Partitioning a 2 TB External Hard Drive?

Backup Drive Newbie Here:
I purchased a 2TB Western Digital My Book Studio LX External Drive the other day, and I currently have 3 partitions in it...One for my bootable backup, one for my wife's MB Air, and one for my regular backups. I was wondering how many partitions others are using, and should I have more than 3...for possible future use?
Another question I have is which software is recommended to do my regular backups, as it appears that not only is Time Machine capable of that, but the software that came with my Western Digital Drive, and SuperDuper, all seem capable of regular backups. Is there one particular software/method that others recommend?
Nick

Carbon Copy Cloner

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Can I have mavericks time machine on one partition of a WD external hard drive and snow leopard data on another

can I have mavericks time machine on one partition of a WD external hard drive and snow leopard data on another

If you want to and it is so large that it has room (350% is a good estimate for TimeMachine), then use a partition(s) to hold system restore images or bootable clones. Or VM images.
Using SSDs most Mac Pro models can easily hold 6 or more storage devices inside, except the nMP cylinder 6,1's; which do need external Thunderbolt and USB3.
System drive / data / scratch / backup data / backups of system / ....
I recommend a couple system backups, especially when faced with dual boot situations as well as an OS that is still undergoing updates and changes.

How do I write to my boot camp partition with Paragon NTFS that comes with Mountain Lion? Or how do I get my boot camp partition to show up in Paragon's "Available NTFS partitions:" panel like my external hard drive does?

I've just set up boot camp on my MacBookPro with a freshly installed Mountain Lion and Windows 7.
I would like to read and write in both directions from drive to drive if possible. I've hunted around quite a bit to try and work this out, and so far I understand that one can write to or transfer files from one drive to the other with Paragon NTFS among other softwares.
I noticed when I looked in my system preferences the utility "Paragon NTFS for Mac OS X" came with Mountain Lion and it will recognize an external hard drive when I have one plugged in under "Available NTFS partitions:". However, it does not automatically recognize my NTFS boot camp partition nor does it automatically give me write access.
Is the Paragon NTFS that comes with Mountain Lion limited in some way?
Do I still need to purchase and download the software of the same name from Paragon to get the full write privilidges I want or is there something I can do to get the version of Paragon on my MAC to recognize and give me write priviledges to my boot camp partition?
I'm open to all suggestions to get the read / write access between partitions in my boot camped drive.
MacFUSE is also listed in the System Preferences of my machine (it also came with Mountain Lion), if that helps. I'm still working out exactly what each of these is supposed to do and how I can use it to accomplish the task at hand.
My boot camp drive does appear normally in other contexts and in disk utility it indicates that the drive is mounted.
Thank you for any guidance you can give me.

Interesting. Comes with? you didn't have either before? Paragon is commercial and is now v. 10.0, they were the only one keeping updated and was supporting 10.7.4. I would not enable more than one.
For writing to HFS Paragon has theirs but probably give the nod to MacDrive there.
I never do an upgrade to a new OS over the old system, I backup (clone) and format the drive with the new OS and do the install so whatever is there I know is clean and also to keep from carrying around leftovers from years and systems past.
I would assme Paragon is limited. Try their site and knowledge base?
MacDrive
http://www.mediafour.com/updates/macdrive
Paragon HFS
http://www.paragon-software.com/home/hfs-windows/
Paragon NTFS
http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/26288/ntfs-for-mac-os-x
http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/

How do I get rid of a partition in a LaCie external hard drive?

I just bought a new LaCie 1 TB external hard drive and while setting it up I didn't realize that by default it set a 200 GB Windows partition. I really would like to get rid of it since I am a 100% Mac user but don't know how to do it. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Niel.
thank you very much for your help! FWIW (for what it's worth) I found a way to resolve this problem and it has worked for me. Here is the link to the site where I got the solution:
https://www.lacie.com/support/support_manifest.htm?id=10560&article=1019

On a 500G MBP running Lion what's the best size to partition a 2T WD external hard drive to for Time Machine? Thankse

Just picked up a 2T WD external HD for my new MBPro with 500 G drive. Looking to use part of the external drive for Time MAchine. Not sur if I should designate 1T of it or 750G. I'm running Lion. What's the best way to format the external drive. Disk Utility?
Thanks,
Dennis

Ask in Lion: TimeMachine / MacBook Pro even - this is workstation territory
I would not use the same drive for data and for backups.
If I had to, I'd make a partition large enough to boot your Mac from though, whether 50-500GB to clone your system.
You should still be able to use Lion's Recovery boot mode.
I don't think there really is much choice in what to format with, unless you want to spend over $100.

