Resolved USB wireless mouse stops responding

(Pardon me if I'm asking about this issue in the wrong category, but not sure if it's an operating issue or a hardware issue?)
I have a WD My Passport external drive that I have tried to view when hooking up to my HP laptop. I can view the files on it, but only if I used the touchpad, the mouse will not work.
Have read that this might be caused by some interference between the mouse & external drive being connected to closely together? (I only have 2 USB ports on one side of the laptop).
Other than buying a wired mouse, is there anything that I can try to rectify this issue?
Thanks!

 

Q: does the mouse work when you unplug the hard drive?
Have you tried to replace the battery?

 

New batteries installed because I thought that might be the issue. Didn't matter. Mouse won't work until after I've unplugged the back-up drive, disconnected the mouse usb & plugged it back in. Mouse will just not work with the back-up drive connected. Thanks!

 

Strange, have you tried to switch the USB ports?

 

Switching the USB ports didn't make any difference either! But I did discover that if I hook up the external drive, shut off the mouse & unplug it, put it back in and turn it back on it works! Kind of a pain to do it that way, but I don't need to use it very often so I can live with it like that!

 

as long as it works

 

You can probably just unplug the Dongle for the mouse and then plug it back in when the external drive is plugged in.