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Quick Time Machine Question (Using drive for TM + other files)

G

Greg_C

macrumors member
Original poster
I just have a quick question before I start my initial Time Machine backup of my MBP. I currently have a firewire external HD with a ~200GB HFS partition that I'd like to use for a Time Machine backup of my ~100GB HFS partition/OS X installation on my laptop. However, the external partition already has some other files on it that aren't stored anywhere else. My question is can I keep other files on the TM backup partition or does the entire thing need to be dedicated to the TM backups? I didn't want to risk losing the files already on the partition. Also, if it's possible to use the partition for other files, can I occasionally add new files to the ones already there outside of the TM backup? I'm guessing TM will allocate space as it's available without overwriting other files not part of the backup...please correct me if I'm wrong. Thanks.
 
Thanks for the quick reply. This sounds like a good idea but I already have the drive split into two partitions and I'd prefer not to make a third. This is also partly because I'm not sure how much space I'll end up needing for TM and/or miscellaneous files; therefore I'd like to keep the one 200 gig partition as-is. Do you know if my original idea will work?
 
Anyone else? I've tried searching the forums but haven't found anything that addresses this specifically...I'd really appreciate any additional information. Thanks.
 
I am not sure about that.😱 But I might try answering your questions about how much space you need for Time Machine.

TM basically keeps doing backups of all your changes in your system, keeping a record of past days and all the changes you made.

So, technically speaking, TM would never have enough hard drive space. It would eventually fill and start erasing old backups. I think that a good recommendation would be that the drive must be at least the size of your internal drive.

I have a 320GB external for TM, but made two partitions. One of 220GB for TM and another of 100GB for Aperture. And I use the partition of Aperture for the occasional file I would like to keep in the external but not in my internal drive.

EDIT: I just made a try, and I was able to copy files to my TM partition. Tho, thinking about it, using your TM partition for other files is not very optimal. Since sometimes you'll find yourself with a full partition because of TM.

I made a clean install of Leopard a couple of months ago (like 4-5) and right now my TM partition is almost full. And I excluded all my photos and some other files from it. So I would say that using your TM partition for other files is not the best option. Much better to buy another external for that or make a small partition for those files.
 
Thanks to Roco (again) and tjrobertson for the extra information. I think I'll reconsider how I want to arrange my backups after giving it some more thought. I appreciate the help.
 
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