Question about external hard drives with 2 partitions

Hey everyone, hope I'm not double-posting here (please point me in the right direction if there's already a thread for this).

So, I've got this 2TB external drive where I set up two partitions. One is just for my archives, and the other was being used for Time Machine on my Mac (and honestly, let's not even get into my choice of OS or hardware, thanks 😁).

The partition running Time Machine basically gave up the ghost almost immediately. It’s still readable, sure, but I can't delete anything, change things, or actually use it for anything useful anymore.

I'm definitely not some tech wizard, so here's my question: Is it safe to just format that one problematic partition and start fresh, or am I going to risk nuking my archive partition too?

It's a WD Elements drive.

Thanks a bunch!

Karen King said:The partition holding my Time Machine backups essentially gave up the ghost almost immediately. It’s in that frustrating middle ground where the drive is still readable, but I can't delete anything, modify files, or actually use it for anything useful. Is it just a hardware failure, or am I looking at a deeper file system corruption?

First, you need to clarify exactly what kind of hardware you're working with. Are you attempting to wipe, modify, or even access that iOS partition using a Mac, or are you trying to do this through Windows or Linux?

Drew Ramos77 said:First things first—what kind of computer are you even using to try and wipe or mess with this iOS partition? Are we talking about a Mac, or are you on Windows or Linux?

I'm using a Mac, just trying to work through it with Disk Utility.

Edit: Just to clarify, there's no OS on this external drive. One partition is just a standard data drive, but the other one—the one giving me all this grief—is what I've been using for Time Machine.

There shouldn't be any issues at all when it comes to formatting the partition, regardless of whether there are multiple ones sitting on the drive. If you can't get it sorted, just shoot me a DM and I'll help you walk through it.

Steven Hayes26 said:Formatting a partition shouldn't cause any headaches at all, even if there are multiple ones on the drive. If you get stuck, just shoot me a DM and I'll help you out.

Awesome, thanks so much!
I'm gonna tackle this tonight, and if things go sideways—I'll let you know.