Hello everyone. I am hoping that someone can help me. I have a 1TB external driver which I had been partitioned into 1 EXT3 partiion and one NFS partition. I wanted to use the drive to back up a Mac, and had intention on only using the NFS portion (which was empty) to do this. When I plugged the drive in to the Mac, Time Machine asked if I wanted to use the partition, to which I replied yes. To my dismay, Time Machine created a HFS partition on the whole drive. I don't believe that any data has been writted to the drive since, however I would like to recover the EXT3 partition.
When I run TestDisk, it tells me that the partition is not recoverable. Could someone have a look at the log and tell me if it is possible to recover? Thanks in advance.
Log file: http://pastebin.ca/2334096
Pete
Trying to recover EXT3 partition
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Before posting, please read https://www.cgsecurity.org/testdisk.pdf
When asking for technical support:
- Search for posts on the same topic before posting a new question.
- Give clear, specific information in the title of your post.
- Include as many details as you can, MOST POSTS WILL GET ONLY ONE OR TWO ANSWERS.
- Post a follow up with a "Thank you" or "This worked!"
- When you learn something, use that knowledge to HELP ANOTHER USER LATER.
Before posting, please read https://www.cgsecurity.org/testdisk.pdf
Re: Trying to recover EXT3 partition
This may also help. Screenshot of Analyse,
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Re: Trying to recover EXT3 partition
Intel MAC uses EFI GPT.
If Time Machine created a HFS+-partition, then it might be possible that your partition table type changed to EFI GPT.
In case you can try to run a testdisk diagnose using partition table type Intel.
In TestDisk your disk selection and pressing enter, you're at the partition table types.
If your ext3-partition is found, you can mark it and press p to have a try to list your files.
Fiona
If Time Machine created a HFS+-partition, then it might be possible that your partition table type changed to EFI GPT.
In case you can try to run a testdisk diagnose using partition table type Intel.
In TestDisk your disk selection and pressing enter, you're at the partition table types.
If your ext3-partition is found, you can mark it and press p to have a try to list your files.
Fiona
Re: Trying to recover EXT3 partition
Thanks. When I do what you suggest, it shows no files. I know that the files are there however because I am able to see them with PhotoRec. I would prefer to recover the partition as there is alot of data, and the not preserving the file names would be a chore. I think I am missing something in the steps I am taking. I have played with it for hours now, and while in some cases I can see the data, I am unclear as to the steps to recover the partition. 
When I do a deep scan, I get dozens of partitions listed. What should I do?
When I do a deep scan, I get dozens of partitions listed. What should I do?
Re: Trying to recover EXT3 partition
I also tried this which I thought would offer hope:
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/Data_Rec ... _partition
If the partition has been reformatted to another file system (FAT32 formatted as NTFS or vice-versa),
run TestDisk,
select the hard disk and the partition type
choose Advanced
select the partition
choose Type,
enter the value corresponding to the previous filesystem
choose Boot
choose RebuildBS
List
If you can see your files, choose Write and confirm
In Analyse, choose to rewrite the partition with the correct partition type.
The choose boot and rebuildbs options are not available to me.
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/Data_Rec ... _partition
If the partition has been reformatted to another file system (FAT32 formatted as NTFS or vice-versa),
run TestDisk,
select the hard disk and the partition type
choose Advanced
select the partition
choose Type,
enter the value corresponding to the previous filesystem
choose Boot
choose RebuildBS
List
If you can see your files, choose Write and confirm
In Analyse, choose to rewrite the partition with the correct partition type.
The choose boot and rebuildbs options are not available to me.
Re: Trying to recover EXT3 partition
You can close this thread. I have recovered the partition with other tools.