CCC Backup + Data Storage on external HDD

[gummy3]

Happy Holidays everyone!

I have a bit of a noob question for you guys... I have a 2011 Macbook Air with 128GB HDD.

I recently purchased two (2) new external hard drives - 3TB each. I've formatted them both to HFS+.

Drive #1 is to serve as my primary data storage for all of my media (music, videos, photos, etc).

Drive #2 is to serve as my backup to Drive #1... I will be using Carbon Copy Cloner for my backup purposes.

However, I would also like to backup my Macbook Air internal 128GB HDD on a periodic basis. What would be the best way for me to do so?

1) Should I use Drive #1, re-partition it into 2 partitions (2.8TB + 0.128TB), using the 2.8TB partition for my media storage, and the 0.128TB partition for MBA HDD backup. And then use Drive #2, re-partition it into 2 partitions (same as Drive #1), and back-up the media on Drive #1, as well as Drive #1's backup clone of the MBA HDD?

or:

2) Should I use Drive #1, use only a single partition, and combine all of my media files/data with my MBA HDD backup data? And then use Drive #2 (as a single partition) to clone everything on Drive #1?

or:

3) Is there any other better way to do this?

- Side question: Do I need to have 2 separate partitions on my external hard drive in order to clone/backup my MBA HDD while also storing my media files? Or can I just lump them all together onto the same partition?

* Side note: I plan to backup Drive #1 onto Drive #2 at least weekly or bi-weekly. I plan to backup my MBA HDD onto Drive #1 at least every 2-3 days.


Any help would be greatly appreciated - I'm hesitant to throw anything onto my new external HDD's at the moment until I decide how to proceed with partitioning these drives for my backup and storage purposes.

Thanks so much!!

 

[Weaselboy]

1) Should I use Drive #1, re-partition it into 2 partitions (2.8TB + 0.128TB), using the 2.8TB partition for my media storage, and the 0.128TB partition for MBA HDD backup. And then use Drive #2, re-partition it into 2 partitions (same as Drive #1), and back-up the media on Drive #1, as well as Drive #1's backup clone of the MBA HDD?

This is how I would do it. You need a separate partition for any CCC destination.

I use a variation of what you are doing. I leave Time Machine on to do continuous backups to an external drive (Time Capsule). Then once a week or so use CCC to clone to a second USB external drive.

 

[robgendreau]

I'd think the small boot drive backup might be a problem, unless you're cloning. But that has its own risks over the alternative, a TM backup. But if you don't need versioning, I guess it would work fine for you.