If i partition an external drive do i need to erase it?

Hi,
I partitioned an external drive without erasing it first.
Do I need to erase it now that it has been partitioned?
I don't think so.

When you partition a drive all data will be lost whether you erase it or not

Similar Messages

  • Basic Question:  How to partition an external drive and then set up TM?

    Hi. I am going to be using an external hard drive (Western Digital - 640GB) on my MacBook for the first time and I think that I'd like to partition it so that part of it is for Time Machine and part of it can be used to just manually drag and drop my files (like any other USB external drive).
    1. How to I partition the external drive for Mac?
    2. If I insert my drive (not yet partitioned) in my MacBook for the first time and the MacBook automatically asks me if I want to use it for Time Machine, I'm assuming that I need to say "no" so that I can first partition it, right? If yes, then after partitioning it how do I set up the one partition for Time Machine?
    3. If I have 640 GB external hard drive space and my MacBook has about 100GB of space, how much of the 640 should I allocate for Time Machine?
    Thanks! Happy New Year!

    coffeecoffee wrote:
    Hi. I am going to be using an external hard drive (Western Digital - 640GB) on my MacBook for the first time and I think that I'd like to partition it so that part of it is for Time Machine and part of it can be used to just manually drag and drop my files (like any other USB external drive).
    1. How to I partition the external drive for Mac?
    select the whole drive (the model, not the name) in disk utility and click on the partition tab. set the number of partitions. set the partition scheme to GUID in options. set the format to mac os extended journaled. hit apply.
    2. If I insert my drive (not yet partitioned) in my MacBook for the first time and the MacBook automatically asks me if I want to use it for Time Machine, I'm assuming that I need to say "no" so that I can first partition it, right? If yes, then after partitioning it how do I set up the one partition for Time Machine?
    in system preferences->Time machine.
    also see TM 101 for basic usage instructions.
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427
    3. If I have 640 GB external hard drive space and my MacBook has about 100GB of space, how much of the 640 should I allocate for Time Machine?
    it depends on your computing habits but it's generally recommended to have TM drive to be at least 2-3 times bigger than the total amount of data you are backing up.
    Thanks! Happy New Year!

  • Should I create a partition on external drive for iTunes music?

    ...or will it create it's own space outwith my backup stuff?
    (Secondary question: would moving my iTunes music from internal to external drive noticably improve performance of my Mac? I'm using about 135GB of a 250GB drive, 60GB of which is in iTunes Music folder)

    Should I create a partition on external drive for iTunes music? or will it create it's own space outwith my backup stuff?
    I see no good reason to create a separate partition unless you're backing up with Time Machine. TM prefers to have it's own volume, so in that case partitioning would probably be a good idea.
    would moving my iTunes music from internal to external drive noticably improve performance of my Mac? I'm using about 135GB of a 250GB drive, 60GB of which is in iTunes Music folder.
    No, probably not. As long as you're not getting the drive too full - opinions vary but about 20GB remaining should be plenty for most uses - you probably won't see any overall change in performance just from moving the iTunes content.
    Message was edited by: Dave Sawyer

  • Windows and OS-X partitions on external drive

    Has anyone had any experience/problems with partitioning an external drive for OS-X and Windows?
    How about 3 partitons: HFS+, FAT32, NTFS. Or is that pushing my luck too far?
    I just received a new LaCie, primarily for backing up Vista Ult 64-bit, but if I can also use it for XP and OS-X that would be great.
    Any information will be most appreciated.
    Message was edited by: nerowolfe

