TM backup: can I use two drives to back up data on two other drives?

Question

Hi to all!
I have with me a 1 TB/ Thunderbolt EHD [external hard drive], a Lacie 2 TB/FW, EHD, a Seagate 2 TB/ 2 USB, EHD, a Seagate 3 TB/ 2 USB, EHD and [to be purchased] a Seagate 2 TB/ 2 USB, EHD.
I mainly use my Mac for making HD videos using FCPX.
I am planning to use these drives in the following manner as indicated by the table below:
Drive:
a
1 TB,
Thunderbolt,
Buffalo
b
2 TB/ FW
LaCie
c
2 TB/ 2 usb
Seagate
d
3 TB/ 2 usb
Seagate
e
2 TB/ 2 usb
Seagate backup
[to be purchased]
f
500 GB, internal
Macintosh HD
Partitions
1
1
1
2
1
USAGE:
editing videos, one
active project at a time
mainly for camera
archives, music files,
FCP events, projects
and exported movies
same as the LaCie,
as a backup of data
intend to have 2
partitions of 1.5 TB each;
one partition for personal
data and the other partition
to back up data on the
Thunderbolt [current project]
intend to use this for
TM back up of my
Mac's internal HD
applications, documents etc.
backed up by:
one partition of 'd'
by the 2 TB Seagate
backup 'e'
I would like to know whether I could do these things:
Can I use the TM backup feature in this manner of using 2 separate drive/partition [e/d] to back up data on 2 other drives [f and a]?
Further, I am manually copying files from 'b' drive to 'c' drive; without incurring further expense, can I ensure that whatever I write onto the LaCie [b] gets copied to the 'c' drive automatically?
Any thoughts, suggestions and instructions in these matters are welcome.

Answer 1

EXT. DRIVES:
a
1 TB
Thunderbolt
b
2 TB/FW
[LaCie]
c
2 TB/ USB
[Seagate]
d
3 TB/USB
[Seagate]
e
2 TB/USB
[Seagate]
USAGE:
scratch disk
[planning to have
only one active
project at a time]
camera footage
FCPX events, projects
and completed movies
Same as the LaCie,
as it's backup
To be used as TM
backup for my Mac's
internal and also to
the scratch disk.
Planning to have it in
2 partitions: to have
a 'secondary' copy of
my Mac's IHD on one
partition and to have
personal 'net retrievable'
data on the other partition.
'MY
OBSERVATIONS'
my projects are usually
less than 10 minutes
and hence I trust that
work would be fast and in
case of drive failure, I
would be losing only
one project.
I am importing camera footage
primarily into this drive and
being FW, data transfer is
fast.
Am manually copying
files from the LaCie
onto this.
This drive is not a
brand new one, but
has been given to me
by the company's
agent as a replacement
to my earlier 2 TB drive
which had failed.Hope
this also will not fail!
Because of the 'uncertain'
performance of the
3 TB Seagate, I intend
to have a copy of my
Mac's IHD in one
partition. I intend to place only
such data upon the other
partition that I will not be
greatly affected should the
drive fail.
If you can analyse this plan and give your insight upon this matter, I will be immensely happy.
Further, if this proposed use of the 3 TB Seagate is okay with you, I need to know how to remove the Thunderbolt from doing it's temporary role of TM backup and how to coronate the 3TB Seagate as its successor.
FYI, I would be switching off TM from functioning whenever I am editing video; I would be switching it on only after a full editing session.
Another question on my mind is this: do I need to partition the drive 'e' at all?
Message was edited by: somanna