I'm running OS X 10.4.7, got 1.2GB ram and use an ibook G4 power PC.
My external hard drive was working fine today and then it gave me an error message. So I restarted my computer and it didn't show up in the finder. I ran disk utility and it shows up there but the "repair/verify disk permissions" buttons aren't pressable but the two buttons on the right the "repair/verify disk" are and I used both of those several times. It came back green w/ "No repair neccery".
I repair disk permissions on the main HD just to see and still nothing. I was using it on USB, then I switched to firewire (wasn't the cables), I connected it to two PC's and they reckonized that a "Lacie" drive was connected but still didn't show up under "My Computer". I might have done some other stuff to try and help but I can't think right now...I've been trying to figure out all day...
I need help..
Sounds like the partition table on the drive is hosed. I'd recommend you try running a copy of Disk Warrior on the drive, it may be able to fix it enough so your data can be accessed. Regardless, you'll want to fully reformat the drive before using it regularly again.