Aloha, I have a WD

Question

Aloha, I have a WD (Western Digital) external hard drive with information from my old computer (which just crashed). However when I plug in the usb device not recognized - one of the usb devices attached to this computer has malfunctioned and Windows does not recognize it. I bought a brand new Dell laptop and I also updated all drivers...please help, please do not use tech terms, I am a novice...thank you