External disk for Time Machine and Aperture Vaults

I'm planning on buying an external HD for backups with Time Machine and I will also be using it for Vaults in Aperture.
Should I partition the disk into two volumes, one for each, or will TM and Aperture co-exist quite happily on the same volume?
I'd rather use a single volume as, in my experience, partitioning a disk always results in one volume filling up long before the other, however integrity of the backups is the most important requirement.

I strongly agree with V.K.
The other big reason to partition is, as you say, one volume will fill up before the other.
That's exactly how TM is designed to work -- fill up whatever space you allocate to it. Unlike traditional archive-type backup systems, it manages it's space and deletes backups automatically. As you probably know, it keeps it's hourly backups for 24 hours, then deletes them, except the first of the day, which becomes a daily backup and is kept for a month. Similarly, after a month, one of those daily backups becomes a weekly, and the others are deleted. But the weeklies are kept as long as there's room. Unless something goes wrong, you never have to do a thing.
So, if you have other data in that same partition, TM will, eventually, fill up the remaining space, limiting the space available to Aperture.

Similar Messages

  • Partitioned  external drive for Time Machine and Daily storage

    Now that I've partitioned my I Terabyte external drive to two partitions using the disk utility with one partition for Time Machine and one partition as my new "hard drive"...my internal drive on the MacBook almost filled....I wanted to move...pix, movies, music..etc to the new drive and have all future storage pointed to that drive not the internal drive....need to have space available on the original drive on the MacBook....How do I move existing stored data and point ongoining saved music..files...etc to the new drive...???
    Thank you...Bob

    Yogabob wrote:
    Now that I've partitioned my I Terabyte external drive to two partitions using the disk utility with one partition for Time Machine and one partition as my new "hard drive"...my internal drive on the MacBook almost filled....I wanted to move...pix, movies, music..etc to the new drive
    You could use an application like CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to copy them to the new partition, but it's probably just as easy to drag the files/folders to the new partition, then delete the originals.
    and have all future storage pointed to that drive not the internal drive
    You probably don't really want to do that. Files you're using will be accessed much faster if they're on your internal HD.
    Another consideration is, you really should have backups of the moved files somewhere, in case you have a problem with the new drive. Although TM will back them up unless you exclude that partition, if the drive fails, you'll lose both copies.

  • Can I use the same external hd for time machine and storage without partitioning it?

    Hello,
    I have been using an external hard drive for my Time Machine that was only used for this purpose.
    I downloaded some files in it that I want to use, and I haven't backed up using Time Machine since.
    Can I download the files on my MacBook from the HD without running into any problems, or is there anything else I should do?
    I prefer not to partition the hd, since I will be deleting these files, or transferring them to a different HD, and using this HD only for Time Machine back ups, as I did previously.
    ** I am not sure if this changes anything, but I just updated from Snow Leopard to Lion.
    Thank you so much

    carolsm wrote:
    Thanks Kappy, I will do that.
    I just really needed these files and had no other hard drive to store them.
    Do you think that it will be okay just this one time if I download the files on my MacBook without compromising my backups?
    I will transfer them to a new hard drive, and erase them from my Time Machine external  hard drive.
    For the time being it will be fine. There is always a chance of a disc crashing and therefore not advisable practice. Some here run seperate drives with Time Machine, Cloned backup and file backup. I have a portable drive I keep Time Machine backups and file backups on. I am running that at my own risk, but no problems over the last couple of years. Just make sure I get it to my normal TM Backup disk as soon as I get home. Backing up those other files will not compromise your Time Machine backups as you asked.
    Cheers
    Pete

  • Can I use an external drive for Time Machine and storing other data?

    At the moment I have one external drive, a 500gb LaCie. My internal drive is 160gb. I don't think I'll be using all 500 of those gigabytes for a while, so I want to put them to good use. Can I make a partition on this drive and use that for Time Machine, leaving the rest of the drive for my documents and other files? If so, how would I partition the drive? I'm not fluent in Disk Utility and even though I'm pretty sure I know how to do it, I don't want to screw up. Also, how big a partition would you recommend?
    While we're here, I have a second question, somewhat relevant to the first. Could I move my Time Machine backups to a second drive if I wanted to? Also, if I used a big drive (say 1tb) could I use Time Machine to backup my current LaCie to a partition on that drive? Thanks in advance.

    videoCWK wrote:
    Does that also mean that I could back them both up on a very big drive?
    Yes. Time Machine will, by default, back up all of your external drives unless you specifically exclude them.
    Also, will Time Machine backups eat all my space after a lot of usage?
    It depends on what you do on your Mac. If you work often with very large files (video editing, heavy photo editing, big disk images, Microsoft Entourage data file, Parallels disk image file, etc) then your backup drive could fill up very quickly.
    I use my Mac mostly for e-mail, web browsing, iTunes, iPhoto, and the occasional iMovie project. I have 92 GB on my main hard drive (60 GB of which are my iTunes and iPhoto libraries, and one iMovie project.) My Time Machine backups consume 155GB on my backup drive, and that's after using Time Machine for a full year.

