Win 7 won't recognize external hard drive.Pls help!

Hi,

I recently got a new laptop (Dell XPS L502x, running Win 7). I had all my data saved on Comstar 500Gb external hard drive, which worked just fine with previous laptop (xps with WinVista, now sent away).

Now, my laptop doesnt see the external drive at all, nor its in disk management... The drive itself has lights on. I've tried all 3 USB ports, restarted computer, updated bios...
Any ideas how to make it visible??? I definitely need the data!!!

I've tried to google solutions everywhere and somebody recommended this site. Please help! Any advices would be greatly appreciated!

There's an easy way if you don't want to work out anything. Your L502x has an eSATA port. Dismantle the external enclosure, get the drive, plug it to eSATA and to a SATA power supply. Done.

Another thing you can try, if you don't want that hard one is to check the drive on another computer or replace the cable.