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

Similar Messages

  • 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

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

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    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!
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  • 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?
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    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.

  • Need help with Error message "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer"

    I got this message this afternoon "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer" with the options to either "Ignore" or Eject"
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    Have you tried the Repair Disk feature in Disk Utility?

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

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    See mount section in 1st link.
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  • My Sandisk cruzer thumb drive 4.0GB (which is very old, roughly 10 years and I'm not sure about the model) reads "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer" when inserted in my Macbook pro 2010. How do I get it to work?

    My Macbook Pro 2010 with the latest OS does not open a particular Sandisk Cruzer 4.0GB (which is an old model, about 10 years) thumbdrive with the message "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer". Will I be able to read it on my macbook?

    Is it readable in a Windows computer?  If not then you can try Disk Utility to repair the drive-- although that may be dangerous too.
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    If the data is essential there are pay-for services to recover data looked the price was in the range $50 - $1000
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  • New message - "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer"

    Time machine was working just fine with my Maxtor external hard drive, once I had reformatted it, but this morning when I was booting up I got the message, "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer." The message gave me the options of "initialize", "ignore", or "eject".
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    Do you still have a drive with Mac OS X 10.4 installed on it? If you do, you can see if the drive mounts in 10.4. If you get the same message, it might be a problem with the drive and not be related to TM. I had a problem with an external Maxtor drive that TM corrupted, but the drive mounted without any problems. I just couldn't write to it in 10.5.
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  • Unable to read usb memory stick + "the disk you inserted was not readable by this computer"

    Hi Everyone,
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    Thank You OGELTHORPE.
    I erased the memory stick and formatted to "Mac OS Extended(Journaled)".
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  • The disk you inserted was not readable By this computer (Error)

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    first time posting so not sure this ended up in correct area...
    I had same issue except only repairing the permissions didn't solve anything for me. *_If you recently upgraded your iTunes to 8.2_* check your permissions for errors, fix the errors, then restart computer and if that doesn't fix it, then try one of the 3 solutions below as there is a *known burn issue with the recent 8.2 update!*
    My permission errors - permissions differ on ./Applications/iTunes.app/contents... etc, should be -rw-rw-r--, they are -rwxrwxr-x
    I called Apple Care and we figured out 3 work arounds til a fix is released.
    Solutions 1,2 are recommended by Apple Care. I used solutions 1 (easy) and then 3 (complicated).
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    _*3 possible solutions:*_
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  • The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer. (when putting ipod into mac) help,. now have no music on my ipod

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    - Verify the file and disk formats on your camcorder and on your friend computer whether they support what you want to do. Also, if you are using a specific application to do the task, you may need to verify an application whether it supports the file format (e.g. MPEG4, Apple Intermediate Codec).
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  • Audio CDs get "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer"

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    Thanks, but no thanks. This is a software/hardware (driver?) issue, not a hardware issue alone. I kept a bootable backup copy of my 10.5.8 installation on an external drive, and a quick restart into that yields a desktop where CDs still load perfectly. I'm looking for power users with specific experience with this particular error and insights into what is causing it in 10.6.4.
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