HD Partitioning vs Time Machine

[karansaraf]

Owner of a new MBP here. First time mac user.

I'm not too sure of how and what Time Machine backs up, so I'm asking this question.

Normally on all my windows machines, I've always partitioned the main hard drive into an OS partition (where the OS and all installed programs reside) and a Data partition (where I keep all my music, documents, pictures, videos etc in case the OS partition dies/crashes/corrupts) so that my valuable data isn't lost.

Do I need to do this with my OS X HD or does Time Machine back up all documents and files as well as OS settings?

If Time Machine does indeed duplicate all the other data then of course a partition is not necessary, but if it doesn't then I guess I will need to partition to increase redundancy (as well as having a lot of my data backed up on an external as well).

In the latter case, can someone recommend a good HD partition program that is free?

 

[Daniel97]

OSX Disk Utility will partition your drive no problems.

I have an external HD which is 50/50 partitioned.

I use one side for Time Machine and the other side for Carbon Clone backups .. a programme which is also free It makes a 100% bootable replica of your drive

 

[simsaladimbamba]

First: Time Machine backs up everything it can see, and that is all your user data too. It will not backup what you explicitly exclude in System Preferences > Time Machine > Options.
Time Machine will create one folder called "backups.backupdb" on the external HDD you chose to backup to. You can use the rest of the drive to store data, but that data will not be backed up by Time Machine.
Time Machine FAQ

Second: Macintosh HD / Applications / Utilities / Disk Utility can format and partition internal and external HDDs for free.

Third: There is no need to partition the internal drive, as you can restore easily from a TM backup and if you have to reinstall Mac OS X again, you will not lose any of your data, unless you tell the installer to do so.

Fourth: You can also look into cloning, which means you make a 1:1 copy of your Macintosh HD to an external HDD and can use it as bootable device during troubleshooting.
CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper can do that for you.

Fifth:
Look here to learn more about Mac OS X and battery care:

Helpful Information for Any Mac User by GGJstudios​

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This should answer most, if not all, of your battery questions:
Apple Notebook Battery FAQ by GGJstudios
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