I have just bought my first mac, and would like to buy an external drive to use for time machine. The one I had decided to break as soon as I had transfered my files onto my mac. Luckily, I got everything I needed.
Anyway...so I'm looking for a new drive, and was wondering what I should do.
Can the drive used for time machine be used for other things as well? For example, If I bought a 500GB hard drive, I would only need a max of 120GB as this is the size of my macbook HD. Can I use the other 380GB on the external drive to use with other computers, and transfer files like that? Even PC's? Does time machine create it's own folder on the external drive? So others can be created on it?
Alternatively could the 500GB external drive be partitioned into separate bits, and then could I choose one specific partition to be used for time machine? And another partition, for example, for a bootable clone of my macintosh HD?
Or, would it make more sense to buy a smaller size external drive, and use it specifically for time machine?
I am wondering, as I could get more for my money if I go for a large hard drive, but don't want to waste my money if I can't use it for anything other than time machine.
I hope this makes sense, and I hope someone can help me out. Thanks in advance.
Anyway...so I'm looking for a new drive, and was wondering what I should do.
Can the drive used for time machine be used for other things as well? For example, If I bought a 500GB hard drive, I would only need a max of 120GB as this is the size of my macbook HD. Can I use the other 380GB on the external drive to use with other computers, and transfer files like that? Even PC's? Does time machine create it's own folder on the external drive? So others can be created on it?
Alternatively could the 500GB external drive be partitioned into separate bits, and then could I choose one specific partition to be used for time machine? And another partition, for example, for a bootable clone of my macintosh HD?
Or, would it make more sense to buy a smaller size external drive, and use it specifically for time machine?
I am wondering, as I could get more for my money if I go for a large hard drive, but don't want to waste my money if I can't use it for anything other than time machine.
I hope this makes sense, and I hope someone can help me out. Thanks in advance.