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

Similar Messages

  • 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!

  • F this error message  "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer" with 2 radio buttons "Ignore" or "reject"  It comes up every time I start my new printer. How do I get rid of it?

    When installing my new HP printer I received the following error message when I inserted  the software install disk: "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer" with 2 radio buttons "Ignore" or "reject"  I was able to eject the disk but the message remains. Now every time I start up the printer this error message pops up on my computer.  I have since used the disk drive successfully for music CD's etc.  How can I get rid of this message?

    PRAM RESET
    Zap the PRAM
    Shut down the computer.
    Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
    Turn on the computer.
    Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.
    Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
    Release the keys.

  • 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

  • "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer" error message

    Hello. I've had my iMac for a little over three months and I've encountered a strange problem. I play Warcraft III, and whenever I insert the disk into the drive, I get an error message saying "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer" and it gives me the options to ignore or eject. I've gotten the same message with Starcraft as well. I also tried putting in the iPod Nano install disk with the same result. CD-Rs and Audio cds work smoothly though. I called Apple technical support and they told me to call 1-800-MY-APPLE to schedule an appointment with my local branch to bring it in. I just wanted to make sure no one on these forums can help me. All help is greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.
    iMac (Early 2006)   Mac OS X (10.4.6)  

    Steve, the original poster made clear he was on a core duo iMAC which ONLY runs OS X (discounting non Apple OSes of course!)
    Therefore there is no extension manager. But I guess he would thank you for trying to help anyway.

  • Why do i get the "the disk you inserted was not readable by this computer" error when I don't even have a disk inserted?

    Why do I keep getting "the disk you inserted was not readable by this computer" caution message when I don't have a disk inserted???

    Unfortunately, I saw this error for the first time this morning. It's on my wife's iMac running Lion, and it appeared when the machine locked up on a Software Update screen prompting her to run an update (I'm assuming this was the recent Security Update).
    After numerous failed attempts to force-quit or otherwise safely restart, she hit the power button, and when the machine came back up it failed to recognize the startup disk. I've since successfully restarted from several different (external) startup disks without incident, but each time I attempt to fix the internal drive via Disk Utility the disk shows only as "Media" and all the usual options to Repair or Verify the Disk are greyed out, leaving only the Erase Disk option.
    Are we totally hosed?

  • Error message that "the disk you inserted was not readable by the computer"  when I haven't put any disk or drives in.  This seems to be impacting Safari as well

    Getting "the disk you inserted was not readable" when restarting computer. This seems to be causing problems in Safari taking many minutes to load some pages that in the past took seconds

    Start with SMC and PRAM resets:
    http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3964
    http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379
    Ciao.

  • 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"
    This is in reference to my External Hard Drive "Buffalo" 1TB. I just got my Mac 27inch this week and when i got it i hooked up this hard drive to it, historically used on my old windows machine, but was still FAT32 formatted. I was able to upload all my pics to Aperture and music to iTunes. Was able to surf the data no problem.
    This afternoon i noticed that it was no longer visible in the "Finder" and afre rebooting several times, got this message "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer"
    Neither the mac nor the HD was moved since yesterday, early this am when it worked.
    Is there an easy fix to this? whats going on.
    Some info:
    I had used this external storage unit for more then a year.
    I sold my PC today so cant test if the hard drive still works on that.
    I have the latest 27 inch mac (2.7GHz)
    Storage is connected to a power source ( I tried both USB and FireWire, both yield the same message)
    Any advice?

    Have you tried the Repair Disk feature in Disk Utility?

  • 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.

  • The disk you inserted was not readable By this computer (Error)

    Hi
    everytime in the last couple of days im inserting a bank Cd to my cd/dvd drive (MATSHITADVD-R UJ-85J) im getting the same error
    "the disk you inserted was not readable By this computer"
    it only happen when the disk is blank. all other disks work ok.
    haven't install any new software or hardware, but had some HDD problems.
    any suggestion what should i do?
    my system profile is:
    version 10.5.7
    Hardware Overview:
    Model Name: iMac
    Model Identifier: iMac7,1
    Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
    Processor Speed: 2.4 GHz
    Number Of Processors: 1
    Total Number Of Cores: 2
    L2 Cache: 4 MB
    Memory: 2 GB
    Bus Speed: 800 MHz
    Boot ROM Version: IM71.007A.B03
    SMC Version (system): 1.20f4
    Serial Number (system): W873226** <Edited by Host>

