Re: Time Machine - What will it do to my External USB Hardrive?

Richard Maine <nospam@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Mike Rosenberg <mikePOST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Time Machine creates a folder namded Backups.backupdb on the designated
drive and puts your backups inside that folder. The drive can be used
for other purposes.

One way to handle this is to partition the drive so that Time Machine
has its own parttion. That's not the only way, but it is one simple
option. Another way is to just keeep your eye out for the disk filling
up; after all, it might not happen for a longish time, depending. After
2 months, Time Machine has only used about 100GB of the 750GB drive I
have dedicated to it, and the usage isn't growing very fast, so I don't
think I'd have to worry for a while.

I view partitioning a Time Machine disk as a lose-lose proposition.
There are three possibilities: too small, "just right", or too big.

If you make your Time Machine partition too small, then you are going to
be forced to buy *another* drive (unless you want to risk resizing
partitions without a backup - I don't) just to work around the partition
size issue. If you had a single partition and were out of space, you
could simply delete some "other stuff" on the drive and Time Machine
would continue to function.

If you make your Time Machine partition too big, then that space is
wasted (unless you choose to put other things in it - but that was why
you partitioned in the first place...)

Even if you get it "just right", the "just right" is a moving target
and what is too big today is likely to be just right in a year and too
small in two years.

With a very few exceptions (such as needing an alternate OS for testing,
or as an emergency boot partition for folks who can't afford the
additional weight of carrying a system DVD around :-) Mac disks do not
_need_ to be partitioned.

Partitioning a HD takes one large contiguous space, and breaks it into
multiple smaller spaces. This is, IMO, a bad thing. Unless there are
pretty good reasons to do so, it should be avoided.

The "running out of disk space" scenario that you alluded to can happen
with any disk, Time Machine or not. Users should always monitor their
disk space and clean up or add additional disk space as appropriate.

Unless there are some good arguments why Time Machine puts a disk at
particular risk, I'd say that the best advice is to NOT partition a
disk on which you plan to place Time Machine backups.

Finally, it should be pointed out that in a two HD configuration,
any data placed on the Time Machine disk (regardless of partitions)
is at risk, with no backup if that disk fails. This is, IMHO, another
good reason to dedicate a drive to TM - period.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Two "expert" issues I must solve before upgading
    ... I think backups are different than the other fluff you suggest - more ... out there who had a disk crash and had to start from scratch. ... >image of your current Windows 98 OS partition. ... you can restore the disk image and get back quickly ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.newusers)
  • Re: Two "expert" issues I must solve before upgading
    ... > I need an imaging program for my full backups, ... No. Don't consider disk images as file backup. ... image of your current Windows 98 OS partition. ... changes then save a disk image. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.newusers)
  • Re: Copying a Time Machine disk image?
    ... I don't have enough disk space to try this out myself at the moment ... All the backups excluding any that were in operation during the time ... *I* think the backed-up sparsebundle will be broken. ... If a Time Machine .sparsebundle was copied using a cloning tool such as ...
    (uk.comp.sys.mac)
  • Re: Create A Drive D:
    ... I highly recommend Symantec Partition Magic 8. ... Norton Ghost lets you back up everything on your HD to a disk or to another ... came with one drive, C:, and I do not have a D: for backups, in the ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.newusers)
  • Re: Create A Drive D:
    ... Your problem statement seems to be "How can I create a D: partition ... came with one drive, C:, and I do not have a D: for backups, in the ... physical disk is really not very safe. ... and I don't want to recommend it. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.newusers)