[lehnhard]

***<snip>Did that and now my WD External HD has disappeared too ... nothing plugged into a USB port is showing as recognised if it's Plug N Play !!! aarrgghhh **

___sometimes___ this appears because the drive letters (partition, usb etc.) are disabled (usually a - z are enabled but who knows), you can check this with a free tool called "Tweak UI". Beside that try to format in NTFS (usb stick too) rename them and make sure e v e r y usb disk/stick will get a "personal" drive letter. Start with Z, than Y ... because every installed Item/partition will get a letter from (a/b) c, d, e f, ..... automatically.

If the letter your external usb disk wants is not available it ends up in a problem like this. just an idea, not sure this will help