External Drive Not Appearing on M4 Mac Studio on Sequoia 15.6.1

I'm not sure why this is happening, but I have a WD elements 4tb external drive that my mac studio (M4 Max) just sometimes refuses to recognize. I use this drive to back up projects I have worked on, as well as store some media on it. I know the drive works, because not only do I hear the fans spinning when I plug it in to my mac, but when I plug it in to my Steam Deck, it opens up no problem. I always eject it before I unplug the drive, but when it doesn't get recognized on my mac I can't really do that. I've tried restarting the computer, with it plugged and unplugged, I've tried unplugging every device that's plugged in, and now I'm at my wits end. Can anyone help? Currently on macOS Sequoia 15.6.1. Thanks!