Want to partition a new External Hard drive for both pc and mac

Hello!
I am going to partition a new Seagate external hard drive for both my pc and mac. What format do I choose for the PC partition? MS-DOS (FAT), ExFAT, or Free Space.
Thank you!
Nikki

If I may suggest:
Drive Preparation
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 one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
7. After formatting has completed select the main entry for the new drive (mfgr.'s ID) then click on the Partition tab in the DU main window. Click on the large partition rectangle then click on the Add [+] button. The partition should divide into two equal volumes. Resize as you prefer. Select the second or bottom volume to use on the PC. Set the format type to ExFat, then click on the Apply button. Wait for the two volumes to finish mounting on the Desktop.

Is it possible to use Boot Camp to partition an external hard drive so there is a OSX partition and a Windows partiton? I want to use the external drive for backup only, NOT to load Windows and NOT to use as a boot drive.

I have partitioned the internal hard drive and am running Lion and Win7 Pro on my iMac i5 2.7GHz with 16GB RAM. Can I use Boot Camp to create a Windows partition on an OSX external hard drive to use for backing up both systems to the same HDD? I do NOT want to install OSX Lion or Windows 7 Professional on the external drive. I do NOT want to boot either system from the external drive. The 3TB external drive is for backup only.

Use NTFS for Windows and buy Paragon NTFS for OS X
You can also try Paragon HFS for Windows
As long as you are using for data and backups, you can leave the drive as GPT too.
I would recommend strongly to always have a 2nd bootable Mac OS drive, only need 30GB partition. System maintenance. Though LIon Recovery Mode finally makes it less but not totally unneeded.
And yes you can use Windows to create a partition.
Boot Camp is too broad. Do you want or mean BC Assistant? not needed but probably possible.
MBR has trouble with 3TB drives.

Should I partition my external hard drive for FCPX media management?

Is there any benefit to creating partitions on a single external hard drive for media management purposes?
My thoughts were to divide a 1tb external firewire drive into 3x 300gb slices and leave 100gb as "free space".
Each partition would be dedicated to at least 1 active event + project (using FCPX terms) that I am editing.
My thinking on this is that when dealing with the source media + event database, OSX/FCPX will only work on the partition that has been improving read/write speed.
I could easily be wrong about this.

In my view there is no point in partition the drive. You are wasting space and speed. Events are segregated in the FCP folder structure. There is no need to to it with partitions.

Disk repair for external hard drive

Hi, I gave my son an external hard drive to back up his school work, besides the normal backups of on the Time Capsule. So how he managed to hget the external hard dirve disappear from the screen while there is no back up left on the TC.
I have tried disk utility an number of time on several computers to get the External hard drive working. No luck there. I have tried restore in disk utility, but I cannot get the source and destination righty for a reason.
I have read an advice of Francine Schwieder dating back to 2007 where she advised to run terminator, this is the result I get while the xternal hard drive was connected to my Imac.
Last login: Sun Oct 9 22:14:37 on ttys000
imac-chf-baak:~ charles2008$
Last login: Fri Dec 7 20:58:20 on console
iMac:~ charles2008$
iMac:~ charles2008$ diskutil list
/dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *1.0 TB     disk0
   1:                        EFI                         209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD            999.3 GB   disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3
/dev/disk1
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        *1.0 TB     disk1
   1:                  Apple_HFS lucas hard drive        1.0 TB     disk1s1
iMac:~ charles2008$
Last login: Fri Dec 7 21:19:20 on ttys000
iMac:~ charles2008$
With my limited knowledge, was a partition placed on this external hard drive ? I cannot see or acces the external hard drive.
Is there anyone who can help me with this ?
Hope to hear from you.
Charles
Francine Schwieder Southern Cal

If you wan to give Data Rescue 3 a spin (I'm testing it out now for the first time) you can get it - and a number of other apps - for $50 from MacUpdate's December Bundle.
Because I have redundant backups, I've never used either DiskWarrior or Data Rescue 3 - but I wanted to try it so that I will be able to know how well it works (or doesn't).
Clinton

Help! Data lost on external hard drive.

