Newbie Questions

[U2Boy]

I am not totally new to Mac, but have some questions.

I have an Imac with a 1TB hard drive. I want to add an external hard drive to give me more space, but also want to use Time Machine or another backup method. I don't want time machine to use up all of the space. Can time machine pull from 2 drives? If I partition the external drive and also use my internal hard drive for data, can time machine pull from both drives?

My other question is, how do most people back up home movie video after burning a dvd. I use Imovie and then IDVD, but then I only have one DVD of the video. Instead of saving all of the raw video, should I make a disk image or back up the TS files? My kids may scratch the dvds and I want to be able to have a copy of the project so I can reburn at a later date if I have to. Basically I want the option to be able to reburn my exact IDVD projects at a later date if the original DVDs get ruined.

Thanks,
Matt

 

[jbg232]

For the time machine question:

You can back up as many drives as you want to time machine as long as they are not the same drive as the time machine. Example: If I have a 500gb internal and 500gb external hard drive, I can use a separate 2TB time machine drive to backup both of these to the 2Tb external drive. However, you cannot have a 500gb internal and 2TB external with 2 partitions (one for backup and one for time machine) as time machine will not allow you to backup to its own physical drive. This is by design.

 

[Sonhascome]

I am not totally new to Mac, but have some questions.

I have an Imac with a 1TB hard drive. I want to add an external hard drive to give me more space, but also want to use Time Machine or another backup method. I don't want time machine to use up all of the space. Can time machine pull from 2 drives? If I partition the external drive and also use my internal hard drive for data, can time machine pull from both drives?

My other question is, how do most people back up home movie video after burning a dvd. I use Imovie and then IDVD, but then I only have one DVD of the video. Instead of saving all of the raw video, should I make a disk image or back up the TS files? My kids may scratch the dvds and I want to be able to have a copy of the project so I can reburn at a later date if I have to. Basically I want the option to be able to reburn my exact IDVD projects at a later date if the original DVDs get ruined.

Thanks,
Matt

like the other guy said just partition your hard drive and you'll be fine. I have a macbook pro with 500gb hard drive and a 1tb external that's partitioned for time machine as well as storing excess music and videos and whatever else.

 

[rkaufmann87]

Matt,

As a general rule it is very foolish to use a backup drive for ANYTHING but backup. The reason being is if that drive fails (and it eventually will) you will have lost not only your backup but any data stored on it. If you want to be wise then use physically separate EHD's for backup and data. On my iMac I have 3 external HD's connected, all via FW800. Disk #1 is for Time Machine, Disk #2 is for SuperDuper to create a bootable clone, Disk #3 has my photo, music and movie libraries on it.

EHD's are inexpensive so there really isn't any reason to Not do this. Anyone that suggests partitioning a backup HD for additional use is foolish and hasn't been burned yet. When they are they will then see the light, IMHO it's better to be wise by planning for the worst and hoping for the best.

Finally as the others have said TM will backup EHDs unless you tell it NOT to. If you have an external HD or other files or folders you don't want backed up then use the TM Preferences to choose those.

 

[Sirolway]

matt,

as a general rule it is very foolish to use a backup drive for anything but backup

+1 ...

 

[U2Boy]

Thanks. So if I buy a 1TB EHD for additional files, I should then buy a 2nd one for a total back up of my internal and EHD? So time machine would back up my internal and my EHD #1? That would mean that if my internal and EHD #1 equal 2TB total, I would need a 2TB EHD for my Time Machine drive? Also, do you store most of your files on EHD or internal? Sounded like music movies etc was stored on your EHD.

Thanks!

 

[Tomorrow]

Thanks. So if I buy a 1TB EHD for additional files, I should then buy a 2nd one for a total back up of my internal and EHD?

Yes.

So time machine would back up my internal and my EHD #1?

Yes.

That would mean that if my internal and EHD #1 equal 2TB total, I would need a 2TB EHD for my Time Machine drive?

At the bare minimum. Many people have recommended a Time Machine volume equal to 1.5x the volume(s) you're backing up.

Also, do you store most of your files on EHD or internal?

Speaking for myself, nearly all of my data is on the internal drive. I have a NAS in a RAID 1 configuration with non-critical data that isn't backed up beyond the RAID.

 

[U2Boy]

Thanks for the clarification. I guess the difficulty for me is that my Imovie files are so large the eat up my internal drive. I am trying to look for a way to archive them and not take up my entire drive.

 

[Tomorrow]

Thanks for the clarification. I guess the difficulty for me is that my Imovie files are so large the eat up my internal drive. I am trying to look for a way to archive them and not take up my entire drive.

Were they ripped from a camera, or from a DVD? There might be a possibility of simply using the physical storage as the backup, but as others have said, external drives have gotten much more affordable over the past couple of years.

 

[U2Boy]

Some are raw .mts files (High Def) and just a couple of Imovie projects take up 600GB. I am looking for a good way to compress them for archiving so they don't take up the entire drive.

 

[velocityg4]

Personally I don't like Time Machine. It fills up a drive with old files that are no longer wanted. Plus I've seen numerous instances were it has filled up a drive and stopped functioning rather than deleting old backups or stops recognizing the backup file and wants to create a new complete backup. Either scenario requires you to either buy another drive or wipe the backup and hope your main drives do not fail during the new initial backup.

I prefer a program like Carbon Copy Cloner. That way you have an exact bootable duplicate. Files you delete get removed from the backup. You can keep up and running when the boot drive fails and awaiting a replacement.

Which brings me to a second part of a good backup plan. It is advisable to rotate two backup drives. That way if you main drive fails then you are not left without a backup. As your former backup drive is now the sole source of data. If it fails before restoring that backup then everything is lost. It could just have some bad sectors meaning you lose whatever data is in those sectors.

When rotating them keep one in a fire and water resistant safe that is bolted to the floor, better yet keep one off site. One or a hundred backups are useless if they are all lost or destroyed due to theft, fire or other disaster. Then rotate them daily, weekly or monthly. Pending on how sensitive the data is.

At the bare minimum. Many people have recommended a Time Machine volume equal to 1.5x the volume(s) you're backing up.

1.5x would be a good idea but it definitely does need to be bigger than the data stored. Time Machine won't even run if the backup drive and data to be backed up are nearly the same. Time Machine needs room to sort files.