Suddenly my 1 TB Western Digital external hard drive has decided to give me a "the disk you inserted was not readable by this computer" error

I was playing music on iTunes (my iTunes library is stored on the hard drive) when I realized that it was running slow and giving me some pinwheels. So, I force quit iTunes, ejected the hard drive, waited a couple of seconds and plugged it back in. To my surprise it gave me an error that said "The disk you insterted is not readable by this computer" with the options to initialize, ignore, and eject. I have been searching Google, YouTube, and other forums for fixes (I am not too handy with Terminal without some assistance). I am able to go to Disk Utility and I see the drive there, and when I go to the partition is says "not mounted" I have tried repairing the disk only to get the notificiation that tells me Disk Utility is unable to repair the disk. I also ran Terminal and tried doing diskutil repairDisk and repairVolume to no avail. Below you can see the information I have gotten from Disk Ultilty and Terminal. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated as I have my music library, art projects, and other very important data on this drive! Thank you in advance!

Yikes, doesn't look too good. But there are still things you can try.
I noticed the disk is formatted as MS-DOS FAT32. While such disks can be read and used on Macs, it's better to set up your disks formatted for the Mac. For one thing, the Mac disk repair tools don't work as well on FAT32 (PC-style) disks. Which might be why Disk Utility did not succeed.
I suggest using a PC running Windows to connect the drive to and see if the data are all visible, and if not, run the built in disk check tools in Windows. Also, WD disks usually come with disk tools on the drive, did yours come with those? Either for the PC and/or Mac? You might be able to download them from the WD sites.

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How do I view and open all my files again that are on my external hard drive?? Error message saying 'The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer' Three options are Initialize, Ignore or Eject.

I have recently purchased Toshiba 1TB hard drive and I set it up and I was able to transfer all my files onto it such as my music, photos, documents. I had correctly ejected and used it again and all these files were safely stored and accessible afterwards. However after I rebooted my computer as it had been going slow and I had too much clogging it up once I reconnected the external hard drive I have error message saying 'The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer' Three options are Initialize, Ignore or Eject. How do I access all my files? I set it up to work on both mac and windows. I have tried both another mac and windows computer and same issue occurs?? I am worried that all my personal files are gone but am confused as the drive has had absolutely no damage to it as it was in a very short time frame and its never left the same spot. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Thanks for your quick response. I had a look at your discussion... I tried it on a Windows machine and I thought that was compatible with ExFAT?
Therefore I need to attempt to use my external hard drive with a machine that boasts OS X 10.6.5 or above and then it should work?
Thanks

WD external Hard Drive comes up with "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer."

So here lies the problem, when connecting my WD external HD to my MBP, I get the message The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer. and a further three options of initialize, ignore and eject. I have always hit ignore.
When checking my files, the HD is not available in my finder window.
I've gone into Disk Utilities. It is there to be highlighted. And I go to repair the disk, but each time the Repair button is greyed out.
I've tried to use my data recovery software (rescue pro deluxe) but because the drive isn't showing up in that program, it isn't working.
Are there any other options out there to get the files from that HD (I've just gotten back from 2 months of travel with a bunch of photos on that HD - so would like to get them back). Even if that means putting them onto a spare external HD.

Thanks for your quick response. I had a look at your discussion... I tried it on a Windows machine and I thought that was compatible with ExFAT?
Therefore I need to attempt to use my external hard drive with a machine that boasts OS X 10.6.5 or above and then it should work?
Thanks

External Drive: The Disk You Inserted Was Not Readable By This Computer

I have a 2TB Western Digital external drive that I've been using for a year or two as my backup for my Aperture libraries. Been working fine until now, I get the "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer." Clicking "Initialize" takes me to disk utility with no usable options. Whatdoido?!
Did my laptop just become illiterate?

I had this exact issue with my external harddrive, I scrolled forums and did what they said and nothing, then I just happened to be in the app store and thought I would search for data recovery, a few came up and only a couple had ratings so I looked at Data Rescue 3, its £40 so I went ot their website for the trial version, downloaded and installed that, tried it and rescued a random file (limits obvioulsy on the trial verison) and it worked so paid the £40 and am currently saving all my files to another external harddrive.
Try out the trial first and if it works on one file i reccomend the the full program!
Good Luck!

