Pleae help: Lion recovery erased my hd!!!!!

[zjazz]

OK. I know what im gonna do to stop debate if I have back up or not.
Tomorrow im gonna put my external hard drive to trash, as well as my MBP.
Will go to apple store and buy new computer, three (3) backup external HD and report here. Let's see if I have backup now or not!!!

Seriously now, forget please about if I have a backup or not, that's beside the point right now. I asked about ipratition program. Luckily it found the lost space of 1tb on my external hd, but when I want to make a partition it won't do it. I believe it is because it's a free version. Is there any other way or program for free that will make the partition so I can use actually that space?

 

[soundguy15]

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Ipartition isn't going to recover your data. All it will do is create a new partition from the unused space on your drive. YOU NEED TO USE DATA RECOVERY SOFTWARE. I prefer DataRescue 3. There are also cheaper alternatives (use google). Do not copy any data to your external in the mean time. The more you mess around with it the more likely that your data will be overwriten.

XxxxxxxxxX
Sorry. Just read entire thread

 

[gr8tfly]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_6 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8E200 Safari/6533.18.5)

Ipartition isn't going to recover your data. All it will do is create a new partition from the unused space on your drive. YOU NEED TO USE DATA RECOVERY SOFTWARE. I prefer DataRescue 3. There are also cheaper alternatives (use google). Do not copy any data to your external in the mean time. The more you mess around with it the more likely that your data will be overwriten.

The OP's already written off the missing partition.

OK. I know what im gonna do to stop debate if I have back up or not.
Tomorrow im gonna put my external hard drive to trash, as well as my MBP.
Will go to apple store and buy new computer, three (3) backup external HD and report here. Let's see if I have backup now or not!!!

Seriously now, forget please about if I have a backup or not, that's beside the point right now. I asked about ipratition program. Luckily it found the lost space of 1tb on my external hd, but when I want to make a partition it won't do it. I believe it is because it's a free version. Is there any other way or program for free that will make the partition so I can use actually that space?

iPartition is a great tool, but i understand the money issue. It has more capability than Apple's tools, so for some, it's a worthwhile utility to have in ones arsenal.

As I mentioned, Apple's built-in app diskutil, for which Disk Utility is the GUI front end, can do the job.

Using the diskutil app when inexperienced does have its risks (as I, and others have pointed out, making changes to partition tables using any tool can result in loss of data due to a simple mistake in device naming - like losing your internal drive's data). You don't have any graphical representation of devices or partitions.

Go through the man page I mentioned, especially in the partitionDisk and resizeVolume sections. If you are still confident in using diskutil, I (and/or others) can help. Otherwise, it might be well worth the investment in iPartition, where the chances for error are less.

Yet another option is to use the money to purchase another drive, rather than iPartition. Use Disk Utility to transfer your data (at this point, just your Time Machine backup?) to the new drive, then start over with a new partition table on the old drive. You'll have that third level of backup available, too.

 

[ntrigue]

Brutal

I suppose someone had to do it. I am so sorry. It's all gone.

 

[johto]

Well, second partition of another 1TB on same external HD is Time Machine. So I do have second backup to it..

Dude ! You dont want to have your "backup" on the same physical disk! What are you going to if(when) your disk dies? Think about it!

 

[SimonTheSoundMa]

And I will write back to you, with the same attitude

I DO HAVE A BACKUP

I have everything doubled in my time machine as well. So yes they are in TWO different locations. So instead of having them in three locations my computer, time machine and separate partition, I have (had) in two places...time machine and separate partition...

You really fail to understand what a backup is. We have explained several times in this thread.

A backup is a copy on a separate physical disk/tape/medium. Having it copied twice on the same physical disk on two partitions is not a backup, it is just a copy. What if the drive was to fail, or it was stolen or burnt? You would have lost everything.

I have a Time Machine copy on each machine, and two backup disks that incrementally backup every week, and full backup every month for my work machines. I then give one of the physical disks to a friend to keep, in case my house get burgled or burnt.


Also, Time Machine is not a backup solution. It is a live copy.

