Can I have a Time Machine backup and unrelated storage on the same USB external?

[tuna]

I recently purchased a 256GB MBA. I would like to set up a time machine backup with my 2TB external drive. However, I don't want to waste the entire drive backing up, plus I have 1TB or so of music and video that I would like to store on this same external.

Is there any way to have both a time machine and other storage on the same external? How, do I format the external as 2 partitions? Can I do that in Disk Utility?

 

[Tomorrow]

Partition and format the disk using Disk Utility. You can use the two partitions separately, including one for Time Machine.

Keep in mind the other stuff on the external disk won't be backed up.

 

[old-wiz]

Partition and format the disk using Disk Utility. You can use the two partitions separately, including one for Time Machine.

Keep in mind the other stuff on the external disk won't be backed up.

Having separate partitions is not required, but is definitely a good idea since otherwise time machine will keep expanding until it fills the HDD and you won't be able to put any more user stuff there.

 

[tuna]

Having separate partitions is not required, but is definitely a good idea since otherwise time machine will keep expanding until it fills the HDD and you won't be able to put any more user stuff there.

How much space should I allocate the Time Machine partition, then? It would make sense that there would be diminishing returns as you gave it more space to keep older and older revisions of files...

 

[Tomorrow]

How much space should I allocate the Time Machine partition, then? It would make sense that there would be diminishing returns as you gave it more space to keep older and older revisions of files...

You have plenty of disk space relative to your SSD size. I'd go for 512 Gb, double your internal drive. That's more than enough for Time Machine, and you still have tons of leftover space for media and whatever.