Partitioning external HD for startup drive

Greetings,
Would anyone know a reasonable, yet conservative, size for the Mac OS Journaled partition of my exernal Lacie firewire drive that will serve as the bootable startup drive? The other partition(s) will not be journaled and I would like to make optimal use of the remaing drive space for data storage.
Any ideas? -Thanks.

Thanks a brody for your response.
I've quickly scanned the file you referenced in your post, and will need to get back to it soon. I have learned yet again that I have much yet to learn.
I may be posting on this topic at a later date if I need some further clarification, although that may not be likely because of your thorough presentation of the various aspects of backups and data security.
I also noted your location, and remember the terrific seafood from some 30 years ago at what I seem to recall as Chrisfield's on Georgia Ave. I hope they're still there, both the restaurant and the family.
Again, thanks and I hope you and yours have a delightful holiday.
Cheers,
Brian

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How to partition external HD for backups and storage?

Hey All,
I'm just setting up a backup system for my computer for the first time and need some help. I have purchased Super Duper and a 1TB Fantom firewire external HD and am ready to start, but don't fully know how to begin. Here are some questions:
Question#1 - how do I partition the hard drive?
Question #2 - once I have partitioned it, can the partitions be changed down the road if I need to shift how I allocate the space?
Question #3 - if not, can you help me make guesses to how best to partition it? My internal HD has 74.41 gb capacity but is only using 31.94 gb right now. The fantom external HD uses up a lot of its space in formatting, so it actually has 931.24 GB available.
I was thinking of making two HD backup partitions so that I can alternate them for cloning -- say 70 GB each.
then I want a partition for my iphotos library - maybe 40 GB ( right now the library is 10 gb and I expect to be adding.
then a files partition for documents etc - probably 20 GB.
and a partition for video -- cause I am going to be starting a small documentary and will need to store video and editing. I'm new to this and really have no idea how much room it needs, but maybe 500 GB for starters.
is there some other sort of partition I should create?
any ideas are helpful.
Thanks so much,
Katarina

The reference that baltwo points to is an excellent guide for a new drive. You also have very detailed instructions on creating backups in your SuperDuper Users Guide.
Everyone has their own style of backing up, so do what's comfortable for you. I schedule my backups to run in the middle of the night. They only backup the files that have changed since the last backup, so it shouldn't take that long. My log tells me that SuperDuper took about 14 minutes to perform last night's backup. It's also good to rotate so you have a system that hasn't been touched for a while in case you want that folder you trashed a week ago.
Yes, it is convenient to be able to boot from the clone to repair your internal and vice versa. For instance booting from your clone and running Disk Utility "Repair Disk" is a lot faster than using the DVD. Same goes for any utility you want to run that your internal needs to be not mounted to run like TechTool, DiskWarrior, etc.
It's good to keep another backup and keeping it on the net is fine (as long as you're not compromising any personal data). I really wasn't thinking of your house burning down but more along the lines of a hard drive failing when I made the statement about separate drives Yes, it is good to have a copy of your data "off premesis".given the need for extra free space for the system clones, if my HD is 74 Gb capacity with 32 GB used right now, won't I have plenty of space if I set aside 70 or 74 GB for that partition?Yes, even if your internal grows it should suffice if you stick with the 85% rule.
-mj
[email protected]

What external HD for bootable drive

Have tried to make a bootable hard drive using Disk Utility as advised by Apple Tech. Didn't work.
The external HD is a WD 1T that is a few years old and wouldn't let me change the size of the 2 partitions on it so that I could install the OS 10.3 from disc.
I wanted to use the smaller partition, but it was too small for the OS. So I tried to reduce the larger one in order to then increase the smaller one so that there would be enough for the System. If you can't read the image, the message is:
Partition failed
Partition failed with the error:
Could not modify partition map because filesystem varification failed
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Partitioning External FW for Mac and Vista

want to be able to also backup my kids laptops (vista) on my bootable mac external
when i checked formats on my external my win xp partition done through boot camp says NTfilesystem
when i go to format in disk utility it gives ms-dos format option
i just want to make sure i can keep my bootable mac partition and be able to back up kids computers (vista) to a partition in ms-dos format
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id like to just plug in kids comps and do what i have to do
i only use xp for games on my mac
i hope i explained this right LOL
thanks
Bryan....................

