setting up a new external drive for "Time machine" - Mac-Forums.com

Dad2b · 05-24-2009, 07:01 PM

Just bought a Hitachi desk star 160 gb hard drive.

what i would like to do is add it toi my mac mini as a extra drive for music etc and to have a % of it as my "Time machine" drive.

what i need you guys for is....!

how can i set it up as a extra drive with a 'time machine "folder for the back ups to go to, leaving the rest for music etc ??

thanks

Luke

Jaygray · 05-24-2009, 09:28 PM

I believe you could partition the drive and then use a portion for TM.

Also, you can allow TM to use the entire drive and still use it as a regular external drive. As long as the drive doesn't fill up completely (which could be a problem with a 160gb drive) it will work perfectly. It would just depend on how much you are planning on backing up with TM. 160gb isn't as big as it used to be.

I've been backing my 160gb MB up on my 500gb Time Capsule using TM and also using it as an external drive for a year now. It works perfectly.

iPod Nano · 05-24-2009, 09:32 PM

I have 120 GB Laptop that I have been using for months without running out of space. I would consider 160 GB to be plenty. Why is it a problem?

Dad2b · 05-25-2009, 09:03 AM

the size is not a problem !!! My work files amount to 10gb max !!

what i want is to have the drive show as a external. with a dedicated folder inside named "time machine" then set the time machine settings to only update certain files etc

cheers for all you help

luke

Jaygray · 05-25-2009, 09:25 AM

You can't assign TM to a folder. It insists on reading and writing to the root directory. However, this should not be a problem.

The TM backup is stored in a "sparsebundle", which basically shows up like a single folder in the root directory on the drive. As long as you leave this one item alone in the root directory, you can read and write freely. Whether TM creates the sparsebundle, or you create a folder for it, either way, it's doing the same thing, and it will appear basically the same in Finder. Don't worry about TM cluttering your Finder with hundreds of backup files. It only shows up as a single item, just like a folder would.

To summarize, everything you describe in the above post will happen automatically, with the exception of being able to rename the TM backup "Time Machine". It will be called "(name of your Mac + a few numbers + sparsebundle)"

Not sure what the OS X term for "root directory" is... (one parent level above the User folder)

Dad2b · 05-25-2009, 04:59 PM

Ok.... i have managed to change its name but it still has the "time machine" icon. then just put in 3 new named folders and set one to work with my "i Tunes"

i think it works !! unless someone knows different ?

TennsDog · 07-02-2009, 05:52 PM

Is there any way to set up Time Machine such that it does not keep backing up until the disk is full? I have a terabyte hard drive with a bunch of stuff on it already. Is it possible to start using it now with Time Machine and not have any problems?

torchy · 07-03-2009, 09:54 PM

Rule of thumb for the size of a Time Machine drive is twice the size of the computers HD so it will back up for a year or so before deleting. TM will continue to backup until the drive or it's partition is full. OS Point updates and other software updates obviously make for larger TM backups immediately after.
250gb HD = 500gb TM drive.

I honestly wouldn't put anything else on a small 160gb drive.

Kash · 07-03-2009, 11:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dad2b

Ok.... i have managed to change its name but it still has the "time machine" icon. then just put in 3 new named folders and set one to work with my "i Tunes"

i think it works !! unless someone knows different ?

You managed to change it, but does it still work?