Disk Utility initialized wrong partition!

My external HDD has splitted into two partition:
- 1° partition name:TMBackupHD [HFS+] ~650GB
- 2° partition name:Bucket [ExFat] ~350GB
1° Partition was the default partition for TimeMachine (I've stored also other my data on the root, but this isn't the problem..), whilst the 2° partition was empty.
I've would like to initialize the partiton Bucket to HFS+ file system.
For this operation I've used Disk Utility.
I've selected the right partition (Bucket), DU said me “Are you sure to initialize partion Bucket?”, I've confirmed.
The process was fast, but the result was:
- 1° partition name:Bucket [HFS+] ~650GB --> EMPTY!!!
- 2° partition --> DISAPPEARED!!! (through third software like iPartition I can see the 2° partition but its name is Apple_HFS_Untitled_2 and it was hidden to the system)
The DU’s Log (~/Library/Logs/DiskUtility.log) reports (sorry for italian localization):
2012-11-05 20:10:16 +0100: Utility Disco avviata.
2012-11-05 20:10:51 +0100: Preparo l'inizializzazione : “Bucket”
2012-11-05 20:10:51 +0100:           Schema partizione: Mappa partizione Apple
2012-11-05 20:10:51 +0100:           1 volume sarà inizializzato
2012-11-05 20:10:51 +0100:                     Nome                    : “Bucket”
2012-11-05 20:10:51 +0100:                     Dimensioni                    : 349,23 GB
2012-11-05 20:10:51 +0100:                     File system          : Mac OS esteso (Journaled)
2012-11-05 20:10:51 +0100: Disattivo disco
2012-11-05 20:10:57 +0100: Inizializzo
2012-11-05 20:11:16 +0100: Initialized /dev/rdisk1s3 as a 605 GB HFS Plus volume with a 57344k journal
2012-11-05 20:11:16 +0100: Attivo disco
2012-11-05 20:11:17 +0100: Inizializzazione riuscita.
2012-11-05 20:11:17 +0100:
How was it possible?
Is there a way to recover my first partition?
I’ve heard speaking about DiskWarrior or Disk Drill, but I don’t know if these apps might help me.
Any suggestions?
Thanks, Matteo.

Sounds like there may have been a serious problem with your partition map. DiskWarrior may help, but also may not. Since the only data on that drive, if I'm understanding correctly, was a Time Machine backup, you probably ought to just repartition the drive and start the backup over again. (One comment, though... it's a bad idea to keep original data and backups on the same drive. You should really get another drive, one to use for data and the other to hold backups of both that drive and your MBP's internal drive.)

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Hi, Daniel.
You wrote: "Question: Will disk utility allow a partition, either on a firewire drive or network drive, to be the destination for a 'restore'? Or will it only recognise whole volumes? "Disk Utility will recognize a volume (partition) on a FireWire drive as the destination for a Restore.
Using the Restore function for backup is quite time-consuming as it has to backup everything every time you perform a backup. You will get much faster results by using a proper Backup and Recovery solution that supports incremental backups, i.e. backing up just the changes from the source to the destination (backup) so that the two are synchronized. For advice on the backup and recovery solution I employ, see my "Backup and Recovery" FAQ.
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Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X
Note: The information provided in the link(s) above is freely available. However, because I own The X Lab™, a commercial Web site to which some of these links point, the Apple Discussions Terms of Use require I include the following disclosure statement with this post:
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Last login: Thu Apr 10 18:03:08 on console
wr-130-64-184-253:~ betsyk$ diskutil list
/dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *320.1 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD            319.2 GB   disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3
wr-130-64-184-253:~ betsyk$ diskutil cs list
No CoreStorage logical volume groups found
wr-130-64-184-253:~ betsyk$ mount
/dev/disk0s2 on / (hfs, local, journaled)
devfs on /dev (devfs, local, nobrowse)
map -hosts on /net (autofs, nosuid, automounted, nobrowse)
map auto_home on /home (autofs, automounted, nobrowse)
wr-130-64-184-253:~ betsyk$ df -m /
Filesystem   1M-blocks   Used Available Capacity iused   ifree %iused Mounted on
/dev/disk0s2    304425 274476     29698    91% 70329971 7602931   90%   /
wr-130-64-184-253:~ betsykirtland$

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Hi everyone,
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I would appreciate your help-I have tried to find a topic with the same problem but could not.
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Extended Hard Drive Preparation
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Unfortunately West Digital external drives have a very poor track record with Macs. I would recommend replacing it with a higher quality drive, something like a OWC, Lacie, or G-Tech.
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Hello,
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Confirm that this is what you have been doing?
Selecting an Operating System During Startup
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11
12
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Disk Utility will not partition

Hello,
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Are any of these partitions for Windows?
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Kappy wrote:
There are no free utilities for defragmenting a drive. Only the cloning I described is free.
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*Remedies tried so far:*
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*This is a call for help.*
I have no problems playing with the command line as root, if that's the sort of suggestions you've got. I just thought I'd ask here before I fdisk/dd etc from new500 to old500. Geometry of the new500 is 60801/255/63.

Thanks! That sounds like a good short term solution for a backup.
EDIT: Cross reference link for anyone who happens to google this thread with a similar problem:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=7230072&tstart=0
Message was edited by: mr_lunch

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