Partition External Drive?

[ohla313]

I just bought a LaCie 1TB External Hard Drive to use with my MacBook Pro and was wondering how I would go about in partitioning it?

I would like to split it even (500GB/500GB) one section for Time Machine and the other for media and misc.

Would the LaCie show up as two drives on my desktop then if I create a partition?

Thank you!

 

[Hellhammer]

Yes, it would show up as two separate disks if you partition it. However, there is no need to do that unless you need to use two file formats.

 

[ohla313]

But doesn't Time Machine prevent your drive from being editable? I currently use an external for Time Machine and it won't allow me to manually delete backups. Just for sure I'd prefer partitioning it so I can keep them from overlapping.

 

[old-wiz]

If you are going to use the drive for Time Machine, it's definitely a good idea to partition it so that time machine has its own partition.

If you have a single partition and use it for Time Machine and other stuff, eventually Time Machine will fill the drive and you won't be able to add your other stuff. I have time machine on an external in a separate partition and other partition is storage.

 

[fungus]

Dedicated partition for Time Machine, absolutely.

 

[ohla313]

Great! Now I feel this is the right move. Earlier I was thinking of buying two separate drives, one for media and one for Time Machine but the Partition seems the cheaper and practical way!

...so how do I do this?

 

[fungus]

Just use Disk Utility.

 

[ohla313]

Does it just show partition and I go through the steps? I need to erase the drive and then partition correct? I can select how I'd like the space split?

 

[fungus]

Sorry... I've done this dozens of times, but I can't remember all the steps unless I'm looking at it

Open Disk Utility and select the drive in the list on the left. Choose the Partition tab on the right. From the Volume Scheme dropdown choose 2 Partitions. Name each and set one at 500GB (the other will re-size accordingly). Under Format choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Click apply, and it will automatically erase the drive before formatting. When it's done you should get a pop-up dialogue for each partition asking if you like to use it for Time Machine. Just click OK for the one you want to use.

 

[ohla313]

Wonderful. sounds good. Can't wait to set this baby up!

 

[ohla313]

Also I forgot to ask, how can I move my previous backups from my current external Time Machine to a new drive?

 

[ohla313]

which partition scheme do I use? Should I erase the drive first before partitioning??

EDIT: Ok so I just partitioned the drive. I set one up in Mac OS Extended Journaled for Time Machine and then the other with MS DOS FAT so I can put media from Windows or my Mac.

The problem is, should I have erased the drive first so that the LaCie setup assistant would be gone? It is gone but I am seeing in the Time Machine partition that there are 40 files on it but I don't see any when I open the drive in Finder..