How large of an External do I need for Leopard?

[Enterprise8875]

I have a PowerBook G4 with a 120gb hard drive right now. How large of an external would be reasonable for use with Time Machine?

I read on Apple's site that the larger the drive the further back in time you can go but does that mean a 350gb drive will let me go back 10 years(which would be overkill) or just 2 months? Any suggestions

 

[Ice-Cube]

I have a PowerBook G4 with a 120gb hard drive right now. How large of an external would be reasonable for use with Time Machine?

I read on Apple's site that the larger the drive the further back in time you can go but does that mean a 350gb drive will let me go back 10 years(which would be overkill) or just 2 months? Any suggestions

I think it all depends on the majority of the files that is taking up the space on your system. Of course if we are talking about movie files, backing up 10 different edited versions of one video clip would take up quite a significant space on the external drive. It also depends on your usage habits, do you find yourself searching for files you have misplaced over the weeks or are you pretty organized with your files?

On the safe side, for the average user I would recommend 30% to 40% more than their internal HD. Hence for your case, an external 160gb - 180gb should be good enough.

 

[toke lahti]

Does Time Machine use any kind of compression for backed up data?

 

[Genghis Khan]

don't think so...because it works with quicklook

it may, but that would be awesome😀

i plan on getting a 160GB external...only because i can get one for AU$86😛

 

[Pierce]

Does Time Machine use any kind of compression for backed up data?

No it doesnt. Here is a quote from the apple site.

It copies every file exactly (without compression), skipping caches and other files that aren’t required to restore your Mac to its original

 

[wordmunger]

Separate question:

If you're using your external for some storage (e.g. you keep iTunes files there), can you still use it for Time machine? Would you have to partition the drive to do it? Would the files on the external drive also be backed up (and what would the point of that be?)?

 

[itickings]

Separate question:

If you're using your external for some storage (e.g. you keep iTunes files there), can you still use it for Time machine? Would you have to partition the drive to do it? Would the files on the external drive also be backed up (and what would the point of that be?)?

You can still use it, you shouldn't have to partition it, the files on the external drive won't be backed up.

 

[VoodooDaddy]

Time Machine sounds cool, but Im still having a hard time understanding exactly how it works. Its suppose to save every file ever right? Well, wouldnt you be eating up hdd space like mad if it did that? And suppose there is stuff you do not want backed up, how can you differentiate those files from important stuff?