Well, I will explain what I did first.
I have an external hard drive. It has 4 FAT32 partitions, the 1st and 3rd ones are empty, the 2nd and 4th ones has about 10G data on each. I wanted to make a minimum backup of the current Tiger system with Superduper! to partition (or volume) 1. So I moved all my photos, musics and documents out from the internal hard drive to the 4th partition on the external hard drive. Then, I deleted all the original files on the internal hard drive, and emptied the Trash, sign... And then, I tried to use Superduper! to make a backup of the only volume on the internal hard drive. I chose the method of "volume to volume". I forgot I have another option to just make a backup image of this volume. I guess if I did that, it would save me all the trouble that I have right now. Anyway, after I hit "copy now", Superduper! tells me that I have to use a volume that has a format of Mac OS Extended in order to do that. So I used the disk utility to convert the 1st FAT32 partition to Mac OS extended format as suggested by Superduper!. I think the disk utility told me that this operation would deleted everything on that volume, however, it won't affect the other 3 volumes. Since it is empty, I proceeded. However, it ended up with an error. I forget what it said now. The result is that all the four volumes are not accessible to either mac or windows OS. I successfully retrieved all the files on partition 2 of that external hard drive to another disk with EasyRecovery Pro. They all seem good. I tried the same thing on partition 4. I do get all the files that are moved there long time ago using windows. However, only a few files that are just moved to it from the internal hard drive using Mac OS Tiger right before the disaster were retrieved with success. All the others including my iPhoto and iTune Library are nowhere to be found now.
I tried Data Rescue II (for mac) on my internal hard drive hoping that it might find the files that I deleted, however, I think running the Tiger OS itself may have changed the information on the disk already, so it doesn't really give me the files I wanted. Maybe it did find most of them, but they are not grouped in a folder like what they were before. Anyway, I think I have a better change with the external hard drive since it is not even accessible without a software that is dedicated to recover files.
Right now, I am out of ideas. Please tell me what I can do to get those missing files back. Any suggestion is welcome. Thank you!

"Stellar Phoenix Macintosh - Mac data recovery software, recovers data from damaged, deleted, or corrupted volumes and even from initialized disks."
They have a trial version, so I guess you can see if your data can be recovered...
http://www.stellarinfo.com/mac-data-recovery.htm
"Data Rescue II is the best data recovery software on the market for recovering files from a problem hard drive. Data Rescue II works when other tools fail. Data Rescue II is also completely safe to use since it does not attempt any risky repairs to the drive while its scanning."
http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue.php
FileSalvage is an extremely powerful Macintosh application for exploring and recovering deleted files from a drive or volume. FileSalvage is designed to restore files that have:
* been accidentally deleted.
* become unreadable due to media faults.
* been stored on a drive before it was re-initialized/formatted.
http://subrosasoft.com/OSXSoftware/index.php?mainpage=product_info&productsid=1
Entering:
mac data recovery
into Google will list some firms who specialize in recovering data. Data recovery isn't cheap.
Robert

Is is better to buy an external Hard drive or an external CD RW Burner?

I am shopping to buy an external hard drive, too, to back up all my important data.....but could I buy a external CD RW Burner to burn back-up disc and it will do the same job. Or is is better to buy an external Hard drive to save the data? Will I be able to burn CD Back-ups from my external hard drive?
In other words, I am a little confused on whether to buy an external hard drive or external CD RW Burner? What is the best route?
Thanks for any body that can help with this issue.

Hi,
Welcome to Apple Discussions
I suggest getting a external hard drive over getting an external CD-RW or DVD-RW. One of the major reason is that its great for backing up your internal hard drive; you can do it all in one place. One should always backup their hard drive just incase anything happens to your computer. One can't predict the day when a friend trips over their own feet; knocking your iBook on the floor with a huge crash. The most annoying thing to carry around when traveling is the Mac OS X install discs. I hate bringing them with me because I am in constant fear that I will loose them. The reason I bring them with me is because if something happens while I am away, I can troubleshoot my problem. I can startup from the install disc and then run Disk Utility, Archive and Install, Erase, and partition my hard drive. Once someone has a problem on the road; they will never leave their house without the discs. Instead of carrying around those discs, I partitioned one of my external hard drives into three sections, one for backup (140Gb), one for Mac OS X Tiger (10Gb), and the last one is for Panther (10Gb. I gave my girlfriend an iBook and she has Panther on it). This means I am equipped to startup my computer without using my internal drive.
Have you ever lost your iTunes library or your TurboTax data? Well, by backing up your hard drive (internal to external), you can save all your vital data incase something happens. You will find it a life saver if anything ever happens.
If you are looking into external hard drives, I suggest anything from LaCie, SmartDisk, or Western Digital
I recommend the LaCie D2 Hard Drive Extreme w/ Triple Interface, SmartDisk CrossFire, or the WD Dual Option.
I use a SmartDisk CrossFire for both my iTunes library as well as my iPhoto library. If you need help moving your iTunes library you might want to look at Knowledge Base Document #301748 explains How to Move Your iTunes Library.
I don't think you want an external burner of any kind for backing files because it will cost you a lot more in the end. You will have to use multiple discs for one big folder like iTunes. It is a pain and is also expensive. You can easily loose a disc or scratch it up.
Jon
PS Duane brings up the a really good point.
Macbook 2.0 White (100Gb HD 2Gb RAM) Mac Mini 1.42Ghz, iPod (All), Airport (Graphite & Express), G4 1.33Ghz iBook, G4 iMac 1Ghz, G3 500Mhz, iBook iMac 233Mhz, eMate, Power Mac 5400 LC, PowerBook 540c, Macintosh 128K, Apple //e, Apple //, and some more... Mac OS X (10.4.7) Moto Razr, iLife '06, SmartDisk 160Gb, Apple BT Mouse, Sight, Minolta 5D...

