HT201250 Data recovery from WD Elements Hard drive after Time Machine formatted it

I plugged my brother in laws WD Elements hard drive into my MacBook Pro. It asked me if I wished to use this drive as my time machine back up to which I answered no. I was going to copy and paste some movies onto his drive. I not sure how it occurred but Time Machine has now "partitioned or formatted " the drive and erased all data that was on it. The drive appears empty on my MacBook and is now unrecognisable on his PC computer. The drive had some important documents and I am praying that I somehow can recover them. Does anyone have Amy suggestions as to where to start ?? Please help !!!

It probably got reformated to a Mac specification which is why the PC can't recognise it. I am not sure if any of the mac recovery programs would work but maybe someone else can advise you. One of the professional recovery businesses could help but are very expensive.

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WD Elements hard drive after time machine formatted

I plugged my brother in laws WD Elements hard drive into my MacBook Pro. It asked me if I wished to use this drive as my time machine back up to which I answered no. I was going to copy and paste some movies onto his drive. I not sure how it occurred but Time Machine has now "partitioned or formatted " the drive and erased all data that was on it. The drive appears empty on my MacBook and is now unrecognisable on his PC computer. The drive had some important documents and I am praying that I somehow can recover them. Does anyone have Amy suggestions as to where to start ?? Please help !!! i realise that he should have backed up to more than one location but that doesn't help me !!

It probably got reformated to a Mac specification which is why the PC can't recognise it. I am not sure if any of the mac recovery programs would work but maybe someone else can advise you. One of the professional recovery businesses could help but are very expensive.

Reformatting Hard Drive after Time Machine

How do I reformat my OneTouch mini 4 hard drive after I've decided to stop using Time Machine with it? The problem I run into is I need to be able to go in between my MacBook and my PC. I saw FAT has a limit of 32GB, this won't work for me.
Did I do irreparable damage by using it with Time Machine?
Thanks.

Actually FAT32 can support more than 32GB - this is just a limitation set by Microsoft on its own format utility to move people to NTFS. There are lots of third party programs for Windows that will format a large drive for FAT32. I use Partition Magic. On the Mac side, I'm not sure - I've formatted flash drives for FAT but since I almost never have the need to share an external drive between Windows and the Mac, I just don't recall if I've tried formatting a drive larger than 32GB and I don't know if Disk Utility can do it. A quick search didn't turn up a definitive answer but it looks like it can.
But you can give it a try. Open up Disk Utility, select the drive and then select Partition. You'll see partition scheme - click on 'Current' and select 1 Partition. Then below the box you'll see an Options button. Click on it and select Master Boot Record and click on Okay. Now to the right near the top you'll see Volume information. Give the drive a name and in the popup menu, select MS-DOS. If Disk Utility won't format a partition in DOS larger than 32GB you'll get an error message.

Data recovery from serially installed hard drives

Like many other users on these boards, by X205 is refusing to boot.
My question: How can I recover the data on my hard drives, since there are two of them?
I ran a search to find all of the files I wanted (*.jpg in this case), and the search came back with hundreds of files (photos) that I am trying to recover....but it won't let me open them up.
I'm guessing since the drives are installed in series in this machine, somehow I need to find a way to read them both to access these files?
Any help is appreciated!

> {quote:title=rok_hunter wrote:}{quote}
> Like many other users on these boards, by X205 is refusing to boot.
>
> My question: How can I [recover the data on my hard drives , since there are two of them?
>
> I ran a search to find all of the files I wanted (*.jpg in this case), and the search came back with hundreds of files (photos) that I am trying to recover....but it won't let me open them up.
> I'm guessing since the drives are installed in series in this machine, somehow I need to find a way to read them both to access these files?
>
> Any help is appreciated!
You might be able to hook it up externally and run some data recovery software on the drive...
That being said, you'd need probably need to buy the software, since this type of recovery is a little more advanced and will need to rebuild the control table/data.

HT201250 Can I share an external hard drive for Time Machine with my PC?

