Seagate Flex drive/OSX issue? Please help!

I just had my Macbook Pro reformatted by the guys at the Apple store. I did as I was instructed and did a Time Machine back up with my usual external hard drive before leaving it with them for the Macbook reformatting. I picked up my like-new Macbook today and when I attempted to plug in my external hard drive containing my Time Machine back up, the external hard drive isn't being read as usual: the external hard drive does not appear in my Finder nor does not show up when I click on Time Machine>Browse Other Time Machine Disks. It does, however, show up in Disk Utility.

Here is the information I'm given about it in Disk Utility:

Disk Description : Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Media
Total Capacity : 500.11 GB (500,107,861,504 Bytes)
Connection Bus : USB
Write Status : Read/Write
Connection Type : External
S.M.A.R.T. Status : Not Supported
USB Serial Number : NA0275MQ
Partition Map Scheme : GUID Partition Table

The external drive itself is spinning (I can feel it). The lights are on. It seems to be functioning normally (not a hardware issue, I guess?). Though, when I attempt to "eject" the external hard drive via Disk Utility, I am given this prompt: "Eject failed. 'Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Media' could not be unmounted. Make sure that all applications and files are closed on this disk." (Obviously nothing else is utilizing the external hard drive...or else I wouldn't be here in this forum.)

I should also note that "Verify Disk Permissions" and "Repair Disk Permissions" are both unavailable as options in Disk Utility. Not sure why.

From what I've looked into about SMART status, "Not Supported" is normal---USB ports do not support SMART status updates. So nothing unusual there.

As for "GUID Partition Table", thoughts? I'm unsure of what this means. Does it suggest an incompatibility with my external hard drive and OSX? The external drive *USED* to work fine with this laptop running OSX before yesterday's reformatting of my Macbook. Is it possible I lost a Seagate driver during the Macbook reformatting? I can't even remembering what the install of this external hard drive *was* two years ago---if there even really was one. It seems like I recall it just being a plug and go situation. If it is a driver issue, any instructions on how to install what I would now need?

I am really anxious about this. The Seagate has 3 years worth of important things on it. I made a Genius Bar appointment for the morning but would sleep much better if any of you could offer some guidance.

Thanks.

GUID is the Partition Type Intel Macs need to boot from the drive. That is fine.

Do you know how you formatted the drive? Since it's GUID I am betting it's Apple format. Is the same version of OSX installed that was on it before Apple redid it? Since it worked before the Format, unless the drive failed, it should work.

Was the Mac upgraded from say Snow Leopard to Lion or Mountain Lion? I have heard of some issues with Some GoFlex drives and Lion machines.

reply to dtravis7

dtravis7 said:

GUID is the Partition Type Intel Macs need to boot from the drive. That is fine.

Do you know how you formatted the drive? Since it's GUID I am betting it's Apple format. Is the same version of OSX installed that was on it before Apple redid it? Since it worked before the Format, unless the drive failed, it should work.

Was the Mac upgraded from say Snow Leopard to Lion or Mountain Lion? I have heard of some issues with Some GoFlex drives and Lion machines.

Click to expand...

The external hard drive has always been Mac. And they re-installed the same version of OSX that I had before (10.6.8).

For what it's worth, under About this Mac>Get Info>Hardware>USB>FreeAgent Go Flex it reads:

FreeAgent GoFlex:

Capacity: 500.11 GB (500,107,861,504 bytes)
Removable Media: Yes
Detachable Drive: Yes
BSD Name: disk1
Product ID: 0x5021
Vendor ID: 0x0bc2 (Seagate LLC)
Version: 1.48
Serial Number: NA0275MQ
Speed: Up to 480 Mb/sec
Manufacturer: Seagate
Location ID: 0x26200000 / 3
Current Available (mA): 500
Current Required (mA): 100
Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)
S.M.A.R.T. status: Not Supported
Volumes:
Capacity: 209.7 MB (209,715,200 bytes)
Writable: Yes
BSD Name: disk1s1
FreeAgent 500:
Capacity: 499.76 GB (499,763,888,128 bytes)
Writable: Yes
File System: Journaled HFS+
BSD Name: disk1s2


All this is normal, right?


If the drive has indeed failed, what would be the definite indicators/next steps?

Thanks for your help.