    Moonlight Mac wrote:
    I've used an external USB2 drive to boot XP, but it is a very dicy process, and not really worth it in the end. You can slipstream USB boot support into the XP installer, but when you are done, you won't have virtual memory support (no pagefile). It also requires that the internal drive be removed during installation (if XP sees an internal drive, it will insist on attempting to use it for a pagefile.)
    I've done the same with a 4GB flash memory card... but booting was hit or miss.
    I've partitioned my internal into 2 HFS and 1 NTFS partition, and that works very well when combined with MacDrive on the PC side. I'd stick with using the external as just a backup device or for OSX (works best with firewire.)
    I am not looking to boot XP although that would be nice, but simply to create a backup on the drive. I use Norton Ghost, which does allow a boot, or sorts, into the backup in order to restore a system.
    But more, I was interested in an NTSF partition for Vista on this MBP. I have not used Vista's built-in backup program so I don't know how it works, but my thoughts were to partition the 500GB into multiple partitions and use them for XP, Leopard and Vista and a CCC clone of my two Leopard OSs.
    Say, 3 HFS partitions for clones and storage, 1 FAT32 for XP and 1 NTFS for Vista, making 5 in all.
    The 2 HFS partitions are probably easy. It was the other two, FAT32 and NTFS that I was concerned with.
    I guess I will plug it in and use DU and see what happens. I have never used DU for NTFS or FAT32 on an external drive.
    As long as the drive is empty, I have nothing to lose and lots of experience to gain, right?

  • Why did my event library stopped showing my partitions and external drives?

    The event library stopped recognizing my computer partitions and my external hardrive. It looks like all events are available, just not organized by partitions and drives. The partitions and external drive still show up in the project library.

    I don't see anything like what you mentioned... " having a folder at the root level that emulates a camera, a folder with a name like DCIM or Private." Here are the windows showing the files on the user/HD, the tutorial image and the external drive. You can see the Final Cut Folders in each. In the past, I would see each of these in the Event Library so I could create a new event wherever I want to store it. I have also included a screen shot of FCPX showing the Project Library. It still shows the various devices, as I am used to seeing in the Event Library.

  • Time Machine and partition on external drive

    Planning to buy a big external drive, but, is it possible to partition the external drive and make TM work on one ?

    Absolutely, in fact it is recommended to give TM its own partition. Use the first partition of the drive (that's the one that ends up at the top of the list in Disk Utility).
    Make sure the partition is double, if not three times, the size of what you will be backing up.
    Note that you have the option (Sys Prefs-TM-Options) to exclude drives and folders from backups. This may save a lot of space and is useful for the applications folder (as you likely have that stuff on CD/DVD), for music (if you have it on CDs), the downloads folder etc; see [this page|http://www.ryanblock.com/2008/05/good-folders-to-exclude-from-time-machine -backups] for more ideas on what to exclude so as not to backup unnecessary stuff. Also, if you work with scratch disks (in Photoshop or video applications, for instance), exclude them as well as that's just unnecessary.
    /p

  • Can I use Time Machine to backup to partition on external drive and a Time Capsule?

    Trying to plan in advance...
    I was wondering if I can (with a laptop) use Time Machine for both:
    1. Creating Time Machine backups on a partiion of an external drive. My plan was going to create  2 partitions: one to be used for Time Machine backups of another external hard drive (that holds all of my media) and then the other partition was going to be a bootable clone of my internal drive (totally separate from Time Machine)
    and
    2. Also use Time Machine for my Time Capsule, to create Time Machine backups of my internal drive.
    Is this possible? I had heard that you can't use TM to make backups to a partition on an external drive, AND use it for another drive (like Time Capsule) at the same time. But I would think that this should be possible-
    Thanks everyone-

    Yes you can, and if you are using Mountain Lion it's easy.
    If you are using Snow Leopard (as in your profile - this is the Mountain Lion forum), you have to manually select the backup volume each time. Tedious, but possible.
    Read Apple Support Communities contributor Pondini's FAQ on that subject: "Rotating" Time Machine backup disks

  • FAT32 Partitions on GUID Partition Table External Drive Not Seen in Vista

    I have an interesting predicament. I have repartitioned my external hard drive to have 5 partitions: 2 HFS+ and 3 FAT32. The external drive has a GUID Partition Table. The drive was formatted and partitioned using Disk Utility.
    When I boot into Windows Vista using Boot Camp, Vista will ONLY mount the first Windows compatible partition. For example, if I have two partitions disk2s2 and disk2s3 (both FAT32), Vista only mounts disk2s2.
    The described partition setup worked well with Master Boot Record, minus the bug with Time Machine choking every so often.
    Any ideas on how I can get Vista to recognize these partitions?

