urgent need help

Joined
May 19, 2008
Messages
909
Reaction score
21
Points
18
Location
Florida
Your Mac's Specs
27" i7 iMac 2.8 Ghz, 1TB, 8GB RAM | 13" MBP 2.53Ghz 320GB HD, 4G RAM | iPad 2 64GB+3G *WHITE*
i have a friend with a serious problem where she plugged in a external HDD and accidentally clicked save hard drive as time machine. all of her life's work was on there is there any way to get it back... please help

any knowledge will be appreciated.
 
Joined
Feb 24, 2010
Messages
318
Reaction score
8
Points
18
Location
Australia
Your Mac's Specs
15" MBP i5 4GB DDR3, 500GB HDD 7200 + iPhone 4 32GB iOS4.1
So to be more clear....

She backed up her mac with TimeMachine and saved it to her external HDD overwritting all of the data originally on the external HDD?

:/
 

dtravis7


Retired Staff
Joined
Jan 4, 2005
Messages
30,133
Reaction score
703
Points
113
Location
Modesto, Ca.
Your Mac's Specs
MacMini M-1 MacOS Monterey, iMac 2010 27"Quad I7 , MBPLate2011, iPad Pro10.5", iPhoneSE
I did not even know that Time Machine would do that unless it warned it would kill off all the existing data. I have ran Time Machine on a drive with data before and none of it was gone. I will have to check into this and see what I can find.
 

bobtomay

,
Retired Staff
Joined
Dec 22, 2006
Messages
26,561
Reaction score
677
Points
113
Location
Texas, where else?
Your Mac's Specs
15" MBP '06 2.33 C2D 4GB 10.7; 13" MBA '14 1.8 i7 8GB 10.11; 21" iMac '13 2.9 i5 8GB 10.11; 6S
It would overwrite if the drive was not formatted as HFS when it started the operation and had to format first. If it was already formatted as HFS and ready to be used by Time Machine, it should not have overwritten any of the existing data.

1st - stop using the drive immediately - do not write data to the drive...

Have never had to use any of this software...

The two I would probably check out are:

Computer Data Recovery, Mac Data Recovery Software, Mac Data Rescue, Digital Data Recovery Disk for Mac - Data Rescue 3 - read the info provided there

and

Mac Recovery Software-Recover Mac Drive-Apple Mac Data Recovery-Data Recovery Mac - has a free download which will show you what it can recover prior to purchase.

If her stuff is that important and/or new data has already been written to it on top of being formatted, it could be time to employ the professionals at great expense and no guarantees.
 

dtravis7


Retired Staff
Joined
Jan 4, 2005
Messages
30,133
Reaction score
703
Points
113
Location
Modesto, Ca.
Your Mac's Specs
MacMini M-1 MacOS Monterey, iMac 2010 27"Quad I7 , MBPLate2011, iPad Pro10.5", iPhoneSE
It would overwrite if the drive was not formatted as HFS when it started the operation and had to format first. If it was already formatted as HFS and ready to be used by Time Machine, it should not have overwritten any of the existing data.

Ok Bobtomay, that makes sense. My drives were all formatted HFS so that is why it never asked me.

Good advice on the recovery programs.
 
Joined
Feb 18, 2010
Messages
177
Reaction score
1
Points
18
hold on - Time machine will not format the drive unless specifically mentioned to do so. If not, then it will just create a folder in the existing drive and backup all the data there. I would go in finder into the external hard drive to check if she has actually lost all the data. Did time machine format or not is the first question before you worry about recovery option.
 
OP
macwannabe
Joined
May 19, 2008
Messages
909
Reaction score
21
Points
18
Location
Florida
Your Mac's Specs
27" i7 iMac 2.8 Ghz, 1TB, 8GB RAM | 13" MBP 2.53Ghz 320GB HD, 4G RAM | iPad 2 64GB+3G *WHITE*
thanks for the help ppl..
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top