 

[zjazz]

OK I don't have a back up...i agree, thank you! I understand!

>gr8tfly, thank you for suggestion to buy second HD! This is the best solution so far...i will go ahead and buy another HD and copy my time machine to new one and after that will try to fix partitions on this one, even if I have to format it's gonna be ok, as I will have my time machine on new disk.

Now the question.
What is the best way to have back up. How can I run time machine in two disks simultaneously? Or is there another way doing it, so then I could easily say, oh I have back up LOL

 

[basher]

OK I don't have a back up...i agree, thank you! I understand!

>gr8tfly, thank you for suggestion to buy second HD! This is the best solution so far...i will go ahead and buy another HD and copy my time machine to new one and after that will try to fix partitions on this one, even if I have to format it's gonna be ok, as I will have my time machine on new disk.

Now the question.
What is the best way to have back up. How can I run time machine in two disks simultaneously? Or is there another way doing it, so then I could easily say, oh I have back up LOL

I use Time Machine copying to an external Firewire drive. Then once a day I use Carbon Copy Cloner(CCC) to perform an incremental backup to a second Firewire drive.

Since I'm using incremental with CCC I must use CCC to run a full backup of the drive to backup before the first incremental.

It stinks to lose data, but it sounds like you're over it and ready to move on to a more solid backup/data protection strategy.

Hope this helps.

 

[spidey3]

I DO HAVE A BACKUP

(turning down the volume)

Actually, you do not have a backup. The files which are on your "external storage" partition have their backup copy on the same disk (in the Time Machine partition). The problem with this is that it means that if that disk drive fails, those files are gone forever...

1) Backup everything
2) Keep backups segregated on separate hardware
3) Also keep a third copy offsite (in case of fire, flood, theft, etc.)

Spidey!!!

 

[Macshroomer]

The best strategy out there is something called 3-2-1 backups. Three copies of everything, two different forms of media, one of those backups offsite. I know this doesn't exactly help the situation right now, but use this lesson going forward to make sure you don't get bit by this again. We've all lost data, and we've all learned the hard way.

I can not emphasize this enough, if data is important to you then you *have* to have at least the first two numbers in the equation, it is dangerous to not have it and you can't be lazy about updating your backups either.

I once erased an entire drive that I *thought* I had backed up, it had some 190,000 photographs in it, I was missing about 40,000 of them to my shock and horror. So I ended up getting Pro Soft's Data Rescue and after about a week of hard work, I had re-archived my images, but what a major stress case and time suck, it's so worth it to just spend the extra money on a bullet proof data strategy.

And what ever you do, skip Boomerang Recovery software, it is a crap product with no support and is now widely regarded as an off shore scam...

 

[fdboucher]

The Lion Recovery Disk Assistant will erase all data on the external drive when creating the Recovery HD. You should either backup your data before running the Lion Recovery Disk Assistant, or create a new partition on the external drive..

I did create a new partition on my hard drive for Recovery, but Lion Recovery still erased everything on the drive…

This was my Backup drive, and I had to recreate the whole backup…

 

[gr8tfly]

OK I don't have a back up...i agree, thank you! I understand!

>gr8tfly, thank you for suggestion to buy second HD! This is the best solution so far...i will go ahead and buy another HD and copy my time machine to new one and after that will try to fix partitions on this one, even if I have to format it's gonna be ok, as I will have my time machine on new disk.

Now the question.
What is the best way to have back up. How can I run time machine in two disks simultaneously? Or is there another way doing it, so then I could easily say, oh I have back up LOL

To copy your Time Machine backup to another drive:

Using Disk Utility, create the same or larger sized partition on the new drive as your Time Maxhine partition on old drive. Make sure to click on "Options..." and select GUID as the partition table. To make life simple, leave the partition name as Untitled.

Use Disk Utility Restore to image the old Time Machine partition to the new one. Check the "erase destination..." box to enable block copy (fastest/accrurate). Be sure to double and triple check that you have the correct source and destination.

You should rename the old drive's partition to prevent confusion. At this point, disconnect the old drive.

