How to recover after performing an 'Erase' and then 'Partition' within Disk Utility of an External USB drive?

Hi - I accidently ran an 'Erase' and then 'Partition' within Disk Utility of an External USB drive (meant to run it against another drive that was plugged in).  Does anyone have any suggestions on if it is possible to recover from this?  It has all my family photos on it and my backup is a few months old :-(
I tried running Stellar Phoenix Mac Data Recovery but it found what looks like basic mac folder structure (probably from the first erase).  I think what messed me up was that I rain the repartition which formats the drive a 2nd time!  Any help is truly appreciated!
thank you,
-Steve

Hello RalphR_MI,
Take a look at this page, which lists several articles.  Please let me know if any of these help you restore your backup.
Also, take a look at this article, as well as this one. 
I hope this helps.  I'm not sure of a few things, so I'm sorry for sending you so much, but I'm confident it will give you something new to try.
Please let me know if this helps.  Good luck!
↙-----------How do I give Kudos?| How do I mark a post as Solved? ----------------↓

Similar Messages

  • I had to erase my hard drive and then reinstall everything back from my passport external hard drive. Now my iPhoto edit is not working. I get a blank screen when I want to edit. The photos show up in the library but I cannot edit them. Help?

    I had to erase my hard drive and then reinstall everything back from my passport external hard drive. Now my iPhoto edit is not working. I get a blank screen when I want to edit. The photos show up in the library but I cannot edit them. Help?

    There are several possible causes for the Black Screen issue
    *1. Permissions in the Library* : Back Up and try rebuild the library: hold down the command and option (or alt) keys while launching iPhoto. Use the resulting dialogue to rebuild. Include the option to check and repair permissions.
    *2. Minor Database corruption*: Back Up and try rebuild the library: hold down the command and option (or alt) keys while launching iPhoto. Use the resulting dialogue to rebuild.
    *3. A Damaged Photo*: Select one of the affected photos in the iPhoto Window and right click on it. From the resulting menu select 'Show File (or 'Show Original File' if that's available). Will the file open in Preview? If not then the file is damaged. Time to restore from your back up.
    *4. A corrupted iPhoto Cache*: Trash the com.apple.iPhoto folder from HD/Users/Your Name/Library/ Caches...
    *5. A corrupted preference file*: Trash the com.apple.iPhoto.plist file from the HD/Users/ Your Name / library / preferences folder. (Remember you'll need to reset your User options afterwards. These include minor settings like the window colour and so on. Note: If you've moved your library you'll need to point iPhoto at it again.)
    If none of these help:
    As a Test:
    Hold down the option (or alt) key key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Create Library'
    Import a few pics into this new, blank library. Is the Problem repeated there?
    Regards
    TD

  • I erased my windows partition using disk utility then realized I should have used boot camp, because now I can't resize the original partition and seem to be stuck with a ghost unusable space. Boot Camp now doesn't give me the option to install or re

    I erased my windows partition using disk utility then realized I should have used boot camp, because now I can't resize the original partition and seem to be stuck with a ghost unusable space. Boot Camp now doesn't give me the option to install or remove windows partition.

    Hi, Ralph,
    The problem is that I did erase the partition, using disk utility, but I can't go back to my original disk size pre-partition, as disk utility won't let me do it and gives the message "Couldn’t modify partition map because file system verification failed." When I try to use Boot Camp Assistant it won't let me select the third option to remove windows.

