External HDD - split up in 2 partitions?

[Nickm4N]

I'm planning on buying a external HDD for my future MBP. As I'm getting the base 15" model I only got 250 GB of space.

My idea was to partition the HDD in 2 parts, one for my Time Machine backup and one for my data (movies, music, etc).

How big do you recommend I make the 2 parts, I think I'm getting a WD 750 GB drive. How much does TM need to make decent, long-term backups ? I suppose a minimum of 250 GB ? My other data requires about 120 GB.

Any suggestions ? Thanks

 

[charlesbronsen]

Go BIG- or you will regret it later. go for 1TB and partition enough for your OS and use the rest as storage.

 

[GoCubsGo]

That 750 drive is nice but 1 TB can be had for less than $90 most days and then an enclosure for a tad more. I'd do that.

 

[Nickm4N]

Go BIG- or you will regret it later. go for 1TB and partition enough for your OS and use the rest as storage.

Hmm, but how much is enough? For a 1 TB drive for example.

 

[skorpien]

As a rule of thumb for backups, you should try to allocate twice the storage space you are backing up. So for a 250GB system, partition a 1TB into two 500GB partitions. You have to keep in mind that Time Machine backs any files that have changed, so that could easily exceed the size of the user's hard disk. Granted it depends on your usage of your machine, but that's just what I've read.

 

[Nickm4N]

As a rule of thumb for backups, you should try to allocate twice the storage space you are backing up. So for a 250GB system, partition a 1TB into two 500GB partitions. You have to keep in mind that Time Machine backs any files that have changed, so that could easily exceed the size of the user's hard disk. Granted it depends on your usage of your machine, but that's just what I've read.

Thank you, that seems like a good seperation for the drive.

Anyone else care to share its opinion?

 

[pprior]

I agree with 2x data space for TM. So if you've got a 250GB hard drive you want at least 500GB for initial TM plus if you're putting additional data externally then you need to double that as well. If that's 120GB then you're at about 400GB total, so 800 for the TM space and that will fit nicely into a 1TB drive.

Keep in mind that if you're backing up from external to external (same drive) that will be pretty slow. Definitely get a FW enclosure if you have FW on your machine.

 

[Nickm4N]

I agree with 2x data space for TM. So if you've got a 250GB hard drive you want at least 500GB for initial TM plus if you're putting additional data externally then you need to double that as well. If that's 120GB then you're at about 400GB total, so 800 for the TM space and that will fit nicely into a 1TB drive.

Keep in mind that if you're backing up from external to external (same drive) that will be pretty slow. Definitely get a FW enclosure if you have FW on your machine.

You think I should buy an internal HDD with an enclosure ? Or should I rather buy an external one?

 

[pprior]

Personally I would buy this and be done with it if it's for "desktop" use. If you want something portable, then get a 2.5" drive and firewire bus powered unit, but I don't know anything about those.

 

[skorpien]

I'd go for the one pprior linked. WD is a good company and it's easier than putting one together yourself. You probably won't save much money doing it yourself either (unless you go with super cheap parts - not recommended).