FIXED- External hard drive no longer showing up as a location in Finder

ETA: Right after I posted this, it magically appeared. After about 20 minutes of being plugged in.

I just did the latest update (Sonoma 14.3.1) for my mid-2020 Macbook Pro and the external hard drive I use for work is no longer showing up in my Finder. I was able to locate it by doing the following:

* Verify that the device appears in System Information: On your Mac, choose Apple menu  > About This Mac. In the overview that appears, click the System Report button.

* In the window that appears, see if the USB device is listed below Hardware in the list on the left. If the device appears but does not work, review the device’s documentation for further troubleshooting steps.

I restarted my Macbook and the hard drive, but still no luck. Any suggestions as to what may be going on & why I can no longer see this hard drive?

It used to show up on my desktop as well, but is not doing that either. Instead, my hard drive is there? Which it has never been before & I did not put it there. And I can't seem to do anything about it being there, which I honestly hate.

Thank you!