Just got Leopard, Time Machine Question

[vp719]

Just got leopard this morning and am setting up Time Machine, 2 questions:
1. I was planning on using my External that i've had for a few months now for it, but it says during setup that it's going to reformat it - so i'm going to lose everything i have on there? and way to avoid that?

2. If i go buy a new external just for TM, how much memory should be on it?

Thanks, Merry Christmas

 

[swiftaw]

Just got leopard this morning and am setting up Time Machine, 2 questions:
1. I was planning on using my External that i've had for a few months now for it, but it says during setup that it's going to reformat it - so i'm going to lose everything i have on there? and way to avoid that?

2. If i go buy a new external just for TM, how much memory should be on it?

Thanks, Merry Christmas

You could partition your external, and use one partition for time machine, leaving the other partition untouched.

If you buy a new hard drive, get a big a one as you can afford.

 

[TheStu]

Just got leopard this morning and am setting up Time Machine, 2 questions:
1. I was planning on using my External that i've had for a few months now for it, but it says during setup that it's going to reformat it - so i'm going to lose everything i have on there? and way to avoid that?

2. If i go buy a new external just for TM, how much memory should be on it?

Thanks, Merry Christmas

1: The external has to be in the HFS+ format, so that is the reason

2: I'm with the guy above me, get as large a drive as you can afford, but the general rule of thumb would be to get one that is about 1.5-2 times as large as your internal drive (at least). So if you have a 100GB hard drive in your computer, get a 150-200GB external.

And, a tiny little, niggling issue.... memory is almost solely used to refer to RAM, you meant to ask, 'how much space/storage should be on it?'