  • Proven external disk for Time Machine backups?

    I'm looking for a good, reasonably priced, external disk to temporarily use for Time Machine backups.  My 10.9.4 install is messed up and Time Machine no longer works with my ReadyNAS NV+ system.  I want to use the disk to backup my MBP and reinstall the OS.  Can someone please suggest a proven external disk (2TB+) with a USB 2.0 (or Ethernet) interface?
    Thanks,
    Ira

    Hello all,
    I decided to give my 2007 MBP one last upgrade with a new 1TB internal disk that I will install with 10.9.4 from scratch and will (slowly) migrate all my digital hoarding over to it.  I've been using the same OWC FW800/USB enclosure since upgrading the original 160GB disk way back when.  If TM still doesn't work with the new install (which will narrow down the TM issue to the ReadyNAS NV+), then I will put the current 750GB disk into the enclosure, flash it, and retry TM.
    For the record, I chose the HGST Travelstar 2.5-Inch 1TB 7200RPM SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache internal disk. It was just $75 from Amazon and I used Amazon Points to pay for half of it.
    Regards,
    Ira

  • Using 1 disk for time machine and to back up and windows machine

    ok so my parents need to back up their machines, my mother on a mac and my dad on a pc (has to use it for work). we have a single disk drive from OWC and im trying to figure out if i can partition it so my mom can use TM and my dad can still back up his machine on it?
    if i partition it on mac both the partitions get in the journaled format, and if i leave free space on the drive it doesnt show up on mac (didnt try to see if it shows up on my dads pc)
    how should i go about doing this or will it not work?
    -matt

    Some more info would be helpful. Depending on the Mac your mom has it should be partitioned to APM (PPC) or GUID (Intel) although this has been called into question. It should not be MBR.
    The external HDD needs to be plugged into the Mac for Time Machine to work. For Time Machine, that partition needs to be formatted HFS+ (Mac OS Extended - Journaled). The PC partition may not matter as the PC should treat that partition as a network share. However, if your intent is to occasionally plug that external directly into the PC, you need to format that partition FAT/FAT32. The Mac can read and write FAT/FAT32, but it cannot write NTFS (without a paid third party app), hence why I didn't recommend that format. Leave lots of room for the TM backup (2-3 X the Mac's content) as that will gradually grow in size.

  • Can I use my external HD for Time Machine and still use it for storage?

    I have a 1TB external HD and my computer has yet to arrive. I was planning on backing it up via Time Machine and I'm wondering if my external HD will still be useable as a storage device once I pair it with Time Machine.
    There's no way the backup will take up the full 1TB of space, so I'm hoping it doesn't just go to waste >.<

    If you really only want backups of the current contents, don't use Time Machine.
    It's designed to keep copies of things you've changed or deleted for as long as possible. This allows you an excellent chance to recover a previous version of something you changed or deleted in error.
    It also allows you to revert your entire system to the exact state it was in at the time of any previous backup, even if that's a different version of OSX. It's rare, but if an OSX update, or installation of a kernel extension or 3rd-party app makes a huge mess, it's much easier and more reliable than rebuilding everything.
    You might want to review the [Time Machine Tutorial|http://www.apple.com/findouthow/mac/#timemachinebasics] and perhaps browse [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum). See #1 there for size considerations.
    For alternatives, see Kappy's post on [Basic Backup|http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=12366915#12366915].

  • Using an External Drive for Time Machine and Other Things

    I have a 2TB external drive which I use for Time Machine Backups on my 2 macs. The macs have HDs of 500GB and 160GB so the external drive has ample space for backups.
    Is it okay to use the external drive for other things that I don't care if they aren't backed up (like digital copies of DVDs)? i.e. Will Time Machine cause any issues if a drive is used for more than just Time Machine backups?

    rgraves wrote:
    I have a 2TB external drive which I use for Time Machine Backups on my 2 macs. The macs have HDs of 500GB and 160GB so the external drive has ample space for backups.
    Maybe. See #1 in [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).
    Is it okay to use the external drive for other things that I don't care if they aren't backed up (like digital copies of DVDs)? i.e. Will Time Machine cause any issues if a drive is used for more than just Time Machine backups?
    It's best to put such things in their own partition. See #3 in the FAQ.
    You may also want to make separate partitions for each Mac's backups, if you're backing-up either one directly (ie, not over your network). See #4 in the FAQ.