External HDD: "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer"

Hi,
I have an external drive with important data on it (there is a backup, but there is also some non-backuped data as well...). I cannot access the external drive because I receive a "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer" message connecting it. I was wondering, if you have some advice on how to get my data back?
I have a WD Elements 2 TB (about 2 months old), I am using is with an iMac, latest Snow Leopard. The drive used to work all fine. Now, I receive a "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer" every time I connect it. Same thing happens if connected to my MacBook Pro.
What happened?: I was copying files to the external drive. I the middle of it, I received a message complaining I that assumedly ejected the drive by pulling the USB cable out instead of properly ejecting it software-side (I did not do this). The drive symbol was gone. Now, I plug the drive out an reconnected it. The drive symbol showed up again. I continued copying files on the drive, but after some 30 seconds, I received the same error message again. One more time, I disconnected and reconnected the drive - this time to another USB port. The drive showed up, but I was not able to copy files on it (I am using muCommander, it just kept showing 0kb progress). I restarted the Mac. Since then I am getting the "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer." The drive symbol does not show up anymore.
I was googling the problem: in one forum there was a suggestion to click "initialize drive" and than to "repair" in DiscUtility. I clicked initialize drive and the drive is shown in DiscUtility, but "repair" and "verify" are greyed out. I read more posts on it, one posts suggested NOT to click initialize because that means format in Mac OS language (btw: ***, why is it not called format).
That is the situation at the moment. What is the best - if there is - way to get my data back? DiscWarrior?
I very much appreciate your advice!
Daniel

"Initializing" a drive has been normal computer terminology for decades. "Formatting" generally referred to the high-level preparation also called "erasing." None of this is "Mac OS language."
Disk Warrior will not likely fix the problem you have. DW can repair a damaged directory, but your error suggests an even worse problem of directory corruption. I suggest you try using DW if you have it. Visit the Alsoft site to determine the limitations and usage of the version you have. It may not be able to boot your computer depending upon what version of DW you have and how new your computer is.
If you have no success with DW then see the following:
Basics of File Recovery
Files in Trash
If you simply put files in the Trash you can restore them by opening the Trash (left-click on the Trash icon) and drag the files from the Trash to your Desktop or other desired location. OS X also provides a short-cut to undo the last item moved to the Trash -press COMMAND-Z.
If you empty the Trash the files are gone. If a program does an immediate delete rather than moving files to the Trash, then the files are gone. Recovery is possible but you must not allow any additional writes to the hard drive - shut it down. When files are deleted only the directory entries, not the files themselves, is modified. The space occupied by the files has been returned to the system as available for storage, but the files are still on the drive. Writing to the drive will then eventually overwrite the space once occupied by the deleted files in which case the files are lost permanently. Also if you save a file over an existing file of the same name, then the old file is overwritten and cannot be recovered.
General File Recovery
If you stop using the drive it's possible to recover deleted files that have not been overwritten by using recovery software such as Data Rescue II, File Salvage or TechTool Pro. Each of the preceding come on bootable CDs to enable usage without risk of writing more data to the hard drive. Two free alternatives are Disk Drill and TestDisk. Look for them and demos at MacUpdate or CNET Downloads.
The longer the hard drive remains in use and data are written to it, the greater the risk your deleted files will be overwritten.
Also visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on Data Recovery.

Keep getting a "the disk you inserted was not readable by this computer" when I insert my printer cord into either USB port. Recently installed a portable hard drive for back up purposes. Related?

Keep getting a "the disk you inserted was not readable by this computer" when I insert my printer cord into either USB port. Recently installed a portable hard drive for back up purposes. Related?

Does your printer have a slot for an SD card? Is there are card in the slot? If so, the computer is trying to mount that card as an external device. It might be corrupted so that it can't be read.

FRUSTRATED! Cannot access Seagate external HDD - message is "the disk you inserted was not readable by this computer"

I get the message "the disk you inserted was not readable by this computer" when trying to access my Seagate external HDD.
Disk Utility lists both the Seagate drive and volume but all options (verify disk, repair disk) are greyed out.
It says the volume is unmounted and Windows_FAT_32.
(The external HDD used to be formatted for NTFS, but when I moved across to Apple last year, I reformatted to FAT32).
I haven't accessed the drive for a few months but the last time I did, it worked fine.
I'm running OS X 10.9.5 on MBA bought last year.
I've spent 2 hours trawling through blogs/mac forums/apple support and nearly bought Disk Warrior out of frustration, but surely there must be a simpler solution?
I don't think I'm dealing with a corrupt drive, just an inaccessible one!
Any help greatly appreciated, even if it is to pay the $$$ for DW...!
Thanks, Jay

See mount section in 1st link.
Disk Unmount Using Terminal
Disk Utility – Force Mount Disk

Why does my memory stick all of a sudden trigger the message "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer"?