Can I run another operation system via external hard drive?!

i have a macbook pro retina display and i want to run another os system but on an external drive is it possible!?

The two are actually solvable as one which is why I suggested this, but it is your question and you can continue working on both if you so choose.
If you get an external hard drive or storage, you attach that to the MBPr and then use Disk Utility, found in Finder > Applications > Utilities, to partition and format the external hard drive. To do that:
Attach the external drive, then open Disk Utility.
In the left side panel of Disk Utility, select the external drive you have attached, make sure you are selecting the external and not the internal.
In the right or main window of Disk Utility, select Partition from the buttons at the top center of the window.
Select the number of partitions you want on the external drive, and you can set their sizes. Then click so as to highlight them one at a time.
Give the highlightes partition a name, then select the format as Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
Select the partition table to be GUID
Then Apply and the partition will be formatted to be compatible with Mac OS X.
When your are finished just Quit Disk Utility.
You now have a Mac OS X formatted external drive that you can use as storage for the software and data that you want to use. You do not need to boot from that storage, boot normally but direct your applications to use the external drive as the storage location.
if you DO want to make that drive a bootable drive, we can discuss that next.

Update Deleted External Hard Drive

After installing the iMac EFI firmware update, two partitions of my iomega external hard drive are missing from the desktop. Two other partitions are still there. Any suggestions for locating the missing partitions? Thanks for any assistance.

It was a simple fix by unplugging and replugging the USB cord. All four partitions are back.

Partition external hard drive-what format do I use

I'm trying to partition an external hard drive by following the instructions in the disk utility help and am confused about which "format" to use. My choices are: Mac OS extended (Journaled), Mac OS Extended, Mac OS Extended (case sensitive, journaled), Mac OS Extended (case sensitive), Unix file system and Free space.
I've looked in the forums and in the disk utility for definitions of these terms and am sorry if its there and I just don't see it.
On a different subject is there any opinion as to whether I should create a partition that should or should not be used for startup? What is the difference and which is better?
Thank-you very much,
Margie

Choose Mac OS extended (Journaled) unless you have a specific reason to use another format.
(31565)

Why might I want to "partition" my external hard drive?

A) I purchased an external hard drive simply as an insurance measure. Should I consider partitioning it? Can you provide an everyday-type example where it would come in handy? If I partition, does making "one" partition mean that I've made two volumes?
B) How do I actually back up my documents to the external drive? Do I drag the file or folder to the hard drive icon?
Thank you!!!
iBook Mac OS X (10.4.3) G4

DDDS - There are different reasons for a hard drive. I bought my second hard drive because not only is it, at 128 Gb, almost twice as big as my startup drive (the one that contains the operating system), but it frees up my other hard drive from doing extra work while running OS X and applications.
To really boil it down, imagine a diner where the chef is the waiter, too. Now, using my two hard drives the way I do, it's like getting a waiter so that the chef doesn't do all the work. Download a video file to one hard drive means the hard drive with the operating system and applications on it doesn't have to continually go back to writing the video file when it's not being asked to do other things.
To answer your questions:
A) Partitioning is good for a couple of common reasons: you have a PC and a Mac you use and you want part of the drive to be accessible on one computer. Maybe you have kids and you want their stuff on a totally different volume.
For each partition, you have a volume. If you have your operating system on a hard drive, there are actually other partitions (ever heard of the boot partition?) but they are hidden and generally are of no concern to the average user.
The partitioning is done in Disk Utility and as far as I know, involves reformatting the drive (so it would be safe to assume you cannot save other data on there while creating a partition at the same time)
B) When you attach a drive, your system will mount it. (loading the volume(s)) it'll appear on your desktop like any other hard drive (usually with an icon to represent how it's connected) and yes, you just drag files over.
Plug in the Firewire or USB cable, THEN turn on the power, and ALWAYS eject the volumes completely before unplugging the drive.

Partitioning a 2 TB External Hard Drive?

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