Update: So it turns out I deleted the partition somehow. Updates in post #4. Advice Appreciated.
Disclaimer: The story is a bit convoluted (to me anyway), and I'm aware that my lack of knowledge probably created the problem. Still if you can help, I'd greatly appreciate it.
I finally got my Macbook Pro today and I'm trying to extract files from my old external I'd used as a back up with a white macbook. When that macbook died at the end of 2010, I wasn't in a position to replace it so I've been using a netbook since. At the time I was unaware that I wouldn't have access to the harddrive because it had been formated on the Mac. When I hooked it up to a netbook it didn't even acknowledge it. After a few amateur google searches I managed to come up with a program, I think it was HFSExplorer that said it would let me read the drive on a PC. I was able to see the contents of the drive (I recognized titles of saved documents etc) using the program but I couldn't actually open the files. Although, I couldn't access them I at least felt happy to verify the drive wasn't empty. I know I didn't initialize or reformat because I didn't want to wipe the drive but I do remember executing some sort of process (suggested on another site). After that failed, I finally called WD and they explained the difference in formatting for OSX and Windows and told me I could only access the drive on a Mac.
Fast forward to today, I'm finally back on OSX but when I plug up the drive, it says it is unreadable and my options are "Initialize", "Ignore" and "Eject". Needless to say I'm a bit distraught.
I hooked the drive back up to the netbook, but I don't remember how I got HFSExplorer to open it (if it was even that program, it could have been something else as I have since uninstalled it). It doesn't recognize it when I hit auto detect. MacDrive says it doesn't see any Mac disks when I tried that option, but it sees it as WD passport under the option to create or format mac disk (I didn't select that).
I know this story is a little all over the place and I apologize. Am I screwed? These files meant a great deal to me and are kind of irreplaceable. I know I was foolish to muck around the way I did. Any ideas where to start? I feel like what I'm holding here is a blank drive. But I'd like to believe that isn't true. Can anyone help?
Disclaimer: The story is a bit convoluted (to me anyway), and I'm aware that my lack of knowledge probably created the problem. Still if you can help, I'd greatly appreciate it.
I finally got my Macbook Pro today and I'm trying to extract files from my old external I'd used as a back up with a white macbook. When that macbook died at the end of 2010, I wasn't in a position to replace it so I've been using a netbook since. At the time I was unaware that I wouldn't have access to the harddrive because it had been formated on the Mac. When I hooked it up to a netbook it didn't even acknowledge it. After a few amateur google searches I managed to come up with a program, I think it was HFSExplorer that said it would let me read the drive on a PC. I was able to see the contents of the drive (I recognized titles of saved documents etc) using the program but I couldn't actually open the files. Although, I couldn't access them I at least felt happy to verify the drive wasn't empty. I know I didn't initialize or reformat because I didn't want to wipe the drive but I do remember executing some sort of process (suggested on another site). After that failed, I finally called WD and they explained the difference in formatting for OSX and Windows and told me I could only access the drive on a Mac.
Fast forward to today, I'm finally back on OSX but when I plug up the drive, it says it is unreadable and my options are "Initialize", "Ignore" and "Eject". Needless to say I'm a bit distraught.
I hooked the drive back up to the netbook, but I don't remember how I got HFSExplorer to open it (if it was even that program, it could have been something else as I have since uninstalled it). It doesn't recognize it when I hit auto detect. MacDrive says it doesn't see any Mac disks when I tried that option, but it sees it as WD passport under the option to create or format mac disk (I didn't select that).
I know this story is a little all over the place and I apologize. Am I screwed? These files meant a great deal to me and are kind of irreplaceable. I know I was foolish to muck around the way I did. Any ideas where to start? I feel like what I'm holding here is a blank drive. But I'd like to believe that isn't true. Can anyone help?
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