format passport

[SR 7]

So i just bought a My Passport Ultra 1TB 3.0/2.0 to backup my current hard drive and want to make sure I format to the correct settings so I can use a program to back up my mac.

It is an 08' Late MacBook and if I recall I can use Time Machine to back up my entire HD correct? does it act as a bootable HD or just a storage?

Also, what setting do I format it so I can use Time Machine or another program for backing it up? It currently is in windows only format.

 

[Weaselboy]

Start Disk Utility and go to the erase tab and select the new drive. Then select Mac OS Extended (Journaled) as the format and name the drive whatever you want. Then apply the settings by clicking erase to format the drive.

TM does backup the entire drive and you can boot to the TM disk to restore to a new drive for example. But you cannot boot to the TM backup drive and actually run the computer that way. You can only boot to it to restore.

 

[Dark Void]

Hi SR 7,

Weaselboy has it covered, but just for reassurance in order of your questions - You can use Time Machine to back up your entire HD. You can even partition the external drive into two or more sections and just use one section of the drive as the backup. It is not bootable, but it can be used for recovery as mentioned, and "applying" to a new internal drive.

You're going to want to use Mac OS Extended (Journaled) for the Time Machine backup. If you want to use the method of partitioning the drive, here is an example:

1 TB external drive partitioned into two equal partitions would be two 500GB "sections" on the drive (usable space will be less, and all of this can be accomplished in the Partition tab of Disk Utility). One 500GB can be Mac OS Extended (Journaled) for your Time Machine backup, and the other can also be MOSE(J) or ExFAT (if you are planning on using it with a non-mac computer as well) as a simple file storage. This way, you are not using the entire drive as simply a Time Machine backup if it is unnecessary.

I hope this helps.

 

[SR 7]

thanks guys, I did it as a full back up since I don't want to risk carrying it as half storage and damage it or lose it since it will defeat the purpose of a safety net.

1) does the TM save it as a complete "as is state?" For ex. if I had browsers open in safari at the time of the back up, it would have it as it is, with browsers open?

2) lets say I have files A-Z, and when I come to do another back up next week and in the mean time i deleted file M, will the back up also remove file "M" from the previous back up? or it leaves the previous back up as it is, and just adds anything that is "new" to the back up?

 

[Weaselboy]

1. I know it would save bookmarks and cookies and such, but I don't really know if it would save open tabs/window state. One would think so, but I don't know of anyone that has ever tested this.

2. It would not delete file M. That file would be preserved in the old TM backups as long as there was enough disk space on the TM drive. It adds new and preserves old files both.

 

[Dayv]

1) does the TM save it as a complete "as is state?" For ex. if I had browsers open in safari at the time of the back up, it would have it as it is, with browsers open?

When I replaced my wife's hard drive after a crash, it did restore her browser state. I was pretty impressed. I can't guarantee this always gets saved, or works with all browsers.