Mac doesn't recognize external hard drive, even on Disk Utility
I'm using a 2 TB hard drive that, up until now, has always worked in some capacity. Sometimes the drive wouldn't show up on desktop/Finder, but it always showed up on Disk Utility and from there I could at least try to run First Aid, etc.
Today, I plugged it in and there was nothing. The hard drive wasn't even receiving power from the computer like it always does. I checked to make sure it was on Disk Utility, and it didn't even show up there. I tried all four USB-C ports on my MacBook Pro (2019)... no luck. The drive is connected using the following setup:
dual micro USB port,
an adapter from the dual micro USB port to USB-A,
and a USB-A to USB-C converter.
I'm unsure whether something went wrong in the cables, but it's only like 2 feet of cable. One thing I did notice was that the USB-C (male end) sleeve was bending up and down slightly unlike when I had it a month ago, but it wasn't by very much, probably +-3 degrees, equalling less than a 32nd of an inch. (<1 mm)
Still, it seems awfully suspicious that the hard drive isn't receiving power and that this problem exists. What can I do to fix this???
MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 13.5