USB Buffalo500G is no longer compatible with my mbpr

can anyone tell me why my Buffalo500G is no longer compatible? l made it compatible with mac by reformatting to FAT32 all fine for 4months when l wanted to use. l hardly used it, like only used it few times to back up about 4 months ago when l made it compatible with my mbpr. its strange it is not recognised in the left usb socket so l plugged it in the right USB socket, where it is recognised but a small window appears and says: "OS X can't repair the disk "Buffalo500G" you can still open or copy files on the disk, but can't save changes to files on the disk. Back up the disk and reformat it as soon as you can"
is this occurence typical for USB HDs made for pcs and reformatted to FAT32 for mac?

thanks

1. Not sure what "made it compatible with my mpbr" means. Did you format it? If so, what format is it in now?

2. That error message is often seen with hard drives that are failing/failed.

This error message is OFTEN seen when people have a habit of unplugging the drive without properly ejecting it first. It means the directory is corrupted.

thanks for replies,
chas_m, l think you're right, l have unplugged it a few times without properly ejecting it. but done many times with other drives with no problem. would Paragon's NTFS for Mac make a difference in the drives stability if improperly ejected?
MacInWin, l believe it is formatted FAT32 to make compatible. have to go through this again? do this or pay for Paragon's NTFS for Mac?

ParagonNTFS is only a driver to allow OSX to WRITE to NTFS drives. Natively, OSX can read, but not write to NTFS format. So if the drive is FAT31, you don't need ParagonNTFS and it won't help. OSX can read/write FAT32, but it looks like your drive has become set to read only or the directory is corrupted, or worse.

If you have access to a Windows machine, you can try plugging it in there and doing the Windows maintenance on the drive from there. It may fix the directory, if that is the problem.

Oh, oh I know what that error message is!!!! I have been reformed and seen the light now. I do not unplug an external drive with out ejecting the drive first. I had one that failed, had to attach it to a Windows computer, move files off, reattach it to my mac, reformat it - I used extFAT - and moved my files back.

Tried Windows maintenance first but it did not work on the drive. It had to be reformatted.

But I NEVER unplug without ejecting first - anymore. But, being a bit hard headed and more than a little forgetful, I had to learn first. Oh, I got away with it several times but it only had to happen one time to scare me in to reforming.

I had a problem with my external hard drive due to not unmounting it properly. Read somewhere to put the disk on Windows and eject in there then try again with the Mac. Goodness knows why, but it worked. I always make sure I eject it properly now.

thanks for replies, hmm, the usb buffalo hd, no longer shows in my finder window , it use to if plugged in, and it would have it's blue light constantly on, but now it's shade dimmer and flashes slowly.do l have to wipe all out and start again? how do l?

If you unmount without moving the icon to Trash or right click Eject, sooner or later it will die. Same as Windows.

When connected does it appear in Disk Utility? Bad news if not alas.

Applet said:

tchas_m, l think you're right, l have unplugged it a few times without properly ejecting it. but done many times with other drives with no problem.

Click to expand...

As with getting someone pregnant -- you can try a hundred times, but it only takes once.

here's the thing: if you pull a USB drive without properly ejecting it and it wasn't doing ANYTHING at that moment, it's probably fine.

But if it was writing to the directory or doing ANYTHING else that involved writing, you destroyed the directory structure when you pulled it out without ejecting, and short of a reformat the drive is now useless.

THIS is why we say to ALWAYS safely eject the device (on Windows or Mac) before physically removing it.

Post #2, bullet #2. If it isn't in Finder, won't mount and Disk Utility can't see it, it's died.

MacInWin said:

1. Not sure what "made it compatible with my mpbr" means. Did you format it? If so, what format is it in now?

2. That error message is often seen with hard drives that are failing/failed.

Click to expand...

chas_m said:

This error message is OFTEN seen when people have a habit of unplugging the drive without properly ejecting it first. It means the directory is corrupted.

Click to expand...

MacInWin said:

Post #2, bullet #2. If it isn't in Finder, won't mount and Disk Utility can't see it, it's died.

Click to expand...

oh dear, l went into disk utility l can't find it there either. it lights up as normal when plugged in, just doesnt show in computer. can unmouting the usb drive destroy the drive so no longer useable?? l bought it in December 2011, l remember reading it has a 10yr warranty or something like that, so could put in a claim right?

If DU can't see it, it isn't good. Do you have another machine you can use it with to eliminate the possibility that your USB port died?

As for the warranty, you can try, but it HAS been three years...

MacInWin said:

If DU can't see it, it isn't good. Do you have another machine you can use it with to eliminate the possibility that your USB port died?

As for the warranty, you can try, but it HAS been three years...

Click to expand...

l contacted buffalo and have warranty for about a month more, will take it up for repair.
btw it must be dead, other usb hardrives show up in finder and disk utility

thanks anyway for clarification all

And yes, improper unmounting can kill thumb drives even more effectively than washing machines.