03-25-2012, 03:46 PM

hello all,
not sure if this is in the right place or if it's a problem that's been fixed before [i didn't see anyone with quite the same problem that i have] but here goes.
i've got some sort of a Toshiba external hard drive [can give better details if they're needed, i just have to track them down] and for some reason, whenever i plug it in, it runs fine for the first few seconds and then suddenly an error message comes up that says i shouldn't unplug devices without ejecting them first when i haven't unplugged it at all. the little light on the hard drive is still lit up at this point and i can hear it running, but my computer doesn't recognize it any longer.
the first time i plugged it in, we reformatted it and thought it might be a good idea to put time machine on there. but it was taking forever and i was in a hurry to get out the door, so i decided to stop it and try again later. but that was the first and last time the hard drive actually worked.
my computer is a macbook, running snow leopard os x.
any ideas would be helpful! and please let me know if you need any more info. cheers!

03-25-2012, 04:59 PM

Sounds like some sort of corruption.

Hook it up and go into Disk utility, highlight the drive and run Repair Disk and see what is reported. It may be repairable, or you may have to erase and format. Also is the drive mains powered? It does happen to USB powered devices they simply draw too much power from the USB port.