  • Hey, can i clone my Macbook Pro internal hard drive and then paste it all onto a formated external hard drive, then make the Mac use the external as the primary hard drive?

    hey, can i clone my Macbook Pro internal hard drive and then paste it all onto a formated external hard drive, then make the Mac use the external as the primary hard drive? please help for i only have around 618mb left out of 189GB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    If what doesn't work?
    If cloning your internal drive to the external drive is not successful, I expect CCC will tell you so. Assuming that doesn't happen, you will have a bootable replica of the internal drive on the external drive once CCC has finished.
    You can then do any of several things:
    1. Replace your internal drive with a much larger one (320GB or 500GB, or even larger), and clone the external drive's contents onto the new drive so you'll have all your data in one place. Note that if you do this, you'll also need to buy an external drive that's large enough to back the new internal drive up on.
    2. Boot from the external drive as a temporary measure while you clear at least 30-40GB of data off the internal drive, allowing you to keep using it and saving small amounts of data to it. The external drive will then contain the only copies of the files you've deleted from the internal drive, so you'll need a seond external drive large enough to back both the other drives up on.
    If you can't comfortably clear a minimum of 30GB off the internal drive, you really need a larger internal drive right now, and you shouldn't bother fooling around with the inadequate one you have — you'll just quickly overfill it again.
    3. Replace the optical drive in your MBP with a large conventional hard drive, giving you two hard drives inside the machine. You will then need one or more external drives large enough to back up both of the internal drives.
    If you sense a theme here — back up, back up, back up — you are correct. It's flat-out foolhardy to own or use a computer without maintaining complete, up-to-date backups of everything at all times.

  • Authorizing songs in iTunes after performing an erase and install

    Hi
    This one should be a simple one for someone to solve.
    I'm running Panther 10.3.9 - I've had to perform a 'erase and install', and now all the tunes I'ved purchased from iTunes are not authorised to play.
    I understand this is because my iTunes account thinks my reformatted machine is 'new' but how can I get around this as I dont want to add another 'authorized machine' to my list on my iTunes account.
    Anyone got any ideas?!
    Jenny

    If you have authorized five machines(the maximum) to play purchased music, you will be given the chance to deauthorize all the computers from your Account Information screen; otherwise, use this form to send a message to the people who can deauthorize your old system.
    (11524)

  • When I go to disc utility, repair disc is not functioning, neither is the verify disc. There is a statement that says,"start up from the mac OS X intallation disc and then choose utilities Disk utility. However there is no option for that

    Verify disc and repair disc are not working.  They give me the option to install the "installation disc" click on utilities>Disk utility from there.  When I try this, there is no option to do this that I can find.  Can anyone help me to do this?

    You can't run Repair Disk from the Utilities folder. With 10.4, 10.5 or 10.6 put your install DVD into the optical drive (CD/DVD drive) and reboot. Be sure to either use the disc that came with your Mac, or, if you installed a later Mac OS X version from disc, use the newer disc. As soon as you hear the boot chime, hold down the "c" key on your keyboard (or the Option Key until the Install Disk shows up) until the apple shows up. That will force your MacBook to boot from the install DVD in the optical drive.
    Or if you are running 10.7 Lion or 10.8 Mountain Lion, boot from the recovery partition (Command +R on boot) and use Disk Utility to repair your OS 10.7 or 10.8 partition.
    When it does start up, you'll see a panel asking you to choose your language. Choose your language and press the Return key on your keyboard once. It will then present you with an Installation window. Completely ignore this window and click on Utilities in the top menu and scroll down to Disk Utility and click it. When it comes up is your Hard Drive in the list on the left?
    If it is, then click on the Mac OS partition of your hard drive in the left hand list. Then select the First Aid Tab and run Repair Disk. The Repair Disk button won't be available until you've clicked on the Mac OS partition on your hard drive. If that repairs any problems run it again until the green OK appears and then run Repair Permissions. After repairing use Startup Disk from the same menu to choose your hard drive for restarting from your hard drive.

  • How do I put all my music and pictures from my macbook air to an external hard drive ?

    My macbook air is already full - I transfered everything from my desktop as soon as I got home with my new laptop.  As it is already full, I would like to put all my pictures and all my music on a external hard drive.  I am unsure how to do that.  I've 'slide' the file to the external hard drive, but now, my computer is bizarre.  If I'm in iphoto, I can see photos, but they then dissapear, etc.  It's just bizarre and I feel this is not normal.

