Time Machine: How big should the external Hard drive be?

[hdsalinas]

Hi,

My MBP has 120GB (well actually 111.47 GB according to finder) of which I am currently using 53.54GB. This number fluctuates of course as I work. During peak work periods I can get as little as 30GB free ( I usually burn projects on DVDs when I am done to recover HDD space)

So considering this, how big of a hard drive should I get for Time Machine? I was considering getting a compact 120GB to carry with me. This should cover the content of my harddrive but I dont know how much more space those incremental back ups will take up.

So how big should the extrenal drive be compared to the mac's hdd?

 

[Eidorian]

My suggestion is twice the capacity of your hard drive.

 

[Xcolored]

My suggestion is twice the capacity of your hard drive.

Yep, works the best, I have a 250GB one for my MBP. 250 is perfect size for a MBP.

Zack

 

[hdsalinas]

Ok thanks,

 

[GNice]

I'm only "using" 52 GB on my HD so I made a 125 GB parition on my external HD to act as a backup for my machine and TM filled it up in just a few days (3 or so). Looks like you have to VERY selective about what you backup...