time machine - size of backup

[superspud]

I want to set up time machine but i do not have TONS of space on my external. I keep just the apps and files i use, listen to or watch often on my computer, everything else is on my external. I want to set up time machine but as i said, my space is limited.

when time machine backs everything up, does it take up the same amount of space as the origional documents?

for example, if i have 40 gigs of stuff on my macbook that i want time machine to backup on my external, will it require 40 gigs of space? or is it just a compressed version of everything?

edit, i think i put this in the wrong section, please move if needed.

 

[swiftaw]

Time Machine backups will take up as much spaces as it has access to, so if you have a 250gb external, eventually it will fill all 250gb.

 

[Dimwhit]

for example, if i have 40 gigs of stuff on my macbook that i want time machine to backup on my external, will it require 40 gigs of space? or is it just a compressed version of everything?

Your 40 gigs of stuff on your MB will take up 40 gigs (give or take a few megs) on the external. It then adds from there.

You can always choose to exclude a bunch of stuff. If you only want Time Machine to back up your documents, you can exclude all the apps, system folder, etc.

 

[superspud]

oh wow ok. so its probably best to dedicate a seperate HD just for time machine? i hage two, a 320 and a 120... i have my stuff spread all over both HD's at the time being, pix on one and video/music on the other, most of which is NOT on my macbook. as mentioned, the only thing i have on my computer are applications and photos for iphoto with just a few songs i listen to, everything else is on my hard drives...

i guess maybe i dont need to use time machine....

 

[swiftaw]

oh wow ok. so its probably best to dedicate a seperate HD just for time machine?

You have no choice in the matter, Time Machine needs its own dedicated partition. You cannot put a time machine backup on a partition that already contains files. (Well, you can, but it will erase the partition first)

 

[superspud]

You have no choice in the matter, Time Machine needs its own dedicated partition. You cannot put a time machine backup on a partition that already contains files. (Well, you can, but it will erase the partition first)

oh wow, i had no idea it was like that... looks like its time to head to fry's to pick up another HD...

 

[kashmoney2006]

You have no choice in the matter, Time Machine needs its own dedicated partition. You cannot put a time machine backup on a partition that already contains files. (Well, you can, but it will erase the partition first)

Not true. I have time machine backing up to a drive with other files on it. but i also have unsupported volumes enabled. although, i have not used time machine any other way so it may be that you must enable this option to do this.

 

[adamfishercox]

Time Machine will backup whatever files you choose. It will take up as much space as those files require. Whenever a change is made, Time Machine saves that file again (So you might want to exclude big files like your iPhoto 08 Library.)

 

[mikeyPotg]

This may be a dumb long winded question, but here goes...
I've always backed up all of my MP3's and Pictures on my external harddrive.
With time machine, do I no longer have to do that? If somehow my comp gets formatted, will time machine bring back ALL of my mp3's and pictures (along with all my other settings/programs)?
Or do I still have to keep all of my mp3's and pictures stored separately from time machine?

 

[adamfishercox]

Time Machine backs up all of your files unless you tell it not to. So yes, it should back up your music in any regular circumstance.

 

[Phil A.]

You have no choice in the matter, Time Machine needs its own dedicated partition. You cannot put a time machine backup on a partition that already contains files. (Well, you can, but it will erase the partition first)

Not true - Time Machine needs Mac OS Extended partition to work and if you select a FAT32 one it will need to erase it first. However, if the partition is already Mac OS Extended then it will quite happily co-exist with other files that are on there