Time Machine, what size drive would I need?

[fuziwuzi]

wasn't sure if this was a software or hardware questions.

i am getting a mac soon, and will be using a portable USB drive for time machine backups. what is the best size drive?? i was considering a 160GB drive, and hope someone can tell me if that will be big enough. i will be limiting my backups through time machine options. to be exact i will mostly be updating my university work and little else. at this point i am unsure how much space my uni work will take up, but i tend to download alot of PDF articles for my assessment (maybe 500mb).

but don't know exactly how time machine works, and don't know how much space i will. also i am unsure how i change which folders are updated, but i hope it's flexible.

cheers

 

[edesignuk]

Totally depends, at a minimum it should equal the size of the drive you're backing up. The bigger the better though, the more space you have the further back in time you can go.

 

[fuziwuzi]

okey, thanks. i am getting a 200gb drive in my mac/MBP. so maybe i should a 250gb time machine drive. but notebook drives cost a premium in australia. i don't want a 3.5inch time machine drive because i will be mobile alot and don't always have access to power for a drive.

 

[kfordham281]

I'd consider getting a larger TM drive than 250GB if you're going to have a 200GB drive. One good thing about TM is that you can do an entire drive restore if necessary. If you were to set TM to do that, you aren't leaving much space for TM backups.

 

[fuziwuzi]

i don't think i have a need for full backups, cause i need the drive to be portable, therefore just my uni work is important.

can i trim down the backup to be able to use a smaller drive?

 

[kfordham281]

Just go into TM then and start excluding folders you don't want it to backup. If all you want to backup is pure data, then exclude the systems folder and whatever else you don't need. You won't be able to do a full restore from backup, but that's not what you are wanting to use it for anyways.

 

[fuziwuzi]

awesome, that is what i wanted to know

i'd buy you a beer if you were in australia