Computer says this drive is not accessible. It has worked fine for two years. It will work on my laptop. I am using Windows Vista

Are you using the heaphones jack? The new HP is a laptop? Open Sounds in Control Panel. select headphones.

Does it show up in Disk Management?

http://www.windowsreference.com/windows-vista/how-to-use-disk-management-in-vista/

If you need data recovery this guy does it remotely off of donations.

http://FreeDataRecovery.us

See if you can access the DVD/CD on another computer. If so, then you have a problem with your DVD/CD drive. If you can't access the disk on another computer, then the disk has a problem.

Install the drive as a secondary drive on known working computer. Go into it via windows explorer, locate and backup the files you want on a usb stick or external hard drive. Format the drive, load your OS, and reinstall the files you saved from the drive before you formatted it.

In Ubuntu you use a different File System (ext3). This is very different in relation to FAT32 or NTFS and Windows doesn't have a built-in driver that would enable you to access the disk. That is why it isn't recognized in Windows.

Do you have another computer you can plug it into? The problem could be with your USB. If it is, see what updates you installed and then removed that may have affected that. You can also go to the manufacturers web site and download the original firmware or updated firmware files.

You will need to download and install the vista driver for this to work on your vista computer. XP & Vista drivers are not the same and that is the reason it will work on the XP computer but not on the Vista computer. Driver should be available from the hardware manufacturers website. Hope this helps.

Pls try to install audio driver from HP site..

have your computer reset and reinstall the operating system.. the software is corrupted

your queries are not linked.
Please specify if they are
1) You can not save something that I type on my usb and use the works desktop to print it,
2) the work computer is using windows xp,the usb just won't open at the works pc
3) I also need to set up a email address for me on the mail account that is on my laptop.

1) Check if the USB drive is locked or write preotected (there should be a up-down button in the back of the USB. unlock and save.
2) If you have connected the work PC and Laptop, to get access in USB in work, you need to allow access to the other machine.
Select the drive, right click,properties,share and aloow access to the Laptop.
3) Not clear about the query. if you are looking to configure outlook,

http://www.webdevelopersnotes.com/tips/internet/configure_gmail_in_outlook_express.php3