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Should I partition my external hard drive?

J

jsmac

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 20, 2005
9
0
Hello,

I just purchased a Lacie 160GB external hard drive that I am going to be using for extra storage for my G4. I am mainly going to be storing photoshop and imovie files and will sometimes be working in these programs on files that are in my external hard drive.

Is there any advantage to partioning the hard drive or if it is just for storage should I leave it in one big section? If I should partition it how many and what size are advisable?

Also does anyone know the difference between the Mac Os Extended and the Mac OS Extended (journaled) modes?

Thanks a lot for any insight. :)
 
As far as partitioning goes, it's totally up to you. If it's just for storage, then there is probabily not a definate advantage to partitioning it. Although, I have my second hard drive partitioned, but that was originally so my wife could have her own seperate place to store large files that would take up room on my main drive and I could have a seperate partition as well.

I believe that MacOS Extended (journaled) helps in indexing the hard drive and makes searching faster. I could be wrong however but I feel like I remember hearing that a while ago though.
 
You don't need to. No real advantage, unless you will be needed to wipe the drive a lot because of massive files and it doesn't sound like you need to do that.
 
Thanks

Thanks for all of your answers they were very helpful!!!1 :)
 
You may want to.
Because without a partition you will not be able to use it!! :p

But I see no need to create more than one partition...
 
Same Question, Different Goal - Plus Tiger consids

I have just received a LaCie 250GB d2 Extreme (triple interface, will use FW800), to be used with my 17in G4 PB (1.33 GHz, 512MB, 80GB HD). My original intent was to partition the external drive so that there is an 80GB partition for direct backup of the laptop drive, with all remaining space as a second partition for music storage (time to transfer the CD collection). I've also ordered Tiger from Apple and expect it on Friday. The questions:

1. My primary question is the need for partitioning the external drive at all. I would like it to be bootable; I would also like a simple backup process (sync-type backup of laptop hard drive). If I were to NOT partition it, would I set up two main folders on the drive (i.e. /PB17 Backup and /Music)? Is the /PB17 Backup folder then 'bootable'? Also, would backups disturb the /Music folder?

2. I intend to use Carbon Copy to create the backup and will do so before installing Tiger on the PB. Does anyone who has received Tiger know if Carbon Copy works under 10.4? Are there better alternatives?

3. If partitions are beneficial, do I just plug in the external HD (follow the LaCie instructions), then go to Disk Utility, and then follow partitioning instructions? Any tricks/quirks/whatevers that a longtime forums lurker should note?

Thanks much for any assistance...
 
sonictruth said:
1. My primary question is the need for partitioning the external drive at all. I would like it to be bootable; I would also like a simple backup process (sync-type backup of laptop hard drive). If I were to NOT partition it, would I set up two main folders on the drive (i.e. /PB17 Backup and /Music)? Is the /PB17 Backup folder then 'bootable'? Also, would backups disturb the /Music folder?
Click to expand...

That's what I bought my 250GB LaCie for. I did partition it into a 80GB for the PB back up and the remainder to use for 'stuff' now and in the future. The reason for doing this is that unless you are doing incremental backups, many cloning utilities erase the drive/partition that they're backing up onto before they start.

2. I intend to use Carbon Copy to create the backup and will do so before installing Tiger on the PB. Does anyone who has received Tiger know if Carbon Copy works under 10.4? Are there better alternatives?
Click to expand...

I don't have Tiger but I've read a few reports suggesting that CCC doesn't work with 10.4. I use SuperDuper to make a bootable backup. It's free to do 'erase and simply backup' or $20 to get access to incremental backups and being able to 'roll back' to points in the OS.

3. If partitions are beneficial, do I just plug in the external HD (follow the LaCie instructions), then go to Disk Utility, and then follow partitioning instructions? Any tricks/quirks/whatevers that a longtime forums lurker should note?
Click to expand...

Pretty much - don't recall any particular quirks. Just remember to unplug the external drives when running OS updates (Tiger or the .4.x updates).
 
Applespider said:
Just remember to unplug the external drives when running OS updates (Tiger or the .4.x updates).
Click to expand...


I haven't heard this before. What happens? Is it just a precautionary measure to make sure the update doesn't wipe your data like Panther did for FW800 drives?
 
mad jew said:
I haven't heard this before. What happens? Is it just a precautionary measure to make sure the update doesn't wipe your data like Panther did for FW800 drives?
Click to expand...

Not sure but I assume so. I only remember because when 10.3.8 came out (around the time I got my FW drive), Apple recommended unplugging it while installing the upgrade and this Knowledge Base article suggests doing the same for 10.3.9. I figure better safe than sorry...
 
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