Accidentally partitioned external hard drive..

[Leeno]

So I went to partition a USB (for use on Rekordbox software) and accidentlly partitioned my external hard drive full of my music and loads more!

If I run time machine will it restore this as well? Im thinking as its been renamed it won't recognise?

If not any advice on where or how to restore this data?

Many thanks in advance.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello and welcome.

-Which version of OS X?

If the external was being backed up with Time Machine, you should be able to restore the data. You can rename the partitioned hard drive to what it was named previously and TM should recognize it.

Have you entered Time Machine to see if the data is present?

C

 

[Leeno]

Hi Cory, thanks for replying.

Unfortunately I hadn't backed up the external for over 6 months on time machine. I ended up going back to then as I needed some files urgently. 6 months of music gone but luckily I had quite a few on a USB stick to listen to in the car. Never mind, lesson learnt!

Im guessing it will be too late to do anything else as I have now used the drive with time machine and used it several times?

 

[honestone]

Hi Cory, thanks for replying.

Unfortunately I hadn't backed up the external for over 6 months on time machine. I ended up going back to then as I needed some files urgently. 6 months of music gone but luckily I had quite a few on a USB stick to listen to in the car. Never mind, lesson learnt!

Im guessing it will be too late to do anything else as I have now used the drive with time machine and used it several times?

You can possibly still use that external drive, but you might want to use Disk Utility to check it out. Assuming it is OK, you can then partition it, with one of the partitions being dedicated for Time Machine backups (needs to be large enough, and that will also depend on how ofter you use TM to do the backups).

The other route to go (a little risky), and again assuming the drive is OK, is to use Disk Utility to Erase, Format, and Partition the drive. Again, one of the partitions needs to be dedicated to TM backups, and needs to be large enough. Then, IMMEDIATELY do a TM backup to the applicable partition.

If the drive is bad (or going bad), then it would be wise to purchase a new one, and then have Disk Utility Erase, Format, and Partition the new drive, and (again) immediately do a TM backup.