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You have your "backup" on the same drive as primary data????!!!!...unbelievable! Whether you do something or the drive just fails, how did you THINK you would save information? Unplug it. Get a data recovery program. If that fails and the information is critical, there are oodles of data recovery companies that will charge you a bundle to get back recoverable information.

An expensive lesson learned: have a rational, workable backup plan BEFORE it's needed.


and this! ^^^

A backup on the same drive as the data is pointless. The good news is that you have it so restore it then go buy another drive to keep a real backup on.
 
Scanning disc for lost volumes in applexsoft file recovery ...fingers crossed!!!!
 
Why are you doing this if you have a backup on the other partition? :confused:
backup on other partition is a time machine file. it will be very hard to search for all files to put it together again....
 
backup on other partition is a time machine file. it will be very hard to search for all files to put it together again....

Not if it's a complete backup of the drive that was made with the computer you're trying to restore it on (I might have missed something).

This is what I've done in the past: Open Time Machine, click on the name of your computer in the finder sidebar (like zjazz's iMac or whatever), then click on your hard drive that you want restored. Choose a time point on the right side of the window, then click the restore button. (This only works assuming you had time machine backing up your entire external hard drive).
 
Not if it's a complete backup of the drive that was made with the computer your trying to restore it on (I might have missed something).

This is what I've done in the past: Open Time Machine, click on the name of your computer in the finder sidebar (like zjazz's iMac or whatever), then click on your hard drive that you want restored. Choose a time point on the right side of the window, then click the restore button. (This only works assuming you had time machine backing up your entire external hard drive).

thanks for your suggestion. but time machine was not backing up this 1tb partition. it was backing up only what is on my MBP. that's why i had another partition so I can move files there myself and delete from my mbp hd to free space, knowing it's in time machine anyway....
so if i won't be able to activate lost volume, i will have to format it, so it will be mountable again and move files from time machine one by one.....unless there is another way i don't know
 
thanks for your suggestion. but time machine was not backing up this 1tb partition. it was backing up only what is on my MBP. that's why i had another partition so I can move files there myself and delete from my mbp hd to free space, knowing it's in time machine anyway....
so if i won't be able to activate lost volume, i will have to format it, so it will be mountable again and move files from time machine one by one.....unless there is another way i don't know

Oh, I see what you mean. Yeah, that would be a pain and recovery software is definitely your best bet.
 
Let us know how it goes. Hope it works! Oh, and buy another 2tb drive and set up a full time machine backup on both external drives from now on.
 
Sure I will let you guys know....well, it's been hours already and applexsoft file recovery is not even half way yet....i guess it takes very long but i don't care how long, hopefully it will find and recover the partition.....
 
Sure I will let you guys know....well, it's been hours already and applexsoft file recovery is not even half way yet....i guess it takes very long but i don't care how long, hopefully it will find and recover the partition.....


It won't recover the partition. It will try to locate files on the drive and the names may be all messed up as well.
 
I've had something like this happen before. In my case a user formatted a drive full (FULL) of music, and then, as though on a rampage, FORMATTED THE BACKUP.

No, I don't understand how they did that.

It's very important you do not WRITE ANYTHING to that drive--all your files are still there, as the Apple software is tiny. It is very likely the app you are using, or Data Rescue 3, will find lots of things with very little corruption because the drive is large and the amount the Apple software wrote over is small.

BUT, be aware that doing anything, ANYTHING with that drive can cause writes, and every write is probably killing files left and right.

Also be aware that those utilities do work, but they are often pains--in my case I found everything that was mission critical, but the effort to catalog everything, extract it, make certain it isn't corrupted, put it back in a file hierarchy...it was a lot of work.
 
It won't recover the partition. It will try to locate files on the drive and the names may be all messed up as well.

do you know if partition will be available again? will i be able to format that partition after hopefully recovering files, so i can use it again?
 
It will be a lot of work to do it the way he is doing it. It would be easier to do the restore.
 
It will be a lot of work to do it the way he is doing it. It would be easier to do the restore.

you mean to restore from time machine? that's a possibility but partition is not available, it doesn't appear when connected....i can't see or mount it...thats the problem. i need to recoer data off it, and then format it so it will be mountable again, but dont know how to mount it so disc utility will see the partition
 
you mean to restore from time machine? that's a possibility but partition is not available, it doesn't appear when connected....i can't see or mount it...thats the problem. i need to recoer data off it, and then format it so it will be mountable again, but dont know how to mount it so disc utility will see the partition


So the entire drive was wiped? If it wasn't then you should be able to see the other partition when you plug it in. If not, then it sounds like you wiped the entire drive and your only resort is that software and it ain't going to be a picnic!
 
