Getting ready for time machine. Have external HDD, what next?

[amakh007]

I already have a WD 500GB external. I have used about 150GB for HDV video footage. Can I use part of the drive for time machine? Do I have to do anything else to it (partition, etc). How?
Thanks!!

 

[juanster]

i don't think you do

 

[amakh007]

i don't think you do

So if I plug the drive in, it should just time machine with the rest of the drive, but not overwrite/reformat what I have on it??

 

[Slip]

I don't think it'll overwrite anything, once it gets to a point where it has no room left it'll probably notify you that its out of room and start to overwrite the oldest TM entry.
Don't quote me on that though, Im sure one of the more knowledgable members will know

 

[naftalim]

From everything I have seen, you need a dedicated partition for Time Machine. It makes sense for you to copy the data on your external into your internal, partition the drive using Disk Utility and then have one set for Time Machine only

From Macworld Review "The one big catch is, the entire volume must be devoted to Time Machine—you can’t just stow Time Machine files inside a folder on a larger volume."

 

[amakh007]

From everything I have seen, you need a dedicated partition for Time Machine. It makes sense for you to copy the data on your external into your internal, partition the drive using Disk Utility and then have one set for Time Machine only

From Macworld Review "The one big catch is, the entire volume must be devoted to Time Machine—you can’t just stow Time Machine files inside a folder on a larger volume."

Thanks for the info. So to partition a drive you have to reformat? I can't just partition the external into two and leave the half with my HDV untouched?