time Machine experts needed, sparsebundle problem

hi all..
i got a Macbook pro and and external USB HDD ...

Now my problem is that my USB HDD is also used to Documents and files...So i can use it just for time machine ? or Can i ?

Is it possible to Create a sparsebundle blank disk image on the external HDD and Get time machine to backup to the Sparsebundle Image which is located on the External USb HDD.


the reason i want to do this is so i can use the USB Disk for documents and other stuff and not just time machine...

Time Machine does not have a problem sharing the drive with other folders. Just start up Time Machine. There is no need to manually create a sparsebundle, TM will do that all on it's own.

While not recommended:
I have been using a Time Capsule for TM backups of 3 Macs now, along with a separate iTunes backup and another folder in which I keep a copy of my Win 7 HTPC drivers/software for 4 years.

yes but then Timemachine, how will i stop timemachine from filling up my external HDD..
preferably without partitioning the External HDD.

You won't stop it from filling up the drive.

Whether it will fill it up depends on how much stuff you move on and off the machine. I have 1 Mac (my wife's) who's TM backup file after 4 years is less than 40GB in size. My personal primary Mac, I have to delete the existing TM backup and start it over again every 9-12 months because I do a whole lot of in and out data along with Aperture database, big iTunes library and virtual machines and it can grow to over 600 GB in a relatively short period of time. Just depends on how you are using your machine.

If you want to set a limit on the size of the TM backup, then you should partition the drive.