Can I partition my WD MY PASSPORT so it becomes a backup drive & a place to store...

[QuantumJG]

Hi I'm new to MacRumors,

Earlier this year I got a late 2012 MacBook Pro Retina with a 120GB SSD, and today I decided to buy a WD MY PASSPORT 500GB. I was wondering if I could set it up so it becomes a 120GB backup storage device for my computer, and leave the other 380GB for storing movies, games, etc?

 

[GimmeSlack12]

Yeah you can do this, it's easy. Just use Disk Utility to partition the drive into two. Then you can aim Time Machine at partition and use the other one for your media files.

Though if you're going to do manual backups then you don't really need to partition the drive at all.

 

[Fzang]

Use Disk Utility, and simply create two partitions; one for storage and one for the Time Machine.

 

[melburstein]

Use Disk Utility, and simply create two partitions; one for storage and one for the Time Machine.

Can I do this with a 3tb Time Capule?

 

[mitasol]

I have a 1 TB external drive that has a time machine backup on it - the backup is around 250 GB in size, can I re-partition in place without losing the backup?

 

[hallux]

I would give TM 2x the capacity of your internal drive, then use the rest for other storage.

 

[Weaselboy]

Can I do this with a 3tb Time Capule?

Nope... there is no way to perdition the internal drive in a Time Capsule. The best you can do is just make a folder on there to store things.

I have a 1 TB external drive that has a time machine backup on it - the backup is around 250 GB in size, can I re-partition in place without losing the backup?

Sure can. Just follow this guide to shrink the existing partition then add a second one at the end. This will not erase the data on the first partition.

 

[B...]

I have the exact same question. Just purchased a 1 TB external HDD, internal SSD is 256 GB. How much would you guys recommend partitioning for TM and how much for regular drag and drop use? Any benefits to doing double the size of the internal SSD?

 

[Weaselboy]

I have the exact same question. Just purchased a 1 TB external HDD, internal SSD is 256 GB. How much would you guys recommend partitioning for TM and how much for regular drag and drop use? Any benefits to doing double the size of the internal SSD?

Time Machine keeps versions of files backed up, so the larger the destination drive the more versions it can keep. Usually a drive 1.5 to 2X the amount of data you expect to have will give you plenty of version control.

This is all really only indirectly related to your SSD size. If you have a 256GB SSD and only ever have 80GB of data on it, you don't need 2X 256GB, but rather 2X 80GB or so.

If you think you will ultimately fill up the 256GB SSD, I would just split that 1TB in half.

 

[B...]

Time Machine keeps versions of files backed up, so the larger the destination drive the more versions it can keep. Usually a drive 1.5 to 2X the amount of data you expect to have will give you plenty of version control.

This is all really only indirectly related to your SSD size. If you have a 256GB SSD and only ever have 80GB of data on it, you don't need 2X 256GB, but rather 2X 80GB or so.

If you think you will ultimately fill up the 256GB SSD, I would just split that 1TB in half.

Thanks for your help. Just in response to your earlier post where you directed mitasol to shrink the partition, is that safe? I know in Windows it often corrupts the partition if you don't fully reformat it, but I hope it's different for OSX.

 

[Weaselboy]

Thanks for your help. Just in response to your earlier post where you directed mitasol to shrink the partition, is that safe? I know in Windows it often corrupts the partition if you don't fully reformat it, but I hope it's different for OSX.

OS X will non-destructively resize a partition. It won't erase the data on the resized partition. That said, if this is your only copy of precious photos or something, I would make sure I have a backup first. I suppose a power glitch or something could screw things up. I have never had it happen myself though.

 

[B...]

OS X will non-destructively resize a partition. It won't erase the data on the resized partition. That said, if this is your only copy of precious photos or something, I would make sure I have a backup first. I suppose a power glitch or something could screw things up. I have never had it happen myself though.

Thanks again.

 

[Michaelohagen]

I have a 2TB MyPassport Ultra and did not know about partitioning before using as a TimeMachine and now my drive won't let me access anything. Everywhere I can see suggests I need to partition. Is there any way I can move my backup TimeMachine after the partition is complete. The current drive isn't letting me putting on or taking off of the drive.

 

[Weaselboy]

I have a 2TB MyPassport Ultra and did not know about partitioning before using as a TimeMachine and now my drive won't let me access anything. Everywhere I can see suggests I need to partition. Is there any way I can move my backup TimeMachine after the partition is complete. The current drive isn't letting me putting on or taking off of the drive.

As long as the drive is not encrypted, you should be able to use Disk Utility to shrink the main partition, then add a new partition onto the end. This will not erase the data on the main partition.

 

[twinthumbs]

Did this for a few years with NO problems. Only thing I didn't like is both disk partitions were mounted when I inserted the drive, and then I had to always respond to the Eject All dialog when removing (a minor annoyance). Also if you HD goes bad, you lose both your files and back-up as everything is on one drive.

 

[maflynn]

The only comment I have (and its been mentioned) is using a drive for both backups and data storage is generally not a good idea. I personally would use a drive for backups and another for data storage. Having at least two copies of your data is a good practice imo