use to store all my pictures, music, and documents... it's about 2 years old. My system is unable to locate it anymore... I've tried turning it off, unplugging it from power and computer, reconnecting it, etc... still no luck. The power light comes on, so I know it's not a power supply issue. My computer "beeps" when I turn it on, the way it will anytime I connect a USB device.... so it obviously does sense something, but I can't get to the drive.

Is my drive dead?? Is there any way to recover the information on it?? Anybody have words of advice???

Thanks...
Shannon

 

uninstall the driver and see on reboot if the system installs it properly
You can take the drive out of the case slave it to a system ( you can unplug the cd or dvd match the jumper settings )and read it that way to move your photos
Sometimes if the drives are very full there can be reading problems
You can try to run the program spinrite on it if you place the drive in a desktop

 

Thank you!! I will see if those options work over the weekend when I have time to deal with it again... I appreciate you taking the time to respond!