  • External drive for Time Machine and Firewire Hub

    Just got a new iMac. My old iMac G5 was running 10.4.11 so no Time Machine. On the new iMac I am running 10.5.6 I find I have questions about how to go about making best use of this new facility available to me. Since my new iMac has only one firewire port (FW 800) I also need an additional port here.
    My thoughts are to use an external drive connected with FW 800 as a Time Machine backup and use the (usually) extra FW 800 port to extend the FW 800 and I find I can get a dual interface drive with both FW 800 and FW 400, so I could use the FW 400 for FW 400 devices like other FW 400 drives and my video camera.
    Currently I use SuperDuper to make clone backups of my HD on a weekly basis (I use 2 drives for this on a rotating basis). I plan to continue that in addition to the facility offered by Time Machine (on a separate drive).
    My questions are...
    Is it a good idea to use the extra FW 800 or 400 port on an external to connect other drives to use for clone BUs?
    If that is a good idea...
    What brand and size of drive to use for the Time Machine BU (FW 400/800 sharing)
    A. Maxtor?
    (I have several OneTouch II and OneTouch III that I use for clones, I have been using them for a few years without problem. I seem to remember reading about some problems with Maxtor, have I just been lucky?)
    B. Newertech MiniStack v3 from OWC MacSales?
    C. OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro™?
    If the OWC Mercury Eltite is a good choice...
    Is a 750 GB large enough?
    Is it worth it to get the 1TB Enterprise 7200RPM?
    Any other suggestions?
    Andy

    i needed 3 drives in total so went with my 2nd choice of buying external enclosures and then hard drives,
    at the end it cost me much much less so i endded up buy another as a spare,
    so currently using 4 NexStart combo enclosure each one fitted with a 500gb hard drive,
    i got one connected to my G5 and 3 connected by FW400 to my imac through a daisy chain,
    for time machines it doesnt matter about speed so you dont need to use up the FW800 Port,
    FW400 will be fine,
    before this i had a USB2 WD Book and was using that with time machine and never had a problem through USB,
    i always connect to a port i hardly use as i wont ever need to keep taking it off if i had to connect my camera to it for example....

  • Using external HDD for Time Machine and files in one single partition ?

    Hello everybody.
    I've been searching for some time now and have encountered some contradictory answers, so I turn to you.
    I would like to know if it's possible (one) and safe (two) to use a single partition for both Time Machine and file storage. I've read that this should be ok, since TM is actually only a single folder, which means the rest can easily be used as a standard Finder drive. Some people say however that this is not good to do so, because TM will run out of space quicker. But if the -let's say- 30Gb used for files where used by TM after a month, that would be the same, wouldn't it ? It would simply erase older backups. But is it safe to do so ? Will Time Machine not makes errors when accessing files or doing an entire system backup ? I don't won't to make a new partition really, that's why I'm asking you here, to let me know some arguments about it.
    Thank you very much for your answers.

    Marekova wrote:
    Yet, overlooking that, you say "safe: mostly", why is that ? where's the "danger" or, what where you thinking when you said that ? Aren't these simple folder's ? Do you mean that, because during a full backup, these "stranger" files could be a problem ? It would be great if that was clarified, since I've found no indication about it elsewhere, has anyone tryed it ?
    Oh, yes folks have tried it. That's why I (and many others) recommended against it.
    Here's a similar thread from just the other day: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1926893 Note the responses from the top 2 "gurus" on this forum.
    I probably should have asked you what you mean by "safe." If you mean, will TM delete other files on it's partition, no, it won't. If you mean, can there be problems, then yes, there can be conflicts and difficulties, as mentioned.
    As to whether TM backups are simple folders, no, they aren't. They look like normal files and folders, but they actually contain what are variously called "hard links," "multi-links," and (my own personal favorite term) "ghost clones." Think of them as very fancy aliases. So they're not to be fooled with directly, by us mere mortals.
    If you want more on this: http://arstechnica.com/apple/reviews/2007/10/mac-os-x-10-5.ars/14
    and/or: http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/10/12/roadto_mac_os_x_leopard_timemachine.html
    and, if you haven't seen it yet: http://www.apple.com/findouthow/mac/#tutorial=leopardtimemachine
    You should also know that, for some reason, TM stores it's backups differently when it does them wirelessly. In that case, they're in a "SparseBundle," very different from the structure used for directly-attached backups.
    All the more reason to put each Mac's backups in a separate partition, and if you want to store other data there also, a 3rd partition for that.
    I've been using Mac since many years now, but I have no idea about backups, so excuse me if the statements appear a little childish.
    Nope. Even those of us who are "older than dirt" and have used many flavors and varieties of backup systems for decades are in a whole new world with Time Machine.
    And most of the folks on this forum who found themselves in deep trouble got there because they assumed things or didn't ask.

