Starting over with Time machine - as I have been doing it incorrectly

Hello all,
Got some great advice from other posts in this discussion, but I want to clarify a few things.
I started using Time Machine without really setting anything up, and have quickly gotten to about 128 gigs of backup (in a little over a week). I want to start again, and exclude some files (libraries, caches, mailboxes, applications) to see if I can get a more manageable back-up size. I am using the same external drive for back-up that I use to store Final Cut media, so I don't want Time Machine to fill it up. Although perhaps I don't want to use the same drive for media and back-ups...
Is there a way to limit the amount of space on a given disk that Time Machine can use? Perhaps by partitioning my external disk? (500gb WDMybook)
And, at this point can I simply delete all of the back-up folders that Time Machine has created, and start fresh (with my new exclusionary settings)? I have 98% of the data backed up to other sources.
Which brings me to my last question: If I regularly back up my home folder manually, and back my personal data & settings, my iLife & iTunes via Backup, do I really gain that much from using Time Machine? Don't get me wrong - it's elegant, and much easier than manually hunting down lost info, but I've lived without it for 20 odd years of computering...Opinions, anyone?
And does the list of exclusions below look like I'm missing anything important? I've gleaned these ideas from various posts; thought we'd all benefit from a little recap. Any and all advice will be greatly appreciated. Please, weigh in, all of you macsperts..
Thanks to all in advance,
D
List of things to exclude:
Applications
Movies (I back all of these up manually)
Pictures (I back all of these up manually)
Desktop (nothing lives on my desktop)
Libraries:
iPhoto Library
Aperture Library
I keep my entourage and Mail pretty well cleaned out. Not sure how to exclude spam folders, but I think I saw it in one of these posts.
I'm also not clear on where exactly my safari and firefox caches are, but I'll keep looking.

As a part reply, remember that Time Machine performs incremental backups so the only things really worth excluding are areas where large amounts of data change on a regular basis. Also, Time Machine culls its hourly backups down to, eventually, one per week and so files which were present for a short period only then deleted tend to drop out of the backup database over time. While there are some programs and activities which create large amounts of backup data, in general there is little reason to go to great lengths to exclude things, just make sure you've got a big enough backup drive to start with (at least double the amount of data you are backing up). If you have a problem with backup size it's either because Time Machine isn't working properly or, more likely, you have a particular program or activity that is creating huge backup overhead. Better to forensically track that down and exclude it.
In response to particular questions: you can certainly partition the backup drive to reserve part of it for other things and, if you have adequate other backup, the only reasons to use Time Machine would be the ease of finding individual files for recovery and the ability to recover things you recently deleted, maybe before your other backup strategy had saved them.

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Duane Sherwood wrote:
Thanks for the advice. I'm now getting a flag, when I start up, that says 'the ext HD is not repairable by this computer, its now read only & the drive should be backed up & reformatted'.
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Starting over with Time machine - as I have been doing it incorrectly

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