ive thought about it and im getting another external 500gb i think
use that for my mac and xp clone and use my current 250 gb lacie for all kids stuff (and also Father inlaws Vista DEll peace of junk ! LOL ) had many issues with that system ! Finally get his up and going then mine decided to crap out LOL !
it just makes better sense there so cheap now and after the problems ive recently had i dont want to play around at all with my mac clone drive
i guess i just like to tinker to much !
if it aint broke dont fix it ! LOL
i like the fact that i have the option to do it all on one drive thou.
and im a firm believer in backing up the back up LOL
thanks for the info Dennis
and i wish i could afford macs for the kids this year but LOL
later
Bryan........................
Message was edited by: bmoraski

Install OS on external HD for startup?

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You need to use the Firewire drive for it to be bootable, then there are exception to that depending on the drive, for instance...
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My HD needs to be reformatted according to Disk Utility, but even when I use an external device for startup, Disk Utility cannot reformat the HD

I have a Macbook with a 500 GB Hard Drive. A routine check on Disk Utility told me the disk needed to be reformatted. I restarted from an external USB drive, but when I try to use Disk Utility to repair the HD or to reformat it, Disk Utility is unable to do anything with the HD (cannot repair, cannot erase,cannot reformat the HD). Is there a utility App that can help me with this, or is the HD unrecoverable?

Hi
Thanks very much for your reply. We have been starting up from a backup (USB) drive and use the disk utility that is on the backup drive so the internal (problem) HD is not being used for anything (except for wanting to repair it). Still Disk Utility cannot reformat or repair the drive. I have also run Onyx but it tells me everything is OK on the drive.
But I have made a little progress. Using my old install disk for Snow Leopard (10.6.3) I have managed to do a fresh install of the system on the internal HD. Unfortunately, I also asked the install disk to transfer/migrate the settings and documents from the backup drive back onto my internal HD. The install appeared to work, but then it got hung up on copying the documents from my backup drive to the HD. After letting it sit for 2 days without going anywhere, I stopped the install process. I am going to try again, just using my Snow Leopard CD to install Snow Leopard, and nothing else. If that works, I will then get on to the problem of copying the rest of the settings and documents from my backup.
But since the Mac works OK off the USB backup, and will also run off the install CD, I am guessing the problem is with the HD and the only solution might be to replace it if I can't repair it. But the macbook is several years old, and I am not sure it is worth buying a new HD for it.

External enclosure for internal drive?

If I replace the 80 GB hard drive that will be coming with my Macbook with a lareger drive running at 7200 RPM, I would like to convert the stock one into an external drive.
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Unfortunately there isn't a cheap Firewire enclosure yet. There is a really good USB one, which I have <a href="http://cavemonkey50.com/2006/07/coolgears-25-inch-sata-to-usb-hard-drive- enclosure/"
reviewed on my website</a>.
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Storage...external enclosure for SATA drives

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Using Time Machine for an external startup drive

I've never used Time Machine; I just kept on using my older backup startup drive software when starting with Leopard three years ago.
My husband is getting a new iMac with an external drive for backup because I convinced him that Time Machine is so easy to use. Yes, I have a lot of faith that Apple knows what it is doing.
However, I don't know how Time Machine works for making an external drive bootable. If it's not super easy for that purpose, I'm thinking that it might be easier to partition his external in setting things up for him, and putting SuperDuper! on one of the partitions.
What do you think? Would Time Machine all by itself be super easy if he needed to startup from the external drive? Do you have to do anything other than to hold down the option key during startup to boot from an external drive backed up by Time Machine?
He's getting an iMac with a 1T drive and an external Iomega 2TB eGo Desktop Hard Drive.
I'm assuming that his new iMac will be coming with Snow Leopard, but it hasn't arrived yet and I don't know for sure about that. But I think if it doesn't come with Snow Leopard, I'd upgrade it for him before installing anything else.
Thanks for any help!
Mary

