Problems seeing external hard drive Win 7

Tech Support Guy System Info Utility version 1.0.0.2
OS Version: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional, Service Pack 1, 64 bit
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2540M CPU @ 2.60GHz, Intel64 Family 6 Model 42 Stepping 7
Processor Count: 4
RAM: 3977 Mb
Graphics Card: Intel(R) HD Graphics 3000, 1796 Mb
Hard Drives: C: Total - 305142 MB, Free - 261533 MB; E: Total - 194418 MB, Free - 54905 MB; T: Total - 99 MB, Free - 61 MB;
Motherboard: Dell Inc., 01MCMN
Antivirus: AVG AntiVirus Business Edition, Updated and Enabled

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I have a Dell laptop running Windows 7. I only have one usb port on the laptop so I use a D-Link usb hub with 4 ports. When I plug in my external hard drive to the usb hub I cannot see it in My Computer. So I tried plugging it in directly to my laptop without the usb hub and now I can see it. But I would like to be able to use my usb mouse instead of the touch pad. My usb hub has worked for everything else before. This is the first thing I'm not able to use it for. Is there a way to make it work through the usb hub?