  • MacBook won't recognize external disk for Time Machine

    Help!
    My husband now has my old MacBook (white, 2008). It's running the latest version of Snow Leopard.
    He also has his old Mac Mini (PowerPC, not Intel). Its optical drive is failing, so I decided he could use it as a TM backup disk.
    Last night, I connected it to his MacBook with a FireWire cable, convinced it to start up in Target Disk mode, wiped it clean with Disk Utility, and told Time Machine, "Hey, look, here's a disk for you!". TM immediately began a full backup, which completed successfully. It did a few more little "mini backups" (as TM does) while he was using the computer. When we went to bed, he closed the MacBook but didn't eject the Mini or turn it off.
    When I looked at the Mini this afternoon, it was off. I figured it had shut itself down or whatever. I opened his MacBook and started up the Mini, but it doesn't mount and the MacBook can't see it in Disk Utility. (And yes, the very first thing I did was check the FireWire cable's connection, LOL. It's fine.)
    So what just happened here? IDEK.
    Thanks in advance!

    A.Carlo wrote:
    The Mini cannot boot up. Since you wiped out its operating system, it's not able to get up and running. It works only while in Target Disk mode, but rebooting it without holding down the T key to enter Target Disk mode pretty much means it's waiting for an operating system to load.
    OMG, I don't know how I could be so stupid, because I totally know how Target Disk Mode works! Clearly, I cannot brain today; I have the dumb.
    I connected a USB keyboard to it and booted up while holding down the "T" key, and it showed up on the desktop. TM is now backing up.
    Thank you!

  • HDD for Time Machine and other stuff

    Just a very short question.. Can I use my external harddrive for Time Machine and for example putting files on it to take it to my friend, or the otherway around, put files on it and take it back home?
    The reason I ask this is that I hooked up a USB HDD and it said I needed to clear all the data on the disk first before using Time Machine.

    As you probably already figured out.. I don't know anything about External HDDs. That's why I want you to ask which of those LaCies you would suggest for TM with 40GB of used data and it needs to be fast:
    1: http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=11022 (320GB)
    2: http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=11013 (320GB)
    3: http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=10695
    4: http://www.lacie.com/nl/products/product.htm?pid=10811 (only a Dutch link, I'm sorry)
    Hope you're able to help because your help is fabulous so far!
    Message was edited by: FiveMenM

  • Use time capsule both for time machine and external disk

    is there a tuto on how to configure the time capsule to be able to use it both as a time machine back-up utility and a storage external disk for music files and video files, for example?

    Mixing Time Machine backups and other data on a TC's internal HD presents some conflicts.  See #Q3 in Using Time Machine with a Time Capsule for an explanation and some workarounds.
    Also . . . how are you planning to back up the "other" data?

  • HT201250 Can I partition my external hard drive and use one partion for time machine and the other one for data that i may want to use in different computers?

    I have this doubt. I've just bought an external drive, especifically a Seagate GoFlex Desk 3 tb.
    I want to know if it is recomendable to make a partion exclusively for time machine and let another one so I can put there music, photos, videos, etc that I should need to use or copy to another computer.
    May half and half, 1.5 tb for time machine and 1.5 tb for data.
    I have an internal hard drive of 500 GB (499.25 GB) in my macbook pro.
    Any recommendation?

    As I said, yes. Be sure your Time Machine partition has at least 1 TB for backups.
    1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
    2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
    3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to two (2). Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.

  • I have a 1TB external hard drive (NTFS) that has all my files from my old PC, how do I create a partition on it for HFS  without formatting it so that I can use it for Time Machine and the like?

    I have a 1TB external hard drive (NTFS) that has all my files from my old PC, how do I create a partition on it for HFS  without formatting it so that I can use it for Time Machine and the like?

    There aren't any 3rd party apps or anything. I use PC's and Mac's at school and the only computer connected to a printer at my house is a PC so i need access to both

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