    To transfer your music to an external drive see this knowledgebase article from Apple. For iPhoto, see this article. This is doable but the downsides are (1) you can only use iTunes or iPhoto when you are connected to your external drive. If you forget and launch the program without the drive connected you'll see nothing. Even worse, if you aren't careful (2) you might forget and download photos or music while the external drive isn't connected and then you have a mess.

  • I had a windows laptop, and I save files like photos, documents, videos and other things on an external hard drive, and now I want to move those files to the Mac book Pro, and then move those files again to another external hard drive 1T. My question is:

    I had a windows laptop, and I save files like photos,documents, videos and other things on an external hard drive, and now I want tomove those files to the Mac book Pro, and then move those files again toanother external hard drive 1T. My question is: Is it possible? Doing this willnot affect the files that I had in windows? No information is lost? or how cani do it?

    Connect the external drive to your Mac and drag the files from it to your Mac's internal drive. Then dismount and disconnect the external drive, connect the 1TB external drive, and drag the files from the internal drive onto the external. Nothing will have been deleted from any of the drives up to this point; the files will only have been copied. Verify that the files are readable. There's no reason they shouldn't be; this is just a precaution.
    Now if you wish to delete the files from any of the drives, drag them to the Trash, and Empty the Trash while the drive from which they came is still connected. If you disconnect the drive before emptying the Trash, the files you were trying to remove from it won't be deleted. They'll remain in the Trash and continue to take up space on the drive.
    Note that if your external drives are in NTFS format, you won't be able to write anything to them or delete anything from them, though you will be able to read and copy the files they contain. The NTFS disk format is read-only to the Mac OS, unless you have a third-party NTFS driver installed. To make your drives cross-platform readable and writable, you must reformat them in the FAT32 or ExFAT format.

  • Difference between using bootcamp and building partitions with disk utility

    hy everybody,
    i successfully bought a mac (that was easy , installed windows 7 with bootcamp (quite easy) and now i 'd like to add linux also (considering ubuntu).
    before i try to do it with bootcamp i'd like to know what the impact could be...
    so i wonder; what does boot camp do and why shouldn't i do it manually with disk utility?
    all inputs are welcome
    cheers

    Why not start by filling out hardware in your profile .sig as it makes a difference.

  • HT3275 My time machine backup hangs up when partly completed. It seems to back up 7.4 MB out of 159.8 MB, and then keeps on turning but nothing seems to be happening. I tried troubleshooting it by doing a disk utility on the external hard drive used for T

    My Time Machine seems to be hanging up (stopping) beforew completion. I'm running Mountain Lion (OS X 10.8.2) on my iMac G5, and I already trouble-shot the external drive used for Time Machine by using Repair on Disk Utilities. So--what gives?

    IMac G5 with Mountain Lion.. amazing.. I am pretty sure support for early Intel stopped at ML and support for G5 long before that.
    Load the widget and see if you get error message that the TM is ejecting the drive.. before the backup is complete.. that is one of those nice.. features.. Apple has made available in recent updates.. sometimes called bugs.
    A1 in here http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
    Also look at the other info.. C12 C17 are common issues.

  • On Nov. 22, after having to erase and restore my Western Digital external hard drive (per WD tech support) then rebacking up the iMac, noted that three events put in iPhoto in Sept., Oct.

    On Nov. 22, after having to erase and restore my WD My Passport for Mac external hard drive (per WD tech support) then rebacking up the iMac, I noted that three events loaded into iPhoto in Sept., Oct. and early Nov. had disappeared. They certainly had been there because I printed out several images from these events.  Now they have vanished but everything through August and after Nov. 22 is there. Seems impossible. How  could something disappear from the hard drive? Apple tech was unable to explain or provide a solution. Has anyone else ever had something like this happen?

    How did you reformat the EHD? It should be OS X Extended (journaled) with ownership set to be ignored.
    If the drive is formatted correctly do the following:
    1 - launch iPhoto with the Command+Option keys held down to open the First Aid window. Be sure to follow the circled recommendation in the screenshot.
    2 - run Option #4, Rebuild Database.