Go into Time Machine Preferemces and select the new drive's TM partition. It should show the correct last time of backup. Run Time Machine app to make sure you can access the backup properly.

Once you are satisfied with the new TM copy, you can go and repartition the old drive. First, try and make a single partition and see if it will use the entire drive. If not, try changing the partition map to APM or MBR, create a single partition, then switch back to GUID table and partition as you like. The switch from one type to another should totally replace the old GPT with a new one.

It's obviously still handy to have the recovery partition on an external device - maybe pick up a small USB stick at the same time as he new HD? I'd still recommend creating a 1GB partition on it for the Recovery HD, so you can use the rest of the USB stick for other things. And/or once you have the old drive clear, you can put a 1GB partition on it and put the recovery partition there - which brings us back full circle

If you still have a copy of the Lion Install app (or download it again), consider making a bootable copy of it (a 5GB partition is big enough). See MR and elsewhere for instructions. It has all the tools of the Recovery HD, plus Lion itself. Again, use Disk Utility Restore to copy the DMG to the target partition.

Hope it all works out well for you.

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

Why all of that? It's easier to just drag n drop(which copies) the main folder in your TimeMachine drive or partition to wherever you want.

 

[gr8tfly]

Why all of that? It's easier to just drag n drop(which copies) the main folder in your TimeMachine drive or partition to wherever you want.

It's much faster to use block copy, rather than Finder file copy. There is an enormous amount of overhead beccause of the large number of individual files created in each backup.

Also, it really isn't much more than dragging a folder. You still need to create the new partition, so you're already in Disk Utility. After creating e partition, select it, then use Restore and drag & drop the source and destination in (and check the box). That's it. Not complicated.

 

[zjazz]

>gr8tfly! thank you very much for information! I appreciate it! I will try to do it and will post here after everything's done. hope it will go smoothly.

since i will have tho external HD, one will have time machine and my storage files on separate partition, should I use second HD to clone it so i have backup of it? is there any easy and practical way I can connect second drive time to time, lets say ones a week to clone my entire backup drive? i know carbon copy but it's not like automatic, yo still have to do it manually each and every time....

 

[gr8tfly]

>gr8tfly! thank you very much for information! I appreciate it! I will try to do it and will post here after everything's done. hope it will go smoothly.

since i will have tho external HD, one will have time machine and my storage files on separate partition, should I use second HD to clone it so i have backup of it? is there any easy and practical way I can connect second drive time to time, lets say ones a week to clone my entire backup drive? i know carbon copy but it's not like automatic, yo still have to do it manually each and every time....

If I'm copying a complete partition, I just use Disk Utility. But, if you don't have a lot of files in the non TM partition, you can just drag them to the other drive. As I mentioned above, block copy in Disk Utility is still best for TM because of the large number of files (hundreds of thousands, most likely).

As for how often - it depends on how much data is changing and whatever makes you feel most comfortable. Once a month might be enough for TM.

My general practice is to use TM and a bootable image on a second HD, which gets updated every so often (at least as often as 0.x.x updates). I also have a second backup of photos and other media, on a 3rd drive. (all told, I have 6 FW800 drives: 4 1TB, a 750GB, and 2.5" 320GB for bootable image backup. Plus, a couple of 750 bare drives (I have one of those "toaster" USB adapters) and a 1TB tray swappable. Some people collect coins; some HDs...

 

[zjazz]

understood...only problem copying it every time is kind of time consuming when you have a lot of stuff...lets say i have 20 folders with music, pictures, personal files, etc...and all those of course have subfolders...and lets say I added 20 pictures to one of the pictures subfolders folder...now i in no way will remember that accurately over time what and where i added, but copying everything over and over even if i have those files on second drive minus new stuff? i wish there would be a program that will copy only the stuff that was added but not entire volumes...

 

[gr8tfly]

Put them on a different drive as TM and let TM back them up. Just make the partition for TM larger to account for them.

 

[zjazz]

Put them on a different drive as TM and let TM back them up. Just make the partition for TM larger to account for them.

im not sure i understand what you mean. so lets say, i have time machine and another partition with storage. i understood i will have to clone both partitions on second hd to have back up. but later after time machine adds info and after i add some files in folders, then what happens, i still hae to copy entire thing again? is there a software that will copy only the files that were added to the drive, but not the entire volume?

