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JulesK

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 17, 2002
530
94
I'm getting an external HD for a new MBP, and to reduce wires and footprint, plan to get a small, bus-powered external HD for Time Machine and storage purposes. The laptop is going to spend most of its life in one place, plugged in, and the HD will be plugged in using a USB 3.0 port. I had two questions:

-Can one use the same HD for both Time Machine and extrenal storage purposes, and if so, can you control the amount of disk space to be used for Time Machine back-ups?

-Given that it's bus powered, will the HD have a significant impact on the overall life of the battery? (I assume it will cause more of these small charge/discharge cycles, but am not really sure.)

Many thanks for your thoughts. I'm looking in the 500GB-1TB range, and if someone can suggest a model they really like, that would be great. Reliability is the biggest factor.
 
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