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Apple Computing Products:
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Time machine
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<blockquote data-quote="Jaygray" data-source="post: 632934" data-attributes="member: 50033"><p>#1 sounds like a personal decision. Only you know how valuable your files are. I'm not sure if you're asking if you should backup, or if you're asking if you should make multiple backups of the same files.</p><p></p><p>The amount of space TM requires to make a backup is determined by the amount of data on your HD, not it's total capacity. Will you use the full 250gb of capacity? Some people could use a computer for years and never put 100gb on it. It this case, 250gb would be more than enough for TM.</p><p></p><p>Somewhere, I read that you should ideally have a TM drive with a minimum of 1.2 times the capacity of the HD you are backing up. More realistically, I would base this figure on the total amount of data you think the machine will contain rather than it's total capacity.</p><p></p><p>I would guess that if you don't go over 175-200gb of data, a 250gb backup drive would work fine for years.</p><p></p><p>Initially, TM basically makes a copy of your HD. After that it continues to make incremental backups of only the files that have been changed. It does this continually until it runs out of space (which could take a really long time). Once the backup drive is completely full, it then starts to delete the oldest backups as needed to make room for new ones. </p><p></p><p>Without knowing any other details, I would recommend trying out the 250gb drive with TM and it will most likely work perfectly. However, I would devote the entire drive to TM and not fill it up with other data. </p><p></p><p>When I first starting using TM, I was concerned about how fast the drive would fill up. Now that I've used it for a while, I realize that it could take months or even years. I don't even think about it now. </p><p></p><p>Just try it and see what happens. If you decide to do something different later, then you just delete the files off the USB drive and start over. You can always switch over to a larger backup drive at any point in the future.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Jaygray, post: 632934, member: 50033"] #1 sounds like a personal decision. Only you know how valuable your files are. I'm not sure if you're asking if you should backup, or if you're asking if you should make multiple backups of the same files. The amount of space TM requires to make a backup is determined by the amount of data on your HD, not it's total capacity. Will you use the full 250gb of capacity? Some people could use a computer for years and never put 100gb on it. It this case, 250gb would be more than enough for TM. Somewhere, I read that you should ideally have a TM drive with a minimum of 1.2 times the capacity of the HD you are backing up. More realistically, I would base this figure on the total amount of data you think the machine will contain rather than it's total capacity. I would guess that if you don't go over 175-200gb of data, a 250gb backup drive would work fine for years. Initially, TM basically makes a copy of your HD. After that it continues to make incremental backups of only the files that have been changed. It does this continually until it runs out of space (which could take a really long time). Once the backup drive is completely full, it then starts to delete the oldest backups as needed to make room for new ones. Without knowing any other details, I would recommend trying out the 250gb drive with TM and it will most likely work perfectly. However, I would devote the entire drive to TM and not fill it up with other data. When I first starting using TM, I was concerned about how fast the drive would fill up. Now that I've used it for a while, I realize that it could take months or even years. I don't even think about it now. Just try it and see what happens. If you decide to do something different later, then you just delete the files off the USB drive and start over. You can always switch over to a larger backup drive at any point in the future. [/QUOTE]
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