Mac not recognizing USB external hard drive

My Mac OS X 10.5.8 isn't recognizing my Samsung USB external hard drive. The hard drive has already been formatted for a Mac (rather than PC). My computer has recognized the external hard drive before with no problems. I've used it on a campus computer to copy video files from a documentary I was filming, and I've also used it on another campus computer to copy video files from a multimedia piece. I still need these files, so having to erase my hard drive would be DEVASTATING. Now, my computer won't recognize my external hard drive, even when I have it plugged in before turning on my computer.
When I go to Disk Utility, my mac recognizes it, but when I try to repair and verify it says that it failed.
It's also not a problem with the external hard drive because I've plugged it into another computer and it is recognized on the other computer.
What should I do?

When I go to Disk Utility, my mac recognizes it, but when I try to repair and verify it says that it failed.
Sounds like it's very badly damaged, and it may be too much to expect the data to still be intact. However, you can try repairing it with a more powerful utility, like [DiskWarrior|http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/index.html] or [TechTool Pro|http://www.micromat.com>. If neither of those can fix it, then your only options will be using a data recovery tool, such as [Data Rescue|http://www.prosofteng.com> or [File Salvage|http://subrosasoft.com/OSXSoftware/index.php?mainpage=product_info&productsid=1], or paying an expensive data recovery service to disassemble the drive and recover what they can.
Of course, this would all have been avoided if you had backups of your data. In the future, you must have a minimum of three copies of any data you don't want to lose.

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My MacBook Pro is not recognizing my external hard drive. The hard drive is listed in disk utilities but an icon does not pop up and I cannot access the data. Is there any way to resolve this?

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WE know Disk Warrior is more reliable, hence more useful, and should be in any disk mechanics toolchest.
For the record, I don't know anything of the kind. I have yet to see evidence that Disk Warrior is useful at all.
What I do know is that you seem to take every opportunity you get to promote it in these forums. Do you work for Alsoft?
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Thank you for responding.
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IBook won't connect to USB External Hard Drives

I'm having a very strange issue with my ibook.
I have three external hard drives (two of the three can use usb and firewire). If I connect them with firewire they work fine. Same thing goes for usb flash drives and usb devices (mouse, keyboards, ect.), but if I connect a usb external hard drive it refuses to read it. It gets power but it will not appear on my mac .....
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http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379
and the PMU as outlined here:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1431
~Lyssa

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Mac not recognizing USB external hard drive

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