I bought a LaCie memory stick a couple of months ago. It worked fine. Now all of a sudden I get the message "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer". What has happened? Is all my data lost? Can I retrieve it? I tried to fix it with Disk Utility (which at least correctly recognises the stick), and even though I can click on my memory stick I can't do anything to it. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

According to an ASC member who claims to work for HP, this issue can be resolved by repairing the permissions of the startup volume in Disk Utility. I can't confirm, but it has apparently worked in at least one case.

The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer problem with External HDD

Hey Folks!
My 500 GB LG External Disk was working until today in the morning than I have went to University and came back this problem appears when I plug my HDD in. It is formatted in MacOS Journalled and when I plug it in it spins up and gets power, than gives me the error. I have tried with another Macbook gives me the same problem. The data in there is extermely precious for me since all of my pictures are in there. I dont care about the HDD it self but the data. Is there any way to rescue my data, I am freaking out right now. Here is the info of the hardisk from disk utility:
Disk Description : ST950032 5AS Media Total Capacity : 500.11 GB (500,107,862,016 Bytes)
Connection Bus : USB Write Status : Read/Write
Connection Type : External S.M.A.R.T. Status : Not Supported
USB Serial Number : 000000005723 Partition Map Scheme : Unformatted
I am waiting for your answers ASAP
Thanks!

oderebek wrote:
Partition Map Scheme : Unformatted
The hard drive is damaged; or,
the USB interface is damaged; or,
the cable connecting the drive to the interface is damaged; or,
the USB cable connecting the drive to the Mac is damaged (not very likely).
Connect a known-good device with the same USB cable to the Mac; if it works, eliminate 4. Connect the drive with a different USB cable. Same problem? 4 is out for good.
Open external enclosure. Extract drive and try it in a different enclosure, with a different cable. If it works, eliminate 1. Same problem? Drive is damaged.
If the drive is damaged, you can try to recover data from it using various tools, such as
TestDisk/PhotoRec
<http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk>
or ddrescue or dd_rescue. These are CLI tools; they require a bit of experience to use. There are some GUI tools, such as ProSoft's Data Rescue or Seagate File Recovery (and others), but none are free. If you choose one of the latter, try the demo first, to see if they can recover anything at all.
My bet is that the drive is damaged. But maybe you're lucky and it's only the SATA cable.

My external LaCie drive gets an error message "the disc you inserted was not readable by this computer." The only options offered are "ignore" or "eject" Disk Utility sees the disc but does not give a repair option. What can I do?

When I plug in my external LaCie drive I get an error message "the disc you inserted was not readable by this computer."
The only options offered are "ignore" or "eject"
Disk Utility sees the disc but does not give a repair option.
What can I do?

The good thing about mac-centric resellers such as OWC, is they have people on staff that can answer questions without you buying things first. They also have how-to information, and instructions are included in many of their products. I saw a link to watch a DIY video in one of their pages; an example of a RAID (with its own power supply) is shown on their drives page. Also a few in there, with no power supplies, for less money.
If I were looking to backup and perhaps also have a partition for a system clone, I'd consider something like one of these: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/eSATA_FW800_FW400_USB
Some ideas on the RAID backup methods appear in google search, some of the pages are ideas and concepts; and the better ones also warn about using RAID for the only backup plan.
Oh, OWC has live chat. Haven't tried it, nor have I bought anything from them. I have what appears to be two products from them, but have not used either. One is in a box as-new, but has only USB2.0 ports & my Macs needed FW400/800. It has been said their RAM is a good way to upgrade, too. But I can't confirm!
A 'RAID-ready' unit for backup may be more versatile for just that, but I have not checked into these details. I use single HDDs in powered enclosures, and usually manually make backup clones to FW drives, of bootable OS X systems. Some of the OWC raid-ready use eSATA ports so that may not be viable for a computer without them.
The unused in-box external drive I have is like the base model in the link above. However mine is USB2.0 (maybe) and won't boot my older Macs due to hardware variance; and my preference would be for FireWire options, these models do offer that. But the one I have does not. Dual 500GB HDDs, and they could be used in tandem as a RAID. That would be a choice set up in software. I'm not sure and not interested enough to read up just now.
My backup method is not automatic, or a moving backup plan, if I don't get a move-on and make full system clones. I do make copies of photos and documents the manual way, to USB external drives; and occasionally backup to DVD or CD media. And USB flash, that helps to move files between computers without need to use file sharing via wi-fi. {Like Why fly? Walking is better exercise unless one is a bird. Squawk!}
https://www.google.com/#q=raid+backup+mac
Depending on the ports in your Mac, you may be able to use other cables to attach between a backup or externally enclosed hard disk drive with multiple partition and bootable clone in one of them. Not sure about the Thunderbolt, and where that is the main port, adapters are required to access other devices, as allowed.
Anyway, I am going on and on, yet not really saying anything.
My ideas would not be all that interesting to follow as a backup
plan when matching available newer hardware to task, but you
can get some into better ideas if you are not in a rush. Get a
good setup and then look into more an betterer stuff.
Good luck & happy computing!

