Since you say the microdrive works in the camera, it is more likely a problem with your computer. Do you have any posibility of trying to connecting the device to another computer to check that ?
Also, maybe you could try deactivating the microdrive from the peripherals manager, then reactivating it back in, it helped me once in a similar situation (do you hear the drive spin, by the way ?).
I'm not sure for an English OS, but the correct menu option might say something like "deactivate" (above "uninstall" and "look for modifications on the hardware").
PS : I did not check but I'm not sure microdrives have SMART.
EDIT/PS2 : oops I mixed up uninstall (which you tried and failed) and deactivate
PS3 : Hold on... did you remove the Microdrive itself or the PCMCIA adapter ? (either physically or from peripherals manager)
PS4 : sorry it's getting late, I didn't even think of asking if you could borrow a CF reader (although I do have a doubt about the form factor ?) to distinguish between problem of microdrive and PCMCIA adapter