Can I clone to an external that has files on it, use it as a startup disk

I have an external firewire drive but I didn't partition it before I started Time Machine backups on it.  I now need to clone my internal drive to the external and use it as a startup disk.  I'm afraid it won't work if there are other files (LOTS) already there.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!!
Thanks

Oh it will work, but it will also wipe the contents of the external, unless they are also on the internal.  Clones make their source and destination identical, using the source as a reference point.  Get another external hard drive if you wish to manage a clone, and a semi-archival backup.  See my backup FAQ* on why I say Time Machine isn't quite a true archival backup, but can be modified to work as one*:
http://www.macmaps.com/backup.html

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