    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).
    Option 3 is a pain and takes A LOT of time and HD space or external HD if you have tons of music, podcasts, audiobooks, etc, loaded into your iTunes.
    _*3 possible solutions:*_
    1. Use the Finder window already built in the mac (to burn onto blank cds) -
    Open Finder Window, go to File in the Menu Bar at top of computer, create a new Burn Folder, drag items to the folder and click on the burn icon inside the folder, insert blank disk when asked, add name, select burn speed, burn the cd.
    2. Use the app Burn 2.3U -
    Found at Apple.com in download section works like a Finder Window and converts audo files to MP3 automatically. (You can set up iTunes to do this as well)
    3. Install an older version of iTunes 8.0.2 (couldn't find 8.1 thru 8.1.051) -
    I found 8.0.2 at Apple.com, this process is complicated and you will need lots of HD space or external HD to do this because you'll want to back up your music library and you will need to delete version 8.2 BEFORE trying to install an older version. Otherwise stick with option 1 or 2 til a fix is released by Apple.
    I ruined 8 blank cd's that actually burned but then I got the error message "the disk you inserted was not readable by this computer (Error)" at end of burn cycle and sometimes early disk ejections. _*I had no problems before the iTunes update in the past 5 days.*_ Still can't read/play the 8 disks but the problem went away!
    I had burned 20 cds no problem last week with same media disks that were producing errors after doing the iTunes update, now after chosing to downgrade my iTunes I'm back to burning with no issues!
    8.2 has 2 versions 32bit or 64bit, one of them may be PC/Windows version only but not sure which one I upgraded to or if that's even a factor with the permission errors I had.
    Best wishes

  • Audio CDs get "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer"

    Hi All,
    This a near-duplicate of a message originally posted to the Snow Leopard forums.
    A couple months ago I upgraded to 10.6.4 from Leopard and configured a Boot Camp partition running Windows 7. Yesterday I discovered that whenever I put any audio CD, retail or burned, into the Macbook's drive I now get this message - "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer" - with the options to ignore or eject. Disk Utility displays no unusual information, but a check of the system log on Console turned up this:
    Sep 8 11:05:21 Hard-Drive diskarbitrationd17: unable to probe /dev/disk1 (status code 0x00000047).
    Has anyone encountered this problem before? I suspect it's related to Boot Camp but not to the initial installation - CD reading worked fine right after the install. Note that this only affects CDs - Burned and retail DVDS read without any trouble.
    Michael
    P.S. The CDs tested include one just out of the shrink wrap, so please, no "have you checked your CDs they may be scratched" replies.

    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.
    Message was edited by: mlach, who is tired from simultaneously troubleshooting this and an X11 error and has forgotten how to type.

  • 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.

  • 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

  • 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.

  • Ext. HD error - "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer"

    Hello world.
    I'm really stressed here.
    Whenever I insert my FireWire WD external HD, the "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer" pops up, followed by three options; Ignore, Eject, Initiate.
    - DiskUtility doesn't work (Repair buttons are grayed out).
    - I managed to get some partition info through TestDisk. There is no option of repairing the partition table though.
    - Should I try DiskWarrior? How do I use it?

    This situation happened to me tonight, but instead of firewire, I was using esata. I bought disk warrior and it actually worked perfectly.
    Even though Disk Warrior was $100, it was definitely worth it.

Maybe you are looking for

  • How do I get values from a resultset using JDOM?

    I am very new to this and I dont have the slightest idea how to retrive values from a result and create a XML tree using JDOM Can someone please help me? I have the JDOM Parser installed on my machine. This is my code so far: import org.jdom.input.*;

  • I feel stupid just asking this, but...

    I'm trying to write a class to extend PrintStream, but no matter what I do my constructor is flagged with the error: Cannot resolve symbol Symbol: Constructor PrintStream () Location: class java.io.PrintStream Here's the code: import java.io.PrintStr

  • Emails addressed to me under different/aliased names unrecognised

    Hi, I have a family email account for me & my wife. We use one email address, but people sending email to us give us different names: ie Jack Citizen <email@address> Jill Citizen <email@address> Jack & Jill <email@address> Jack & Jill Citizen <email@

  • Import Keywords from Bridge ?

    I have a lot of keywords in Bridge and I'd love to bring them in LR (no way I'm going to retype them all). Is there any way to do that ? Thanks ! Matt

  • Photo printing on the 8620

    There is no option to print Borderless 4x6 prints.I still am using the ink cartridges that were shipped with the unit as I have not received my mail order cartridges.The photos that I have tried to print have WAAAAYYYYY too much ink on them they smea