sudo fdisk -l lists the drive, however, I cannot find it in the file explorer.
Disk /dev/sda: 250.1 GB, 250059350016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders, total 488397168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000d871e
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 2048 486322175 243160064 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 486324222 488396799 1036289 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 486324224 488396799 1036288 82 Linux swap / Solaris
Disk /dev/sdb: 8195 MB, 8195480064 bytes
253 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1020 cylinders, total 16006797 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00027ae4
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 62 15999719 M 7999829 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
Manually mounting it produces this error message
:~$ sudo mount -t vfat /dev/sdb1 /media/external -ouiduid=1000,gid=1000,utf8,dmask=027,fmask=137
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sdb1,
missing codepage or helper program, or other error
In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
dmesg | tail or so
Is the usb toast?