External Hard Drive - "The disk you inserted was not readable"

Yesterday I bought a Seagate FreeAgent 500 GB external hard drive and I ran disk utility and had it erased and formatted for my iMac. Then I put all my video files and movies on there to free up some space on my main computer hard drive. The FreeAgent external hard drive showed up on my desktop right under the main hard drive and it was working fine.
Today I downloaded and installed Boot Camp and then installed Windows XP Home Edition. After I was done, I went back to OS X and now there's no icon for the FreeAgend external hard drive on my desktop and instead a windows pops up saying "Disk Insertion-- The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer" and my only options are "Disk Utility", "Eject", and "Ignore".
So I can't access my external hard drive now but I don't want to do the "erase" option on Disk Utility to reformat it since I have all my video files on there now.
I don't know what to do-- please help!!

Contact Seagate for tech support.

I've been getting the error message "The disk you inserted was not readable by the computer". I can't open system preferences, disk utility, or Time Machine. I'm guessing it has something to do with my external hard drive, although it hasn't been touched.

I've been getting the error message "The disk you inserted was not readable by the computer". I can't open system preferences, disk utility, or Time Machine. I'm guessing it has something to do with my external hard drive, although it hasn't been touched lately, but I can't figure out how to solve the problem. Any suggestions? Thank you!

Thanks for your quick response. I had a look at your discussion... I tried it on a Windows machine and I thought that was compatible with ExFAT?
Therefore I need to attempt to use my external hard drive with a machine that boasts OS X 10.6.5 or above and then it should work?
Thanks

Hallo ,why is it that when I delete a photo ,which is backed up by time machine and western digital external hard drive , that I am able to restore the photo okay but not the titles and descriptions . I have a Macbook 4.1, mac osx 10.5.8 . Iphoto 7.1.5 ,

QUESTION.
Hallo , my question is ;whenever I delete a photo and restore it through Time machine and Western digital external hard drive , I am able to restore the photo but not the titles and descriptions . Western Digital inform me that it isn't their external hard drive problem and suggest that it is an Apple software problem ?
I am using a Macbook 4.1 , with Mac OSX 10.5.8 . I photo 7.1.5 , last modifie4d 01/05/2010 -universal . Should I be upgrading Iphoto ?
I hope that someone is able to help in this matter , as i have to restore 12000 photos !
Thanking you in anticipation.
Alan from Wigton

Hallo Kieth ,
I am not quite ready to restore the full iphoto library , as I have days of work re - imputting titles,descriptions and enhancement . I hope that your suggestion works , as I use my Macbook basically to work with digital photography. Through time , I will need to delete my library to recover more disc space and I would hate to have to spend more time re - imputting titles and descriptions all over again .
Thanks for your interest and advice.
regards - Alan

My Western Digital external hard drive suddenly stopped showing up on my Macbook Pro and disappeared from Disk Utility. It works on a PC.

My Western Digital external hard drive suddenly stopped showing up on my macbook pro and it disappeared from disk utility. I have tried making invisible files visible but nothing has worked and my hard drive shows up on a PC but not my Mac anymore.

What is the manufacturer of the external and how old is it? Does it have its own AC power supply or is it USB bus powered?

I have a 250GB western digital external hard drive for my time machine backups. if i just want to backup and recover my photos and movies how do i do that with time machine?

I have a 250GB western digital external hard drive for my time machine backups. I did not download the software that came with the external HD. If I only want to backup my photos and movies from my Macbook how do I do that in Tme Machine with my external HD?

Format the HDD in Disk Utility>Erase to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and the open System Preferences>Time Machine and set up the external disk as the Time Machine HDD. Then look at the Options, and exclude what you do not want backed up.
Ciao.

Suddenly my 1 TB Western Digital external hard drive has decided to give me a "the disk you inserted was not readable by this computer" error

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