    Hi Karl87,
    according to the german computer magazine c't there is a limitation/flaw in the Master Boot Record (MBR:
    Only the first four partitions are shown in the MBR and since one of these entrys is taken by the needed hidden EFI-partition and the next two entrys are taken by the OSX partition, there is only one of your three FAT partitions shown.
    This limitation to four partition entries is quite old.
    See here for further informations: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masterbootrecord
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  • Can I partition an external drive into MSDO and MACOS extended and use under bootcamp ?

    I am interested in using Windows 8 alongside my OSX MAVERICK with the Bootcamp 5 solution.
    However, I am trying to save the space on my internal SSD . Can I partition my 4TB WD external drive into 3 parts like this :
    1.5 TB dedicated for Time Machine in MAC OS Extended Format
    1,5 TB MAC for general purpose in MAC OS Extended Format
    1.0 TB Windows for my PC games and other stuff in exFAT for files larger than 4GB
    Is this possible at all or what would be better ?
    Thanks

    To resize the drive do the following:
    1. Open Disk Utility and click on the Continue button. Select the hard drive's main entry then click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
    2. You should see the graphical sizing window showing the existing partitions. A portion may appear as a blue rectangle representing the used space on a partition.
    3. In the lower right corner of the sizing rectangle for each partition is a resizing gadget. Select it with the mouse and move the bottom of the rectangle upwards until you have reduced the existing partition enough to create the desired new volume's size. The space below the resized partition will appear gray. Click on the Apply button and wait until the process has completed.  (Note: You can only make a partition smaller in order to create new free space.)
    4. Click on the [+] button below the sizing window to add a new partition in the gray space you freed up. Give the new volume a name, if you wish, then click on the Apply button. Wait until the process has completed.
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  • Can i partition an external drive that im using for time machine? its not an actual apple TM....

    I'd like to partition my drive to make a separate place just for itunes music , is this possible? if so, how ?
    thanks!

    tamckellar wrote:
    im just trying to make a separate area on the ex drive that i use for tm, to store just my itunes library .
    Not a good idea...If that drive fails (and they All do at some point in time) you will lose both your TM and iTunes Backups.
    Invest in another EHD for iTunes.
    Moving iTunes >  http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1751
    Also...
    Have a look at these 2 Videos...
    http://macmost.com/moving-your-itunes-library.html
    http://macmost.com/moving-your-itunes-media-to-an-external-drive.html

  • Use a partition on external drive for windows support software

    Hello
    I am trying to install Windows 7 on my MacBook AIR  13" 8GB.  I have an external drive that i created a partition for the Windows Support software but when I choose to proceed in Boot Camp Assistant to download the windows support software it says the entire drive has to be one partition formatted to MS DOS.
    Any way around this..I have the Windows disc and would like to avoid having to buy another 8 GB or greater size external disc drive
    Thanks

    I do not want to install Windows on the external drive.
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  • Problem creating Mtn Lion Recovery partition on external drive.

    USB external.  Newly erased, three partitions: one 2GB for Recovery HD, other two backups of my old SL machine and new ML machine (Mini). Those work and their respective machines fine.  Drive seems OK.
        Used Recovery Disk Asst v. 1.0 to create Recovery HD on the small partition while booted into 10.8.2 (the brand new Mini).  Factory installed Mtn Lion Recovery HD exists on internal drive and it works— when starting with command-R or command-shift-R, not with Option key.     Install of Recovery HD to external seemed to go fine and doing a "diskutil list" in Terminal showed both the internal and external Recovery HD's, properly named as such.   However, when restarted with Option down the recovery partition showed up named the same as my internal— at that point "Macintosh HD" but later when I changed the internal's name, reinstalled the Recovery HD, and restarted with Option key the recovery partition now was named the same as new internal drive name.   Both times choosing the recovery partition resulted in booting into internal drive.   
    Was wondering if anyone had a similar problem— and found solution/reason.   Apple Tech Support particularly not helpful/knowledgeable on this subject. 

