Problem with flash media reader aka card reader

Late note...if all else fails, REBOOT. I restarted the computer and the drives re-appeared. Igonore this request.


Just started playing with a new Medion 8825 Multimedia computer. While trying to install an external hard drive, I somehow lost the card reader drives. these were listed in My Computer as drives e,f and g for the three slots of the reader. Now they are gone.

In my ignorance, I was attempting to use the Safely Remove feature of Vista. At one time, there was a small flag that said "safely remove Mass Storage(the external Drive I was working on) and drive e, f and g. I clicked on this flag, and the e, f, and g drives disappeared from My Computer. How do I recover them? Is it a problem of installing new drivers? Is tis a software or hardware problem?

Thanks