Formatting question.

Joined
Apr 27, 2009
Messages
135
Reaction score
0
Points
16
Location
Lahore, Pakistan
Your Mac's Specs
Retina Macbook Pro 2014 model, 2.6 Ghz Core i5, 8 GB Ram and 256 GB SSD
Time Machine

Hello everyone,

I got a western digital 500 GB HDD for time machine purposes but at the same time I wanted to use it for my other files like movies, music and stuff like that as I can't afford to buy another disk. Should I make a partition in that HDD or should I simply first let time machine to format the whole disk and keep files on the whole HDD?

If you guys suggest me a partition then how do we create a partition on an external HDD?

I'd really appreciate your help guys.
 
Joined
Jul 14, 2008
Messages
365
Reaction score
6
Points
18
Location
Norway
Your Mac's Specs
rMBP 15" / 2.6GHz / 16GB / 512GB
You do not HAVE to use two partitions because Time Machine creates one folder containing all backups. If I am remembering correctly. So you can just put your other files there too.

However it could be smart to partition it anyway. A good way of keeping control... you can partition the drive with Disk Utility. You find that application in the /Applications/Utility/ folder. It will work with external drives too.
 
Joined
May 2, 2009
Messages
480
Reaction score
13
Points
18
Your Mac's Specs
MBP 2.33 4GB: MacPro 8 Core 2.8, 16GB: MacMini 2.26 4GB: MacMin 2.53 4GB: iPhone3GS 32GB
To further what Strukt said, TimeMachine creates what's called a `sparse bundle` which is basically a compressed, efficient binary image of it's backup meta-data/data etc. It is independent of any partitioning scheme so you don't have to create multiple partitions to use TM.
 
OP
M
Joined
Apr 27, 2009
Messages
135
Reaction score
0
Points
16
Location
Lahore, Pakistan
Your Mac's Specs
Retina Macbook Pro 2014 model, 2.6 Ghz Core i5, 8 GB Ram and 256 GB SSD
Thanks a lot for your help guys. Yeah I saw the folder but I was just worried what if later on when time machine wants to back up, it replaces my other files and stuff with the backup data whenever the disk is nearly about to fill up rather than replacing the old backups?

This is the main reason why I was concerned about creating a separate partition or not.
 
OP
M
Joined
Apr 27, 2009
Messages
135
Reaction score
0
Points
16
Location
Lahore, Pakistan
Your Mac's Specs
Retina Macbook Pro 2014 model, 2.6 Ghz Core i5, 8 GB Ram and 256 GB SSD
Disk Partition

Hello everyone,

I wanted to create partitions on my external HDD of 500 GB (Western Digital)

I want to create one partition for time machine and the other for the rest of my files. I have a 160 GB Hard disk in my Mac and since I don't need to back up my stuff very frequently so do you think creating a partition of 200 GB would be enough?

I'd really appreciate your help guys.

Thank you so much.
 

chscag

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
65,248
Reaction score
1,833
Points
113
Location
Keller, Texas
Your Mac's Specs
2017 27" iMac, 10.5" iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Mini, Numerous iPods, Monterey
A 200 GB partition will work OK. If you accumulate too many backups where Time Machine is beginning to run out of space, it will delete the oldest in order to make room for the newest.

Regards.
 
OP
M
Joined
Apr 27, 2009
Messages
135
Reaction score
0
Points
16
Location
Lahore, Pakistan
Your Mac's Specs
Retina Macbook Pro 2014 model, 2.6 Ghz Core i5, 8 GB Ram and 256 GB SSD
Oh alright. Thanks a lot. That was very helpful :)
 
OP
M
Joined
Apr 27, 2009
Messages
135
Reaction score
0
Points
16
Location
Lahore, Pakistan
Your Mac's Specs
Retina Macbook Pro 2014 model, 2.6 Ghz Core i5, 8 GB Ram and 256 GB SSD
External HDD formatting and partition?

Hello everyone,

I got a Western Digital 500 GB external HDD almost 3 weeks ago for the purpose of Time machine as well as for my other files and important stuff. I created two partitions; one for time machine and the other one for my files.

I recently went to a friend's place as he needed a few of my documents and it did appear on his PC that a new hardware is detected but didn't show any icon of the hard disk or anything like that. I'm confused about this and wondering whether the Mac formatted the HDD using its own format and which won't be compatible with windows but thats just my idea and I might be wrong.

Since, I also have to use my HDD at times on a PC thats why I was wondering if anyone could help me out with this as the HDD only works with Mac systems and not PCs.

I'd really appreciate your help and support people.

Thank you!
 

chscag

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
65,248
Reaction score
1,833
Points
113
Location
Keller, Texas
Your Mac's Specs
2017 27" iMac, 10.5" iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Mini, Numerous iPods, Monterey
In order to use Time Machine with an external hard drive, it must be formatted to the OS X file system = HFS +. That file system can not be seen by Windows unless third party software is installed. You can partition your external hard drive into two partitions: One as HFS+ for Time Machine, the second as FAT-32 which is compatible with both Mac OS X and Windows.

Regards.
 
OP
M
Joined
Apr 27, 2009
Messages
135
Reaction score
0
Points
16
Location
Lahore, Pakistan
Your Mac's Specs
Retina Macbook Pro 2014 model, 2.6 Ghz Core i5, 8 GB Ram and 256 GB SSD
Thank you so much for your help :)
 
OP
M
Joined
Apr 27, 2009
Messages
135
Reaction score
0
Points
16
Location
Lahore, Pakistan
Your Mac's Specs
Retina Macbook Pro 2014 model, 2.6 Ghz Core i5, 8 GB Ram and 256 GB SSD
I have a 500 GB external HDD of western digital and want to create two partitions. One for the time machine and the other for my files and stuff. Is it possible to make the partition, which is for my personal files compatible for windows based system as well? If yes then that format would be MS-DOS (FAT) in the drop list? Just wanted to be sure if I take any step. I'd highly appreciate your help here.

Thank you.
 
Joined
Feb 2, 2004
Messages
12,455
Reaction score
604
Points
113
Location
PA
Your Mac's Specs
MacBook
NOTE: Merged multiple crossposts
 
Joined
Aug 17, 2009
Messages
7
Reaction score
0
Points
1
quick question---I was planning to use both Time machine and Superduper for backup.... do I need to partion the external drive for the different backups ---what happens to the Superduper backup (files) as the drive begins to fill up with daily timemachine backups if you do not partion

lesnorvell
 

chscag

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
65,248
Reaction score
1,833
Points
113
Location
Keller, Texas
Your Mac's Specs
2017 27" iMac, 10.5" iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Mini, Numerous iPods, Monterey
You don't need to partition the drive but I don't know how well that will work because SuperDuper creates a bootable clone of your hard drive. The clone it produces is not the same size as that of the hard drive but just of the amount of data that is on your hard drive.

Time Machine on the other hand will keep on making backups until it runs out of space and then it will start deleting them by date. (oldest first)

Why do you want to use both? Either use SuperDuper to make your backups or Time Machine. I have Time Machine turned off because I prefer using Carbon Copy Cloner (same as SuperDuper) as my primary backup.

Regards.
 
Joined
Aug 17, 2009
Messages
7
Reaction score
0
Points
1
thanks you basically answered my underlying question--Do I need both...I do not need to have archived backups to return to past work--- just a simple back up for photos and documents

any reason that you like carbon clone over Superduper

lesnorvell
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top