External Hard Drive

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I have an external hard drive that has 2 forms of connection, USB2 and Firewire 800. It has worked flawlessly for about 1 year , now when connected to any Mac computer , desktop or laptop , with either connection , it does not register on the decktop . I have tried both USB2 and the firewire connections , restarts .... every form or combination. Any suggestions as the hard drive is my backup and and in many cases the only copy of much of my files. How to make the external drive readable ????
 
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Welcome to Mac-Forums workphoto

When you said "it has worked flawlessly for about 1 year" do you mean on your mac computer or on Windows based computers?
Also to see that the HDD is being noticed by your Mac, plug it in and open Disk Utility, located in Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility (or a quick spotlight search), and see if it appears in the left pane.

HTH,

- Simon
 
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The Ext-HD appears in the Disk Utility panel , but when asked to repair , it will not , with the messages. ..."the underlying task reported failure on exit".
So now what.....?
I don't use it on PC's ever , only on 3 macs I have., 2 laptops and a desktop.
 
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Odds are the drive has become corrupted and will need to be reformatted. Sadly, you can't get your stuff off in an easy way. That being said if you get something like this:

Amazon.com: Data Rescue 3: Software

...you can recover your stuff before you reformat. It's saved my butt more than once with corrupted drives.
 

chscag

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Did you notice one of those Amazon resellers has it for $69 + 3.99 shipping, new. Fantastic price. I'm tempted to buy it and keep it around for emergencies.
 

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