Western Digital Elements external hard drive is inaccessible?!

Hi,
I have a problem and am wondering if anyone could give me some advice or suggestions. I recently bought a new Western Digital Elements external hard drive for more storage space and it has worked brilliantly. However, yesterday it became quite hot (so I unplugged it as it doesn’t have a power on/off switch) and now upon reconnecting it I am unable to access my files. I run Windows XP and it notifies me that I connected a new device, and identifies it as a WD hard drive. However when I look in My Computer or Computer Management it is nowhere to be seen!
Is this just a driver problem (hopefully) or is it something more drastic (corrupt/damaged hard drive)?
Does anyone have any advice or suggestions?

Many thanks 😀