Did I ruin my external hd?

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So I know NOTHING about computers. But, I bought a WD 1TB external hard drive to save my thousands of pics in case my laptop gets stolen/lost.

I plugged it in the first day I got it, got confused by Time Machine, and unplugged the device in frustration (WITHOUT ejecting it first..I know, I was just told this very bad). I think this is where I might've messed up the machine.

Plugged it in again today and with advice from someone tried to erase and format (Mac OS Extended Journal) through utility drive. It gave me the error message: File system formatter failed.

So I tried to repair it by the "repair" button and it doesn't work. Restarted my computer and everything just now and now the HD when plugged in, won't even read! It says disk not readable by my computer.

Have a completely ruined my hard drive for good or is there a way to fix it??

And pls respond using as many non-technical terms as possible. If it's not obvious nor clear, I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT COMPUTERS. :) Thanks a ton!!!!
 
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13" MBP 2.3Ghz i7 32GB 1TB | iPhone XR
Can you try your drive on another computer and see if you get the same or any similar errors?
 

chscag

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The drive is obviously messed up. Large external drives, especially the WD models seem to have problems when incorrectly dismounted. Usually, trying to reformat them just leads to more difficulties.

I would return the drive to where you purchased it from and exchange it for another. Unless you've already got data on it, it's not worth fooling with.

And, some advice about storing valuable photos on hard drives: Hard drives fail, and they do so unexpectedly. So unless you're prepared to keep several backups of those photos, it's best to burn them to DVD media where they'll be safe. Burning 1000 photos to DVDs is not that difficult or time consuming.
 
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2010 27" iMac: CPU - Intel i5, 2.66GHz, 4GB RAM, 1TB HDD, running Snow Leopard 10.6.4
If there is, in fact a problem with the drive, take it back to where you bought it, or call the manufacturer. If you still have proof of that purchase, they may repair it for free, especially since it's (assuming) relatively a new purchase. May take a little time as far as sending it out, getting it sent back - but I'm sure it beats spending another $100 on another drive.
 

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