Thanks so much to you for taking the trouble to help me learn something about Time Machine. I think I've learned enough now to get it set up for my husband without doing anything particularly stupid.
Dave, there's no chance my husband would swing for a second external drive. I had to talk him into having one at all. He's not into managing a computer and doesn't want to think about stuff like backups. Once in awhile I'm in synch with that kind of orientation too, but then I recall the times I've been overjoyed to have good backups for myself... and my backup software is extremely reliable and easy to use.
Pondidni and Thomas, thanks so much for all the links. I've spent enough time reading them that I think I've made up my mind to go with a SuperDuper! partition for the expected way to boot from the external drive. It's also a great reassurance that it would be possible to use a Time Machine backup partition for restoration via an install CD if SuperDuper! should fail, though. SuperDuper! did fail for me once, but fortunately I had another partition with a SuperDuper! backup.
If the single backup drive fails, of course, that would be a nasty inconvenience. On the other hand, at this point I doubt that the actual losses in that unlikely event would impact my husband so horribly as it might for many who have work or school-related necessities stored on their computer. This is mainly a fun computer that he has at home, and if there ever are particularly important documents that he can't afford to lose, extra backups of those files could go onto a CD, DVD, or keychain drive. The chances of needing that are pretty slim.
I know that eventually the backup drive will fail if it's used over a long enough period of time, but he seems ready to follow my advice to only even connect and turn on the external drive once a week and leave it connected only during the time it's actually actively making backups. (Unless some very important work is going on, in which case he knows to keep it connected during that period of time.) An external drive will likely last a good while longer than average under that kind of very limited use.
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Thanks again so much to all for helping me to think through how I can help him get started with his own backups.
Best wishes,
Mary

Help needed. I have a 3TB external hard drive partitioned into 1TB's. I used one partition as backup for the main computer hard drive. But now it is greyed out as shown in the disk utility and its name changed, i dont know how that happened, i tried verif

Help needed. I have a 3TB external hard drive partitioned into 1TB's. I used one partition as backup for the main computer hard drive. But now it is greyed out as shown in the disk utility and its name changed, i dont know how that happened, i tried verifying and repairing it but had no luck. I also tried mounting and unmounting it but still no solution. Anyone to help please?

Looks bad. I would strongly advise backing up the stuff on the other two partitions as soon as possible in case the rest of the drive goes wrong.
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See http://www.alsoft.com/diskwarrior/

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

Is it not recommended to use a partitioned external hard drive for time machine?

1. i hv a 1 tb seagate back up plus hard disc ..,,i want to make partitions for using it for time machine, mac, and window repectively . is it not recommended to use a partitioned drive for time machine? some where i have red that time machine wont be able to restore data from external partioned hard drive in case internal hard drive crashes.
2. if i use the seagate back up plus 1tb for mac only and use time machine to take backup (roughly 250 GB) , then the rest space i cant use to transfer movies, pictures from a PC
3. how should i best use the seagate back up plus hard drive (not seagate back up plus for mac) in a way that i use it for back up , and to work with both mac and PC?

I use a partitioned external drive for Time Machine as well as other things.
How you partition it is a function of yoru needs.
Barry

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.

Partitioned external hard drive for creating the USB bootable device

Hi all,
I want to install Win 7 on my Macbook Pro (OS X Yosemite 10.10.1) but I don't have an 8GB or larger USB flash driver. I do have an external hard drive of 500GB that I use for backup. So, I tried to create a small partition on this disk to create the USB bootable device required for the windows installation but apparently I'm not able to select any specific partition when the boot camp assistant ask me for the destination disk.
Is that normal?
Thanks.

Yes, you can do that.
Although you can buy a complete external drive system, you can also put one together if you are so inclined. It's relatively easy and only requires a Phillips head screwdriver (typically.) You can purchase hard drives separately. This gives you an opportunity to shop for the best prices on a hard drive of your choice. Reliable brands include Seagate, Hitachi, Western Digital, Toshiba, and Fujitsu. You can find reviews and benchmarks on many drives at Storage Review.
Enclosures for FireWire and USB are readily available. You can find only FireWire enclosures, only USB enclosures, and enclosures that feature multiple ports. I would stress getting enclosures that use the Oxford chipsets especially for Firewire drives (911, 921, 922, for example.) You can find enclosures at places such as;
Cool Drives
OWC
WiebeTech
Firewire Direct
California Drives
NewEgg
All you need do is remove a case cover, mount the hard drive in the enclosure and connect the cables, then re-attach the case cover. Usually the only tool required is a small or medium Phillips screwdriver.

Partitioning external HD for startup drive

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