  • Single-user mode: How to mount and access an external USB drive?

    My MacBook Pro HD is acting up. Cannot boot normally or into "safe mode". Cannot reinstall OS without wiping out the HD. Need to recover some critical files but DiskUtil First Aid and Restore options cannot successfully complete. Problem traced down to "invalid node structure" which means I either have a hardware problem or my filesystem partition directory structure is corrupted. I need to recover some files that are not backed up (timin issue with my regular backup process).
    I can boot into single-user mode, mount the root file system (/sbin/mount -uw /) and can see/navigate the rot filesystem structure via good UNIX command line. Here's what I would like to do (in single-user mode):
    1. Mount an external USB drive (250 GB already formatted as Mac OS X Extended)
    2. Copy various files and/or directories from my HD to the external USB drive (UNIX cp command)
    I realize I could go spend $$ for the Disk Warrior or Data Rescue products (or something similar) that SHOULD help me recover my HD or files, but it seems silly to do this when I can see, touch and taste them from within single-user mode....
    Comments? Suggestions?
    TIA --
    Trent
    P.S. Once I've recovered my files, I'll try to reformat the HD and then reinstall the OS. And THEN go have Apple look at my machine (thank goodness for AppleCare coverage)!

    Resolution:
    1) Boot system in single-user mode (SUM) with external HD attached.
    2) Execute the following UNIX CLI commands once SUM boot process is completed:
    # fsck -fy
    # mount -uw /
    # mkdir /Volumes/target_directory
    # mount -t hfs -w /dev/diskXXX /Volumes/target_directory
    # cp -RXv /source_directory /Volumes/target_directory
    Where XXX is the device-level name for your external HD's data partition. In my case this was /dev/disk1s2. It may take some experimentation to identify this device name if your system has multiple HD's.
    3) Verify contents were successfully copied onto the /Volumes/target_directory.
    Comments and observations:
    - Do NOT use "/" as your source directory - cp will make a second (redundant) copy of /volumes/target_directory
    - I was able to successfully copy ALL files off my HD despite the fsck command's "invalid node structure" error message with this simple procedure. YMMV, depending on the state of your HD.
    - The repeated disk0s2: I/O error warnings displayed during the SUM boot process did not seem to have a negative effect on this procedure. I also received this same error warning intermittently as I navigated the mounted filesystem did not seem to be a problem, either. Again, YMMV.
    Commercial software:
    I downloaded ProSoft Engineering's Data Rescue 3 product (trial version) before spending $99 to attempt to recover my "bad" HD's data via mounting to a good system with FW target mode. It could not successfully complete its "QuickScan" process and immediately hung on block 0 of 390M during its "Deep Scan" process. The product did seem to function properly on an operational system. ProSoft's technical support was responsive and helpful but had no answer for my "Deep Scan" error.
    I did not attempt to use Alsoft's Disk Warrior 4 product. I could not find any trial software available and was reluctant to spend $100 based upon the mixed reviews and comments on this discussion forum as well as other reviews. Alsoft does claim to address the "invalid node structure" error in their marketing materials. Hindsight being 20/20 - I saved $100 by using this simple procedure.
    Final note:
    Neither Leopard nor Snow Leopard's installation DVD could recognize the bad internal HD when trying to do a reinstall. While DiskUtil was able to "see" the bad internal drive it immediately failed when I tried to do an "erase and format". Took the system to my local Apple store and the Genius ran a tool called "SMART Utility" from Volitans Software (www.volitans-software.com). SMART utility confirmed that my HD was bad so it was replaced. AppleCare pays for itself (once again!).

