time machine disk failed

I have been using an Iomega !TB USB external hard drive as my time m/c disk. It has recently not worked, Finder no longer shows the drive, I added to a windows laptop and it can't see it either.

Disk Utility only seems to see my hard drive and another storage drive that is not the time m/c drive

When I try to 'enter timemachine' I see a message saying saying back up disk can't be found.

When I choose set up a disk I saw the symbol of the drive I was using with a subscript saying zero kb but wasn't able to choose it, only cancel or remove. So I chose to remove and now don't see it at all when repeating the earlier steps.

When I choose the option Other Time capsule and set up AirPort utility starts looking for devices on the internet.

Any suggestions?

rgds
Chilts

If I remember correctly, as far as Disk Utility is concerned a Time Machine drive is just another hard drive. Once you went to Time Machine setup and chose the remove option it no longer sees the drive as a Time Machine drive.

Try the following and see if this helps. It should not mess things up more than they are at the moment.

1. Launch Disk Utility and select the problem drive.
2. Let Disk Utility verify the drive and repair any problems.
3. Assuming any errors are successfully repaired go back to Time Machine and tell it to use the drive again.

BTW Choosing "Other Time Capsule" is what is causing the network activity looking for other devices. It's not looking for another Time Machine backup it is looking for a Time Capsule (piece of network hardware).

In addition to the advice by member Slydude.... according to your post it appears the iOmega 1 TB drive may have failed. If it's not being picked up by the Finder and your Windows machine can't see it either, it is indicative of a problem drive.

Go ahead and use Disk Utility as you were advised and let us know the results. I believe iOmega warrants their drives for 3 years so if it has failed and is still under warranty, iOmega will issue a RMA.

thanks for the replies.

I do think myself it's a disk issue.

Re Slydudes first post, disk utility couldn't see the disk even before I "removed" it in Time Machine.
As i mentioned my laptop doesn't read it nor does finder. I'll contact Iomega.

thanks