External HD for Time Machine AND extra space?

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footloose301footloose301
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
I've got a 500GB external for my 160GB MacBook Pro with Leopard. Can I use it for Time Machine AND as extra space????



I mainly bought it for extra space. The Time Machine is really not all that important to me but would be nice to use if I could do both off of the same external HD. Thanks.

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  • Reply 1 of 5
    footloose301footloose301 Posts: 421member
    Oh come on now! Somebody has to know. lol
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  • Reply 2 of 5
    sequitursequitur Posts: 1,910member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Footloose301 View Post


    I've got a 500GB external for my 160GB MacBook Pro with Leopard. Can I use it for Time Machine AND as extra space????



    I mainly bought it for extra space. The Time Machine is really not all that important to me but would be nice to use if I could do both off of the same external HD. Thanks.



    This may not answer your question, but this paragraph is on the Apple site:



    "Back up the whole family.



    The moment you choose a Time Machine drive, a single folder is created on the drive. Inside this folder is a subfolder for each Mac being backed up. (Yes, multiple Mac systems can share the same backup drive.) And within each subfolder is another list of folders ? one for every backup performed on that Mac. Time Machine uses a standard file system to store all of its information. Nothing hidden anywhere. "



    There's a good description of what Time Machine is capable of doing on:

    http://www.macworld.com/article/5228...eotimemac.html



    Another good article on buying an HDD for use with Time Machine:

    http://www.peachpit.com/guides/conte...eqNum=220&rl=1
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  • Reply 3 of 5
    sequitursequitur Posts: 1,910member
    Article from SuperDuper's maker, Shirt Pocket:



    "To get the “Frequently Asked Questions” out of the way right at the top of this post: no, we’re not dead, we’re not angry, and Apple has no obligation to leave market opportunities for independent developers, notify us that things are coming, or pretty much anything else."



    For the rest of the article:



    http://www.shirt-pocket.com/blog/ind...s/times_arrow/





    This post appeared in:

    http://forums.macosxhints.com/archiv...p/t-79531.html



    "Why partition it at all? If you use TimeMachine in Leopard (10.5), your backups will be entirely maintained within a single sparse image on the external drive. If you leave that image alone, you can store other files (not backed up) on the drive along with it.



    Of course, a partition would allow it to be backed up in the sparse image as well but reduce the size the backup could grow to.



    At today's prices, I'd use the 320GB drive exclusively for backup and purchase another drive for additional file storage."
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  • Reply 4 of 5
    bobmarksdalebobmarksdale Posts: 744member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Footloose301 View Post


    Can I use it for Time Machine AND as extra space????



    Yes... Make a partition (to curb the size of the backups and keep most of it open for extra space) to about 1-1.5 times (160GB-240GB) the size of your internal drive (depending on how much you change the contents). Use the other partition for other storage. Really easy.
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  • Reply 5 of 5
    footloose301footloose301 Posts: 421member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bobmarksdale View Post


    Yes... Make a partition (to curb the size of the backups and keep most of it open for extra space) to about 1-1.5 times (160GB-240GB) the size of your internal drive (depending on how much you change the contents). Use the other partition for other storage. Really easy.



    Thank you.
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