Cannot unmount WD external Hard drive

[nub]

I have been using my 500gb portable WD hard drive for 3 months or so. In the last month, it has been getting kind of rusty in the sense that i would need to use disk utility to repair it to view the files inside.
Now, however, when i open the hard drive, i cannot see any files inside but still has only 19gb left(which means files are not deleted).
I tried disk utility but it wont repair, it says cannot unmount drive.
So i booted from cd and ran disk utility. repairing went fine but still i was unable to open files after restart.
Tried opening it in safe mode but same story, cannot see files.
I tried other applications like disk utility/Disk warrior but it says cannot unmount drive.

I cant eject either by dragging the hdd to trash cos it says its in use.
i am 100% its not being used.
HOW DO I FIX?
Plz help

 

[Fishrrman]

"I cant eject either by dragging the hdd to trash cos it says its in use.
i am 100% its not being used.
HOW DO I FIX?"

1. Shut down the Mac
2. Disconnect the external drive
3. Reboot the Mac.
4. Re-connect the external drive
5. Will it dismount now?

 

[nub]

No it will not.
I think some kind of file is corrupt in the drive or something. Maybe i dont know as it always says the HD is in use. Its not the spotlight indexing either

 

[tonyburkhart]

So, just to double check your response, for my clarity.

1. You powered off the Mac.
2. You physically disconnected the external HDD from USB and its own power supply.
3. You powered on the Mac.
4. You powered up the external HDD.
5. You connected the USB.
6. The drive then appears on the Mac.
7. You can not eject the HDD now.

----

If all the above is correct, maybe you should try the HDD on a friends or family's computer.

 

[nub]

That is not the problem.
I can turn off and eject the HDD and when i restart, the HDD icon will obviously be gone.
Same happens when i just pull out when my macbook is on. It just gives the device removal warning. The HDD icon goes away.
My problem is, when i open the HDD icon, there is nothing to be viewed. Sometimes, my files will appear but once i click on them, they disappear.
The hard drive seems corrupt or something. I had a habit of pulling out HDD externally when HDD froze. Maybe this made the HDD corrupt?
I dont want to format because its got all my movies, docos etc on it.
Any way to fix this problem?
My hard drive format is in MAC os EXtended Journaled

If i didnt make myself clear, read a similar problem,
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1334477

 

[Fishrrman]

"My problem is, when i open the HDD icon, there is nothing to be viewed. Sometimes, my files will appear but once i click on them, they disappear.
The hard drive seems corrupt or something. I had a habit of pulling out HDD externally when HDD froze. Maybe this made the HDD corrupt?
I dont want to format because its got all my movies, docos etc on it.
Any way to fix this problem?"

Yup, there's a way.

1. Buy ANOTHER hard drive, at least as large as the problem one.

2. Plug the problem hard drive in. Does it mount? If not, try again. You said above that SOMEtimes it mounts.

3. When it DOES mount, connect the SECOND hard drive.

4. Copy all your files from the problem drive to the second one.

5. Now, re-initialize the original problem drive. It may still have life left in it. Use it as a backup of the NEW hard drive. That way you have TWO copies of important files. Periodically use CarbonCopyCloner to "dupe" the contents of one external drive to the other.

6. You've just learned the importance of having a backup.