Backup: CCC and TimeMachine

[serpient4]

Hello!

I am currently pondering how to make a backup of my Imac. On the old threads I skimmed through I could not find the right answers - so I made one of my own

In my imac I have a 500 GB hard drive (~300GB in use). I also have a 1.5 TB external hard drive which will be my backup drive.


I am planning to combine CarbonCopyCleaner (or SuperDuper Im not 100% sure yet - any suggestions?) with Time machine to get
a) a bootable copy of my system
b) regular backups with time machine.

On top of this I want to move certain things (like movies and stuff I dont really need to back up) on the external hard drive.
Now I am wondering two things however:

Can I achieve CCC, Time machine backups AND seperate data on one partition?
I guess not because then it would not be bootable?!

If I use 2 seperate partitions (one for CCC and one for Time Machine and the data/movies etc) - can they be resized WHILE data is on them? I am asking this because I am using my mac to produce music and the data keeps growing. I would love to avoid fixed-size-partitions if possible.


I am very open to suggestions from you guys, who have a better grasp of backup-solutions than I do.


Thank you for your time and effort, I appreciate it!
Have a great day,
lucas

 

[Fishrrman]

My suggestions:

You can partition the 1.5tb external drive as needed.

You might consider three partitions:
1. CCC bootable clone (probably should be 475gb or even 500)
2. TM backup (should be at least 500-750gb)
3. General scratch storage partition (whatever is left for off-loading files that are less important to you)

You might even consider a separate drive for the TM backup. TM can "gobble up" drive space VERY quickly.

As an alternative to another external drive, you might consider a USB/SATA dock like one of these:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=usb+sata+dock&x=0&y=0

Now you can add a second (or third, or as many as you want) drive, and swap it out when necessary. You can even boot from these.

Here's one that's a little more expensive, but offers several connection options:
http://www.expansys-usa.com/newerte...firewirer-800400usb-2-0esata-sata-iii-177662/