Are Time Machine's HD's partitionable?

[applemax]

Hi

I'm thinking of getting an external drive for Leopard for a PowerMac G5 with a 250GB internal HD. Ideally, I want to properly backup the internal HD and then do a Time Machine on the other half. Is this possible cos I heard that TM backups aren't bootable. Any advice on brands or disk size? Thanks

 

[xappeal]

This can be done, I have my MacBook backed up on one partition and data on my other.

the second backup might be a waste of space though, you can totally restore from time machines backup.

 

[applemax]

This can be done, I have my MacBook backed up on one partition and data on my other.

the second backup might be a waste of space though, you can totally restore from time machines backup.

100% sure on that - that TM backup is *bootable from*?

 

[tersono]

Yes, you can partition a drive that you use with Time Machine. You can use the non-time machine partition for a bootable backup if you with (hold down option/alt on boot and your mac will give you a choice of partitions to boot from).

 

[saltyzoo]

100% sure on that - that TM backup is *bootable from*?

No, but it's designed so that you can boot with your install disc and then restore the entire backup.

 

[number9]

You most certainly can partition a Time Machine HD. I just got an Iomega 500GB minimax external (I wanted the storage and the USB/FW hub) and I was able to partition 30GB for a base Tiger install I had cloned on a different borrowed external I used as a back up when I installed leopard.

The only problem I've run into is that when rebooting from the new Tiger partition on the iomega/time machine external, it hangs at the Apple screen during start up.

 

[~Shard~]

Looks like the question has been sufficiently answered, but for future reference there are many answers to many questions in our Time Machine FAQ here on MacRumors in case members are not aware. 😎