retrieving data from seagate unmounted hard drive for Mac

I have a seagate hard drive that I am trying to retrieve data from, and it is not being recognized by my mac.  When I go into disk utility I can see the Time Machine disk listed, but it's grayed out so I can't click on the device.  I've tried clicking on info to see how I had the hard drive formatted, which I'm sure was an EX-FAT, but it just churns and I nothing happens.  I've tried using a USB 3.- to IDE+SATA convert and my mac recognizes the converter, but AGAIN it does NOT recognized the seagate hard drive.  I obviously don't want to reformat this back up as I'm trying to access the data on the drive.  The drive has NOT been dropped or had any water damaged.  It's been either stored in a safe deposit box for security purposes or in a drawer (for the last 3 years).  Every once in awhile I pull it back out to see if my computer will recognize it.  I'm into my 2nd Mac computer now and this computer doesn't recognize it either.

• Leesburg, Virginia, United States

Created at: 9 months ago