  • HT204081 I recently updated i tunes and had previously relocated my library to an external hard drive, on restart I realized that itunes did not update the new location on the external but created a new itunes folder on my regular hard drive. how do I com

    I need to know how to fix this. I updated itunes and it created a new itunes folder on my hard drive after I ported all of it to an external for space concerns. It took all my files from that folder and recreated part of it to my hard drive. Now when backing up I have no idea where it is backing up to. Any help appreciated

    Sort of. My media was on multiple hard drives, some local, and actually some networked, and then I conolidated it to a single external hard drive. Renaming drives and moving files sounds like a recipe for disaster.
    When doing a consolidation, files are copied to a new location and the old ones are left untouched. Does iTunes create a backup database of the file locations before doing a consolidation? I could use the backup if that were the case, since everything still exists in the original locations.
    I've recieved my replacement hard drive for the one that crashed and I may be able to copy everything back manually if I knew where it went. I looked inside the iTunes Music Library.xml to see if I could figure out the folder structure, but for some reason they all say they're located in the iTunes folder in My Documents. They're not, of course.
    Would the Previous iTunes Library.itl be of any use, or is that for another purpose?

  • How do I change the Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled) Format of my Verbatim External Hard Drive

    Good evening.
    I have a Verbatim External Hard Drive, currently being used for my Time Machine back-up on my MacBook (Running Mac OS X Version 10.6.8).
    I also frequently use a normal Windows laptop (Normal 32-bit OS).
    The Hard Drive was formatted to Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled) in order for the MacBook to do the Time Machine back-up.
    How do I change the fromat of the Hard Drive, as i do not need the Time Machine back-up to be done on the Hard Drive anymore, and I NEED to use the external in both PC's.
    Your assistance will be greatly apreciated.

    Open Disk Utility, select the external hard drive, select erase, and format it as FAT32. You'll be able to use it with both Mac and Windows.

  • How to recover hp pre-installed games and office after system restore for HP Mini 210-4127se?

    how to recover hp pre-installed games and office after system restore for HP Mini 210-4127se?

    Hi,
    You can reinstall them from Recovery Manager by clicking on Start=> All Programs.
    If you have performed a complete HP Recovery using F11 then all the software should be there. If you have performed a minimized recovery then you can install applications from recovery manager...If none of these works then you'll need USB recovery..
    Here are the links that will guide you through the process:
    Using Recovery Manager to Restore Software and Drivers (Windows 7)
    Performing an HP System Recovery (Windows 7)
    Order USB Recovery
    Note:
    If you have HP Support Assistant installed on the computer(The Blue Question Mark) then open it ==> Complete all pending Updates & Tuneups==> Restart and Check. It may solve your problem
    Although I am an HP employee, I am speaking for myself and not for HP.
    **Click on “Kudos” Star if you think this reply helped** Or Mark it as "Solved" if issue got fixed.

Maybe you are looking for

  • Can't Print/Connect from Windows 7 to Shared PSC 1315 on XP Machine

    I have an HP PSC 1315 connected to a Windows XP (32 bit) machine.  This printer is shared.  I can access it from other XP machines on my home network.  I cannot access it from my Windows 7 (64 bit) machine.  I can see the printer is shared on the mac

  • 9.2.2 install cd not working. it's not the original.

    hello all, i'm forced to put my tangerine ibook back into service. the main problem was i had no OS 9 classic to run my OSX 10.0 . the original cd was broken by accident and i bought a replacement. it had 9.2.2 and AHT on it but would not run on the

  • Starting logminer from java

    I want to start logminer tool from java To start logminer tool the first step is alter system set utl_file_dir='C:\oracle\product\10.2.0\logminer_dir' scope=spfile; shutdown immediate startup I am working on eclipse The alter command is executed, but

  • Forms server on Different OS

    Hi I am using R12.1.2 Application with 10.2.0.4 database. configuration is like Node 1 : Database and CM node Node 2 : Web, application, forms. my existing configuration is is running on HP-Unix 11.11 version. I want to add one more form server which

  • Camera Calibration Quandary

    Somewhere I read that all sliders in the CC panel should be zeroed before any of the new profiles are applied. All fine and dandy if applying the new profile to a new file on import. But what happens to existing files, which might have had a previous