Time Machine almost full, can I start a new drive and NOT delete old one?

Because I had an External HD crash, I was wondering if I can start a new External Hard Drive (500 GB) from scratch (meaning I don't copy old files to it) and keep the old one as a back up to the back up??? Also, I have NOT been backing up the applications and on the new drive, would like to do that. If I move the old stuff from the 300GB, won't the Applications take up most of the 500 GB??
Or is is simply better to copy everything over (I asssume it all remains on the old 300 GB hard drive) and simply let it start rewriting? My iMac is gettin on in years and I'd like to be prepared should something happen to it.
And as you can tell, I am not very techie so please feel free to talk down to me.
Has anyone migrated to a new External HD? I have directions from Apple, is it easy????
Thanks . . running out of space soon . . .

figleef wrote:
Because I had an External HD crash,
Just to be sure, do you mean your TM drive crashed? Or an external HD, containing data that TM was backing-up?
I was wondering if I can start a new External Hard Drive (500 GB) from scratch (meaning I don't copy old files to it) and keep the old one as a back up to the back up???
Again, I'm not sure what you mean. If you mean put the old TM drive "on the shelf" and start fresh on a new one, then yes. Eject and disconnect it, then format the new one (see Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #5 if you're not sure how). Give it a different name, so you're sure which is which, then select it as the destination via the Time Machine Preferences window. TM will do a full backup to it, so may take a while.
The backups on the new drive will be completely separate from the old ones.
If you ever need to see or restore from the new ones, use the Browse Other Backup Disks option, per #17 in the above link.
I have NOT been backing up the applications and on the new drive, would like to do that.
Yes, it's usually not a good idea to exclude System or Applications folders.
If I move the old stuff from the 300GB, won't the Applications take up most of the 500 GB??
No -- your Applications folder is probably in the range of 10-20 GBs.wn to me.
Has anyone migrated to a new External HD? I have directions from Apple, is it easy????
Again, not sure just what you mean.

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Wil it be a start over situation with the new drive, performing a complete back up to begin with?
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