I have a 500GB external HDD which is used for Time Machine backups but i would like to partition it so I can have 400 or so for time machine and the rest for just drag and drop short time stuff. What would be the best settings for this?
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Partitioning an external HDD
- Thread starter iAlexG
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Disk Utility can help you with that, but know, that partitioning an external HDD will "erase" the current data on it.
Use Mac OS Extended (Not Journaled) for both partitions and use the GUID partition table.
http://macs.about.com/od/applications/ss/diskutilformat.htm
Use Mac OS Extended (Not Journaled) for both partitions and use the GUID partition table.
http://macs.about.com/od/applications/ss/diskutilformat.htm
Sorry to hijack the thread but what if I dont want to delete everything that is on the HD. I have just moved to Boston and basically copied stuff from an IMac and Windows laptop including raw home video direct from my camcorder into the the HD before I left. I now have purchased a MacBPro and want to setup time machine to backup my new data regularly.
Can I do the partitioning using Disk Utility without affecting what is already on the HD?
Any help would be much appreciated.
Can I do the partitioning using Disk Utility without affecting what is already on the HD?
Any help would be much appreciated.
No, but Time Machine only uses one folder on an external HDD and has no problem with other existing, created by the user, folders.
But if your external HDD is not in the right format (file system), you have to re-format the HDD to Mac OS XExtended (HFS+) to use it as a Time Machine, but that will make you lose all your data on it. You could copy it to the MBP's HDD and then format and partition and then copy back.
But if your external HDD is not in the right format (file system), you have to re-format the HDD to Mac OS XExtended (HFS+) to use it as a Time Machine, but that will make you lose all your data on it. You could copy it to the MBP's HDD and then format and partition and then copy back.