Strange WD 3 TB Essential External Failure

I have a 3 TB WD external drives (Essential series) that has worked fine and ddi so two weeks ago.

I always leave it connected to the computer and powered.

Went to access it last evening and while the little light is on and the computer sees it as an added device if I plug the USB back in, it doesn't show up in Explorer or anywhere else.

I have tried it on my Windows 7 laptop and also mt work XP ;laptop...same scenario.

WD disk management software sees it but says the capacity is 0...yet I don't get any of the typical "disk has failed" warnings from Windows on any of the machines.

Thoughts?

I hear conflicting reports as to whether or not these drives can be removed and placed in another external closure as they may use some "instructions" built into the control board in the WD drive housing. Any real world experience?

Thanks in advance....

It's either Seagate or WD but no both

You can definitely take it out of the housing and put it in another enclosure but that is rarely the problem. External drives are generally unreliable since they do not deal with heat properly unless you buy a fanned enclosure.

Make a warranty claim since virtually any 3TB drive ever made is probably still under warranty and go to your backup.

A few weeks ago I had the exact same problem with the exact same external drive. I was just done uploading images when I heard a unique buzzing sound from the hard drive (two tone, up-down, up-down) with the led flashing. Since then the computer (mac) doesn't see it. I haven't contacted WD yet but when I do I'll let you know what they say.

Ted