External Hard drive not readable by Macbook Air

[beegirl]

I am a new MAC user, and have never had any problems with my external hard drive until now.

When I plug it into my Macbook Air via the USB port I receive the following message:

'The disc you inserted was not readable by this computer.'

Does anybody have some advise on how to retrieve my files? I have tried reading other forums on this matter, but I am having a problem understanding the resolution.

FYI - When I look in Disc Utility and highlight the ext. hard drive, the verify and repair disc options are greyed out and unable to be clicked

Your assistance is appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Nychot]

there are usb drives that work on pc's that are no readable on macs.

 

[SoIsays]

You're going to have to reformat that hard drive in a Mac readable format.

 

[beegirl]

This external hard drive has been compatible for use since I bought the MAC a few months ago, why won't it work now?

 

[SpoekGTi]

This external hard drive has been compatible for use since I bought the MAC a few months ago, why won't it work now?

can you test it on another pc or something in your home?

I sense a faulty disk tbh

 

[swordfish5736]

If it was previously working with your Mac then the drive may be dying or already dead. Check out a program called disk warrior, if it can get the drive working you should probably make a backup of everything on it just in case

 

[KPOM]

You're going to have to reformat that hard drive in a Mac readable format.

This external hard drive has been compatible for use since I bought the MAC a few months ago, why won't it work now?

The Mac can read and write in FAT32 and ExFAT formats. It can also read, but not write to an NTFS partition.

The drive should work. Try connecting it to a PC to see if it still works. If yes, then my suggestion is to copy what you need from there onto another disk. I suspect that the drive is failing, as others have pointed out.

Can you take apart the enclosure and remove the drive? If so, you might also try putting the drive into a new enclosure. Maybe a cable is failing.