can't find external hard drive

hey--plugged in my iomega external drive.
i can search via spotlight and find items from that drive.
but where is the drive?
nothing on desktop.
nothing in finder.
how can i remove it? (where is "safely remove hardware?")
thanks,
robert

Have a look in Finder>Preferences and see if you have the option for external drives to show on the desktop ticked.

external disks box is checked--no icon anywhere.
but external drive is being read--i can look at items from the drive....

perhaps disk has somehow become "safe to remove" so it is being read, but icon is gone?
i'll restart the macbook and see what happens.

Do you have a messy desktop? Try cleaning it up if so. If the HD icon can't sit where it is supposed to (underneath the boot drive icon), it will be moved to another location that may be harder for you to spot.

thanks for the replies.
i believe i ejected the drive without knowing it.
i have since unplugged and replugged the usb on the drive and the icon appears in finder.
still nothing on the desktop even though i have checked the box in preferences.
i can live with it thus....
thanks again,
robert