I am using a PC with an external hard drive. I have a new MacBook and would like to back up the files on the external hard drive as well. Time Machine set-up notified me that if I continued my external hard drive would be wiped clean. Is there a way to save the files from my PC and add Time Machine?

Use the DIsk Utility in the /Applications/Utilities/ folder to repartition the drive. The new partition needs to be formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
If you want to back up the contents of that drive and not use that drive for holding backups, you need to use another backup method, such as drag-copying files or cloning.
(85248)

How to reformat an external hard drive after time machine?

I have an external hard drive upon which I put movie files that I view through a Sony box (like the Roku box). I brought my MacBook in for a repair and connected the same external HD and used Time Machine to make a back up. It did reformat it in order to do so, but since the Sony box isn't a pc or mac I didn't think it would make a difference, but now the Sony box won't recognize HD. Is there a way to reformat it on my MacBook so that I can use it on the Sony box again, or do I need to reformat it with a Windows computer? I had no issues when transferring files only and using the Sony box.
If you give any instructions, please write them out specifically, don't just post "you have to partition it" and leave it at that. I am computer challenged when it comes to these things. Think instructions for a person one step above being vaguely aquainted with a Mac please. Thanks.

You can find a decent guide to formatting your drive here.

None of my purchased applications on hard drive after time machine restore

Hi,
My hard disk wiped out. I restored from my last backup using time machine, but now, all the applications I added to the basic package (eg handbrake, sibelius, MS office etc) have disappeared. I search and can't find them anywhere. When I look back at my previous time machine backups, I can't see an applications folder at all.
Anyone got any ideas?- Have I messed this one up? Many thanks in advance.

Did you exclude the Applications folder from backup in Time Machine's preferences? If so, it was never backed up.

How can i recover my data from an old hard drive after replacing it?

How can I recover my data from an old hard drive after replacing it?

Internal or external hard drive? Was the drive still working before you replaced it?

Can't restore my data from hard drive with time machine

So basically I recently backed up my things on an external 1TB Seagate hard drive via Time Machine on my Mac. I then restored my Mac to its factory settings. However when I plugged in my hard drive it didn't show up in my finder. I opened Disk Utility and it shows up there but when I tried to restore my data it wasn't able to find it. This is so weird and I'm so scared can someone please help me

vanessayu wrote:
And another thing, my mac is randomly turning off and then displaying a gray screen saying your mac shut down because of a problem. does this have someting to do with the disk
Sounds like the TimeMachine drive is defective.
Uplug it and reboot and see if your problems go away.
If your TimeMachine is broken it might be possible to do data recovery on it, you can take it to a local PC/Mac tech and they will image it so the files are accessible, then you can pick through the mess as long as it wasn't encrypted or Filevaulted.
TimeMachine uses a lot of placeholder files, basically the same name but minus the content of the files for each saved state.
It's a lot of work going through all the folders to find your original files but as long as the drive works the files should be able to be recovered.
Sorry about your problems, TimeMachine hasn't quite lived up to it's expectations and I try to warn everyone NOT to completely trust it.

HT201250 If time machine puts all of my photos onto my external hard drive using time machine, can I then delete the photos from my computer put view them again from the external hard drive? Basically, can I free up space on my mac but not lose years of p

If time machine puts all of my photos onto my external hard drive using time machine, can I then delete the photos from my computer but view them again from the external hard drive? Basically, can I free up space on my mac but not lose years of photos?

To add to Niel's comment bear in mind that if you have a backup copy on an external HD and later delete the orignals on your Mac HD you will then only have one copy - so no backup.
If the pictures are precious you should have at least two copies, and ideally another copy kept off site,

I back up with an external hard drive using time machine. I am trying to reload my iphoto library from an earlier date then it will let me. How do I get to an earlier date in time machine?

I back up with an external hard drive using time machine. I am trying to reload my iphoto library but it won't let me get back to a date that I need to. How do I do this?

Try Pondini's articles;
http://pondini.org/TM/15.html - scroll down to the pink box for iPhoto restoation.
Also http://pondini.org/TM/15A.html to clarify how to use the timeline.

