2nd external HD necessary?

[Morod]

Hi all,
I've got one f/w800 external drive attached to my Al iMac for Time Machine. But you can't boot from Time Machine. Is a second external drive necessary? Or overkill? If it is needed does it have to have a very large capacity, being that it would just be used as a bootable drive?
I've also read about booting from the install disk, but that's probably not an option if the internal HD dies.
Thanks for any advice/info.
Morod

 

[wordmunger]

You can boot from the startup disk and then do a Time Machine restore. No need for a third HD. You can also partition the Time Machine HD and make a bootable volume there.

If your internal HD dies completely, what you would do is buy a new internal HD (or get a replacement via applecare). Then restore from Time Machine.

 

[Morod]

Thanks, wordmunger. I want to keep my setup as simple as possible, but I don't want to leave myself open for trouble that could've been avoided. The help is appreciated.
Morod