I am using an Inspiron 1525, Vista. When I plug in external hard drive "My Passport" drive E, I cannot see it under "computer". It shows up under Disk Management as "healthy" and shows up under Device Manager as "working normally". I have been having problems with it lately for the last month, but now it won't let me see the drive to open files. Needless to say, I'm a little nervous about this since I have been using this now for three years for all my back-up. Please, your assistance would be most appreciated. Thank you

In Disc management can you assign a different drive letter to it, RIGHT click and change letter option as Drive E is normally used for an optical drive.

Try setting it as X or similar high letter to avoid any conflict..

I read that if I change my drive letter it wipes out my drive. Maybe I'm confused about which drive it wipes.

Changing your drive letter is perfectly safe and does NOT erase any data..

I have it. Thank you thank you thank you.