Unable to back up external hard drive via Time Machine. Says no room but has back ups from two previous Mac notebooks on it. Tried deleting them and now can't do anything. Any ideas?

Unable to back up external hard drive via Time Machine. Says no room but has back ups from two previous Mac notebooks on it. Tried deleting them and now can't do anything. Any ideas?

As john noted, eventually that external is probably not going to be big enough, but it certainly is for now. The HD just needs enough capacity to cover the amount of data on your internal HD, not the internal HD's total capacity.
Format/partition the external as follows and you should be set to go:
1. Connect the external HD to the MBP.
2. Open Disk Utility on the MBP.
3. Select the external HD in the left pane.
4. Click on the Erase tab.
5. Choose the Format: Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
NOTE: if you want to zero the HD (which I always think is a good idea, but does take time), click on Security Options, click the button for Zero Out Data, click OK. The larger the HD, the longer this will take, in some cases several hours.
6. Click on Erase and wait for the entire process to finish.
7. Click the Partition tab.
8. Click on Volume Scheme: and choose the number of partitions (just one in this situation).
9. Click on the Options button (located underneath the Volume Scheme pane) and select GUID.
10. Click Apply.
11. Quit Disk Utility.
Backup your internal to the external. What application are you using to backup with? I highly recommend both SuperDuper! and CarbonCopyCloner.

Trouble restoring my playlists to iTunes from either my external hard drive or time machine

Hi,
I've been trying to restore my playlists to iTunes from either my external hard drive or time machine, but have had no success so far. I seem only to have .itl files in both places. When I restore iTunes to a previous date, none of the playlists reappear. Same when I try to restore from my back up (though I'm not positive I am doing this proper.y)
I've tried restoring and then importing the itl files to itunes, but I keep getting a message saying 'The file “iTunes Library.itl” cannot be imported because it does not appear to be a valid exported file.' This message appears when importing from my time machine and my hard drive.
I am desperate to get my playlists back as many, many hours of love have gone into them. Please help! Thanks!

Correction, I can't locate any .itl files in my external hard drive...

How do I access my encrypted User Account files from my Back Up hard drive? Time Machine was used to create the back up disk; File Vault was used to encrypt the files.

How do I access my encrypted User Account files from my Back Up hard drive? Time Machine was used to create the back up disk; File Vault was used to encrypt the files.

Thanks. I will try going through TM. Since my Simpletech is on the way out, I'll be plugging in a new external hard drive (other than the back-up drive) and trying to restore the library to the new drive. Any advice or warning if this is NOT the right thing to do?
Meanwhile, that is a great tip to do an alternate back-up using a different means. It's been tough to figure out how to "preserve access" to digital images and files for posterity, knowing the hardware will always fail/obsolesce sooner or later, and that "clouds" are only as good as their consistent and reliable accessibility. Upping the odds with redundancy will help dull the edge of my "access anxiety", though logically, it can never relieve it. Will look into
Carbon Copy Cloner.

Time Machine will not let me restore from backups after June, 2013. I can see the files on the external hard drive but Time Machine skips all of them and goes back to June, 2013. Does anyone have any idea what the problem is?

Time Machine will not let me restore from backups after June, 2013. I can see the files on the external hard drive but Time Machine skips all of them and goes back to June, 2013. Does anyone have any idea what the problem is?

rtilghman wrote:
telling me to buy a new router is NOT a solution.
And why not? Apple is selling these things like BigMacs. They can't make enough of them. You've been suffering since May because you refuse to get a decent router.
Can you imagine if a company that makes a refrigerator told me that I needed to upgrade my electrical system to rectify a problem with their device? What kind of response IS that?!?!
What if the problem with their device is that it requires a new-fangled "grounded" outlet and your circa 1890 house doesn't have grounded outlets. Would you refuse to purchase a $ 25 adapter on principle?

HT201250 Data recovery from WD Elements Hard drive after Time Machine formatted it

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