External HD Died?

I own a MacBook Pro, and a 300 gb Seagate external HD.

For the past few weeks, while playing my music off the external, it would just stop, mid song.

Today when I try to connect the external, my computer says, "Disk is unreadable on this computer".

I hadn't done anything different than I usually do.

Is my external dead? Have I lost my data?

I tried Disk Utility, but it wouldn't complete the verification process. It would tell me that the volume needs repairing, but won't allow me to repair it.

It's been suggested that I place the HD in a new enclosure to fix the problem. Is this a good idea? Is there another, less drastic solution?

Any feedback would be helpful. My ENTIRE music collection is on this external (over 65,000 songs), and I would be devastated if it was lost.

hate to ask but did you try a different cable had a friend with a macbook
that would mount and unmount his external hard drive daily in 3 months
time the cable went bad right at the head a wiggle test confirmed.