'the disk you inserted was not readable' External Hard drive problem

[bigboi]

I have a TOSHIBA 1TB External Hard Drive and have had it for about a year when all of a sudden I plugged the HD into my MacBook (I think I have Mavericks) it came up with 'the disk you inserted was not readable by this computer' the HD won't show up on the desktop. This has happened to my other Seagate HD before and to fix it i just reset it. But for this HD i have valuable files on it and do not wish too lose them. Is there any way I can get my HD working or my files back without having to download software or applications? thank you!

 

[Ciao]

are the files on your external hard drive in OS X?

 

[Oodama]

If the drive was configured by a windows pc the file system may be incompatible with mac os. I'm not familiar with mac os but I know that there are a few proprietary file systems to both sides.

 

[iNotorious]

If the drive was configured by a windows pc the file system may be incompatible with mac os. I'm not familiar with mac os but I know that there are a few proprietary file systems to both sides.

I believe if he wants to use the E-HDD from a windows format to mac format he had to format the whole HDD so it can be compatible. I could be wrong though.

 

[bigboi]

Hey fellas, also happened to my portable HD. I have only used the HD on Mac. Worked fine on Mac until one day it came up with 'the disk is not readable on this computer' and was not recognised. Also can't verify or repair disk on disk utility as the buttons are shaded.