So the entire drive was wiped? If it wasn't then you should be able to see the other partition when you plug it in. If not, then it sounds like you wiped the entire drive and your only resort is that software and it ain't going to be a picnic!

no, let me explain again, i guess you missed the point...
so, i have external 2tb drive. 1tb is used for time machine, other 1tb is used for manual backup-in other words i was copying files there from my MBP and then erasing them from comp to free up a space. So i have those files in two partitions, one time machine, another one is manual backup that im trying to recover after installing this damn lion recovery....after installing it i can not mount that partition nor can i see it. what im hoping to accomplish is to be able to see that partition again....otherwise i lost 1 tb!!!
 
manual backup-in other words i was copying files there from my MBP and then erasing them from comp to free up a space.

So you're relying on "Time Machine" to hold on to backups whose originals you then go on and delete (after moving them manually to that same disk "Time Machine" is using)?


Did you lose files or not? (Assuming that all of your data was erased from the recovery HD). Technically, no, right? In which case you're pretty lucky, I might add.
 
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no, let me explain again, i guess you missed the point...
so, i have external 2tb drive. 1tb is used for time machine, other 1tb is used for manual backup-in other words i was copying files there from my MBP and then erasing them from comp to free up a space. So i have those files in two partitions, one time machine, another one is manual backup that im trying to recover after installing this damn lion recovery....after installing it i can not mount that partition nor can i see it. what im hoping to accomplish is to be able to see that partition again....otherwise i lost 1 tb!!!

OK, then you can still see the partition that has the Time Machine backup right? If that is the case, it will be easier for you restore from the TM as the way you are doing it will be a royal pain.

You need to stop calling it a backup as well as it isn't. A backup is a duplicate copy of a file. What you have is nothing more than external storage.
 
Am I the only one who is still confused here? Why would you call that a "Backup"? You're relying on "Time Machine" to hold on to files that you then go on and delete (after moving them somewhere else)?


Did you lose files or not? (Assuming that all of your data was erased from the recovery HD). Technically, no, right?

im confused myself as well :)
although it is on same external disc, it's two different partitions. one time machine backup, other manual copy/paste files backup. so why shouldn't i call it backup? it is a backup of my all files that time machine has as well...maybe im doing it in different way, but if that's not a backup then what is it? :) and yes i lost it as i can not mount that partiton anymore and still trying to open it with applexsoft recovery....is it clear now? :)

OK, then you can still see the partition that has the Time Machine backup right? If that is the case, it will be easier for you restore from the TM as the way you are doing it will be a royal pain.

You need to stop calling it a backup as well as it isn't. A backup is a duplicate copy of a file. What you have is nothing more than external storage.

exernal storage it is!!!!:)
yes time machine backup is ok. now that partition with "extarnal storage" is not mountiong...so i can not access 1tb of space on that disc.
 
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im confused myself as well :)
although it is on same external disc, it's two different partitions. one time machine backup, other manual copy/paste files backup. so why shouldn't i call it backup? it is a backup of my all files that time machine has as well...maybe im doing it in different way, but if that's not a backup then what is it? :) and yes i lost it as i can not mount that partiton anymore and still trying to open it with applexsoft recovery....is it clear now? :)

No...

If you can't mount the partition that had the time machine backup then it is gone as well. This means that your copy of files as well as your backup are gone. That software is your only hope...

You really need to get a better understanding of what a backup is. If I had a file on my Mac and copied it to my external drive keeping both, then the external file would be a backup. If I copied it to the external and then got rid of the one on my mac it would no longer be a backup, it is my original. If you use Time Machine, then that is your backup but you screwed that when you wiped the drive.

You also don't want to keep your original files on the same drive as your TM backup. If that drive fails (or you accidentally wipe it), you will lose both.

In this case I am betting that most of your data is gone. I hope not, but I think it is...


Just saw your other post.... Looks like you can get to the TM backup. If you can, that is going to be easier even of you have to navigate through it.
 
Let's put it this way, and I think someone in this thread has already said it: If you have a sound Backup strategy, losing the original disk or a backup disk shouldn't make you lose data. That's why you have a Backup. :)
 
wpotere,
the partition with time machine is ok, it works fine and mouths fine. so my backup on time machine os ok. the second partition is not ok, where i moved files manually for storing them.....
 
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