Disk utility can't repair time machine disk - File system check exit code is 8

i have a WD My Passport 2Tb external hard drive that is split in to 2 volumes (1.5 & .5 TB). I use the smaller volume as my Time Machine disk. A couple of days ago I started getting an error that the Time Machine back up had failed and to use Disk Utility to repair the disk. So I launched DU and ran Verify Disk in the Time Machine volume. It quit verifying and told me to run Repair Disk EXCEPT the Repair Disk button was still greyed out.  If I select the physical drive, Repair Disk becomes available but gives me the above error. The other (larger) volume continues to work just fine.
The he Time Machine volume is read only now.
I'm running Yosemite 10.10.1.
Hoping ting someone has a fix because I would prefer not to lose a years worth of Time Machine data.
Mahalo for for any help.
Steve Hudson

i'm afraid that the disk is too corrupt to repair. This could be because the drive is failing or you will need to erase the partition (which may not succeed unless you also repartition the drive.) If you must repartition the drive then you will lose data on both partitions. This is an important reason why you should not mix storage and backup on the same drive.
You will need to erase your Time Machine volume to see if that fixes the problem. You will lose all the backup data unless you get another external drive to which you can clone the backup volume before erasing it.

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