    Hi Baltwo
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    Using DU (after copy/paste of the command you wrote above into Terminal) I cloned the working internal drives RDH to the partition for it on the ext.   Failed— still seemed to work as almost an alias pointing at the boot volume on the internal.
    So, erased the external again; didn't partition, did a reinstall of ML from DU while booted into RDH of internal.  Then started from that new ML partition on external and let Setup Asst migrate everything over from the internal to keep Users/Permissions from being a problem.
        When that finished I tried to restart w option key.   Got a recovery HD that was called exactly that but, again, booted into internal boot drive.   Booted into internals RHD just to make sure it was OK and it was.
       For whatever reason again restarted w option key.   This time I got four choices:  the boot volume of internal and external, an ext volume called Recovery HD (the trickster), and another volume called Recovery 10.8.3.   Something new— and, as Bill Murray said in Ground Hog Day, "anything new is good."   So I tried booting into that new RHD 10.8.3.  (Note, I'm still running 10.8.2 on boot volumes.)
      And that worked— booted into Recovery HD but no way that I could figure to see for sure that it was the Recovery HD on ext vs. on internal.   I think I need to activate the Debug menu on the RHD DU so I can choose the 10.8.3 recovery and see if I have the option of Repairing the disk or it's greyed out.  If greyed, then proves I'm booted into it.   Might be a more elegant way to see that but it's the one I know.    Still, I assume I was in the RHD on the external.
      Then made a second partition for the old mac's backup and that initially resulted in the boot volume of the internal backup not be mountable but after a restart or two testing the two RHD's, the mini decided to see all the volumes and things are, for the moment, copacetic.  
      Hope that wasn't too long and boring.    From my experience and reading on the 'net, my general sense is that there are a bunch of variables that all have to be right for this process to work.  Probably less is more and just installing ML on a disk by itself will be the most reliable method, if most wasteful of data storage. 
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  • How to partition/format external drive?

    Hi,
    I bought a WD MyBook 320 GB external drive. It is by default formatted in fat32. However, fat32 has a ridiculous file size limitation! (<4GB)
    I have 2 Macs, one windows and one linux boxes at home, one linux and one windows boxes at work. I want that all the machines has access to it. But maybe I can forget windows box. I need some advice, which one is better:
    1. Format it as HFS+, forget windows, maybe I can use hfsutils for windows, and maybe I can access to it by this (is there anybody using hfsutils???)
    2. Format 120 GB in HFS+, the rest fat32. I will use HFS partition just for full image of my mac's harddisks, and fat32 will be accessible to every computer.
    Any suggestions?
    Thanks...

    You cannot format the drive with both Mac OS Extended and FAT32 partitions. If you need FAT32 you must format the entire drive FAT32. If you format the drive Mac OS Extended, then you will need software on the Window's PC that enables reading/writing Mac disks such as MacDrive.
    To format the drive:
    Extended Hard Drive Preparation
    1. Open Disk Utility in the 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. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing (this does not apply to external drives.) Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
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    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, if supported.) 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 will take 30 minutes to an hour or more depending upon the drive size.
    If you prefer to format the entire drive as FAT32, then in Step 3 select the MBR partition scheme instead of GUID.
    If you plan to use the external drive to backup your main hard drive then do that by cloning the main drive:
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    1. Select the destination drive on the Desktop and press COMMAND-I to open the Get Info window. At the bottom in the Ownership and Permissions section be sure the box labeled "Ignore Permissions on this Volume" is unchecked. Set Ownership and Permissions as follows: Owner=system with read/write; Group=admin with read/write; Other with read-only.
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    5. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
    6. Select the backup or destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
    7. Select the startup or source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
    8. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
    For added precaution you can boot into safe mode before doing the clone.

  • Can I partition an external drive and install 10.6.8 so I can run some older software?

    I have older software that won't run on my 21.5 iMac. Can I partition a 3TB Lacie external drive, then install 10.6.8 on it so I can use the older software?

    The computer that I purchased did come with Parallels Desktop 10 for Mac, but I thought that was only for running some Windows software. Not a clue how to use it.
    I actually asked a similar question about installing the older system on the external drive when I talked to Apple yesterday. They guy said go ahead and try it! Huh?

  • How to best partition an external drive for my purposes?

    Hello, please help,
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    17" 1.9Ghz iMac G5 (iSight)
    I've just bought a Western Digital 'My Passport' 320Gb USB (no firewire)
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    But what I would do, if feasible, is exchange the USB drive and get a non-WD firewire drive instead.
    Message was edited by: jsd2

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