Would like to buy TC to replace AE for iMac and MBP; questions

Question

hi all--
currently i have a dual-band airport extreme on bridge mode connected by ethernet to my AT&T Uverse wireless router. we have several Airport Express' and an ATV2 in the house and the 2 wireless connections; the g put out by Uverse, and an n put out by the AE. I switch to either one depending on location. I have a WD 1TB drive hooked up to my 750GB iMac via FW800. for years that was fine as the iMac was the main computer and i just worried about it's backups.
now we have upgraded a 2007 MacBook to a new MBPro w/ a 500GB SSD, 12 GB RAM, and an i7 chip. needless to say, now THIS computer has become pimary, as it blazes!! but now since there's so much info on it, it really needs to be backed up as well.
i'm OK with basic/moderate connectivity, but sometimes get confused by more complex issues. so let me throw my wants at you. i'm hoping that i can buy the 3TB TC to replace the AE and WD drive, split the TC drive into 2 partitions, and keep the iMac hooked up to it via ethernet, and let the MBPro back up wirelessly to it's own partition.
i guess this might be pretty basic and obvious, but before i buy all this and sell my old equipment, i'd like to make sure it should work. i've never set up a TC before, but i hope that i can just tell it to use the prior settings for the AE to get most setup issues out of the way. and i'm not quite sure how (or when in the process) to partition the TC drive, assuming i can.
if someone can advise me whether this setup is possible, and how to (or a link on how to) partition to TC drive for the 2 computers that would be fantastic. the main reason i'm unsure about doing this is that on Apple's TC page, they really only seem to discuss all computers backing up wirelessly, which would be silly for the iMac since they're side-by-side.
any thoughts for me, my faithful bretheren?

Answer 1

You cannot partition the TC drive but the two computers can use TM to their own areas without any need for you to intrude.. That part Apple do a good job of. The backup sparse bundle is effectively a disk image and the computer keeps track of it by virtual of serial numbers.. you will have no issues.
And the iMac can use ethernet which will be much faster.. you should do both backups initially by ethernet.. once completed the MBP can backup via wireless.. but the speed of wireless will make a mockery of your SSD.. wow, 500GB SSD.. !!
The TC should be relatively easy to slot into place of the AE.. it is really the same thing.. but I sure would NOT sell it all off until you get everything working.. and I would still keep the firewire drive just as a further backup.. there is nothing wrong with using a different software and then leaving the FW drive in a friend or relatives house for a rainy day.