Time Machine - Using One Drive for Multiple Macs?

I think a partition will be required.

 

you do not need a partition

i have three MBPs backing up wirelessly through an iMac with a FW800 attached drive.

you have to make sure that the MBP's autologon to that drive at logon otherwise timemachine wont see them.

 

TM will make a folder on the drive with the name of each computer. So it can keep it all straight without partitioning. However each folder will grow in size over time until the disk is full. There is nothign to stop one folder from "hogging" all the space. If you partition the drive then each folder is contained within a fixed partition. So it could work either way.

 

I'm pretty sure it creates the backup folder with the name of the computer along with the MAC address so it's unique. Should be safe.