 

[gr8tfly]

im not sure i understand what you mean. so lets say, i have time machine and another partition with storage. i understood i will have to clone both partitions on second hd to have back up. but later after time machine adds info and after i add some files in folders, then what happens, i still hae to copy entire thing again? is there a software that will copy only the files that were added to the drive, but not the entire volume?

Don't use the same drive as your TM backup for those files - use the other drive. Then, let TM backup the oher drive.

You've probably heard this somewhere before (), but you don't want your data on the same drive as its backup. So, I was suggesting putting your folders on one drive (the old one), then adding that drive's partition to the list of what TM is backing up (it should be added, unless you explicitly exclude it).

 

[zjazz]

oh i see what you mean now....i didnt know u can include your external drive for backing up with time machine!!!! but in this case i need two more external drives (totall 3 new drives!!!) to have backup of my time machine, and to have backup of my files HD!!!! wooww!!!!

 

[gr8tfly]

oh i see what you mean now....i didnt know u can include your external drive for backing up with time machine!!!! but in this case i need two more external drives (totall 3 new drives!!!) to have backup of my time machine, and to have backup of my files HD!!!! wooww!!!!

You can never have too many backups...

 

[macmongral]

In this thread the OP confirms the IT dept's most often used phases


"most errors occur between the keyboard and chair"

"there are two find of people that use a computer those that backup and those that will"


or the classic "you have a I D Ten T error" :roll eyes:

or an engineering one " there are two things that are done in a hurry black finger nails and babies "



just replace the ten with 10 then it make absolute sense

 

[AnalAssasin]

///Appologies OP, I did not read the entire thread
///Please disregard slander.

OP,

Speaking as someone who has performed (nonprofessional) data recovery on a botched multi-Terabyte Raid 0 array where the controller card failed, all is not lost but you will likely not retrieve everything.

Unless you have not written to the newly allocated free space you may be in luck.

I sympathize with your position however you are either:

1. A troll,

2. An idiot,

3. An uneducated ignoramus.

Take your pick.

Many people have attempted to politely help and educate you on your dilemma however you seem to be insistent on arguing with them without a firm understanding of general computing nor do you seem willing to accept this.

AFAIK, Time Machine will let you back up the contents of a volume to another on the same physical disk however it will bark at you with a warning that it is not recommended which is what it sounds like you "may" have been doing. If so, then you clearly ignored that warning when you set up TM. Let's call this warning #1.

The second warning was presented when you went through the recover partition creation process; warning #2.

Not much else to say...

Assuming your data is important to you, I suggest you seek the assistance of a knowledgeable local as opposed to attempting the data recovery yourself with a variety of software tools I venture you may not understand as you are more likely to **** things up more than you already have.

I wish you luck.

 

[asioliu]

I asked about ipratition program. Luckily it found the lost space of 1tb on my external hd, but when I want to make a partition it won't do it. I believe it is because it's a free version. Is there any other way or program for free that will make the partition so I can use actually that space?

Sorry to continue the thread 2 years later. Just've found @zjazz's post in " Pleae help: Lion recovery erased my hd!!!!! " (Aug 9, 2011, 05:45 PM).

Wondering if @zjazz find the solution ? I've got the the *very* same frustrated issue and am trying to fix it.

iPartition demo 3.43 & StellarPhoenixMacDataRecovery 6.00 knows the "Recovery HD". I bought StellarPhoenixMacDataRecovery but it doesn't help. Data Rescue 3.23 doesn't even know there's such a partition.

If iPartion would do the job, I'd definitely pay. Any other partition recovery app recommended please?

I'm a doc filmmaker and I'm afraid that I might lose 2TB location DSLR mov footage forever. Pls help, thank you very much.


-system: rMBP13/ OS X.85/ external 3TB RAID via USB 3.0 ( how stupid to install "Recovery Disk Assistant" in this media drive w/RAID1 setup )