Restoring Time Machine backup from erased external drive

Question

Level 1

12 points

Restoring Time Machine backup from erased external drive

Hi,

a friend wanted me to copy files from my iMac computer to his 4TB WD elements external driveI. but because it was for windows I wanted to format it for iMac in Disc utility.

Accidentally I erased my own 3TB WD elements external drive which was my Time Machine backup.

Can I restore it? I have also on iCloud a lot of stuff. or can I just copy almost all my stuff to the 3TB external drive again?

Thank you so much for advice.

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

iMac 27″, macOS 15.1

Posted on Dec 23, 2024 4:34 PM

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Answer 1

6x6

Level 6

16,070 points

Dec 23, 2024 4:54 PM in response to marleen214

Hello, just start making Time Machine backups just as if your external drive was new. Trying to recover the old backups would be an expensive proposition. The newly formatted drive will work just like it used to.

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Answer 2

den.thed

Level 10

83,248 points

Dec 23, 2024 4:59 PM in response to marleen214

Just start new Time Machine backups on the external drive.

Sadly the "More" that you mentioned in your initial question, is completely wiped from the external drive.

In the future you should use one external drive for Time Machine backups and a second external drive for "More" or additional file storage.

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