carbon copy cloner or time machine?

[jon08]

Ok so I'm about to clone my SSD with OS X to my 1TB external drive (WD).

But before I do that, I'd like to ask quick question about partitioning: currently, my external drive doesn't have any partition - it's all one big 1TB drive with 740GB data on it.

I would like to know if it is possible to make a 120GB partition on the remaining 260GB of unused space?

I definitely don't want to lose the data that's currently on, that's why I'd only like to make a partition that the CCC will be using to clone my 120GB SSD. How to do that?

Or is CCC set up to automatically clone the SSD (OS X) to the remaining free space on the external HDD without touching the data on it?

 

[Weaselboy]

I would like to know if it is possible to make a 120GB partition on the remaining 260GB of unused space?

Yes... just go to the partition section of disk utility and grab the /// area I highlighted in my screen grab. Drag that up to shrink the size of the existing partition. You can then add one or more new partitions to the bottom free area.

 

[jon08]

Hmm, but I don't have the /// thing. My 1TB HDD is selected with the blue frame and it's white inside this frame.....

 

[Weaselboy]

Hmm, but I don't have the /// thing. My 1TB HDD is selected with the blue frame and it's white inside this frame.....

I'm rereading your original post and I just noticed you said you have no partition at all now? You will need to click at the top where it says "current" and change that to two or three or however many you want.

 

[jon08]

I have no partition as it is right now... Just 740GB of data on my external HDD.

Wouldn't creating several partition erase it then?

 

[Weaselboy]

I have no partition as it is right now... Just 740GB of data on my external HDD.

Wouldn't creating several partition erase it then?

You can resize the partition like I described in the first post without losing data, but form some reason that option is not showing up for you. How is the external drive formatted now? If might be in DOS/FAT32 and that is why you can't resize.

 

[jon08]

It's formatted to NTFS... And under Partition Map Scheme it says Master Boot Record.

 

[Weaselboy]

It's formatted to NTFS... And under Partition Map Scheme it says Master Boot Record.

Ahhh.... that is the problem! OS XDisk Util cannot resize a NTFS volume. Can you copy the data from the external to your internal, then reformat the external to OS X Extended with the partitions like you want... then move the data back to the external?

You will need to install a utility to allow OS X to use the NTFS drive.

 

[jon08]

I already have Paragon NTFS installed though, so I can write on that disk as well... Hmm, transferring the data is not really an option here.

 

[Weaselboy]

I already have Paragon NTFS installed though, so I can write on that disk as well... Hmm, transferring the data is not really an option here.

Sorry I'm not more help. I have not used NTFS under OS X. Does Paragon maybe have a way to resize the partition nondestructably?

 

[DewGuy1999]

I believe that Carbon Copy Cloner requires a hard drive be formatted as Mac OS Extended (HFS+).

 

[GGJstudios]

I believe that Carbon Copy Cloner requires a hard drive be formatted as Mac OS Extended (HFS+).

That is true. As I posted earlier in this thread (post #24), HFS+ is required for Time Machine or Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper! backups.