External hard drive / time machine issues

jonathan_w · jonathan_w #1 (**permalink**)

09-08-2009, 02:10 AM

Hey, I have a dual booted (bootcamp) Mac book pro. I also have a TB external hard drive that has files and programs from both windows and mac sides on it. I was hoping to use this hd to do a time machine backup on but wasn't sure what it would do to the files already on it and if I would still be able to save files on the pc side to it. Anyone know?

chscag · chscag #2 (**permalink**)

09-08-2009, 03:00 PM

In order to use any drive with Time Machine it must be formatted to the Mac HFS + file system. What you can do is partition the drive. Reserve one partition for Windows using FAT-32 which is compatible with OS X for read and write as well as Windows. The other partition should be formatted to HFS + and reserved for Time Machine.

Use Disk Utility to do the partitioning and formatting.

Regards.

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jonathan_w #1 (permalink)
Member Since: Sep 08, 2009 Posts: 2	09-08-2009, 02:10 AM Hey, I have a dual booted (bootcamp) Mac book pro. I also have a TB external hard drive that has files and programs from both windows and mac sides on it. I was hoping to use this hd to do a time machine backup on but wasn't sure what it would do to the files already on it and if I would still be able to save files on the pc side to it. Anyone know?
	QUOTE Thanks

chscag #2 (permalink)
Member Since: Jan 23, 2008 Location: Fort Worth, Texas Posts: 32,028 Mac Specs: 21.5" iMac 2.5 GHz i5, iPad 3rd Gen., 3 iPods	09-08-2009, 03:00 PM In order to use any drive with Time Machine it must be formatted to the Mac HFS + file system. What you can do is partition the drive. Reserve one partition for Windows using FAT-32 which is compatible with OS X for read and write as well as Windows. The other partition should be formatted to HFS + and reserved for Time Machine. Use Disk Utility to do the partitioning and formatting. Regards.
	QUOTE Thanks

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