Question about external hard drive, PS3 and Time Machine

Hey guys I recently had a close call with my HD. My imac wouldnt start-up past white screen but I took it to the genius bar and they ran disk warior and now it works. However none of my stuff was backed up so I just ordered a 1TB Lacie external HD. My question is am I able to connect the hard drive to both my IMac and then my PS3. All I want to do is to backup all of my files (movies,music, documents, and software like microsoft office and leopard) after I back that up I would like to use the HD to play my movies and music on my PS3. Is this possible? I know its possible for one or the other but not sure how to use it for both. Please advise. Thanks in advance.

imac 24" 2.4 processor, Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on Mar 4, 2009 8:15 AM

22 replies

rkaufmann87

Level 10

148,494 points

Mar 5, 2009 6:40 AM in response to vin1215

On that I'm not quite sure. However if I were you I would make some room on your internal HD by archiving some material to DVD or move it over to a Lacie partition. I would also recommend making your TM partition at least 500 GB otherwise TM will fill up extremely quickly with your full 320 GB internal. Like you I have a 320 GB internal drive however my situation is different. I use a 750 GB TM drive. My internal only has 97 GB on it and I also have another external drive with another 80 GB of material on it, that means TM has 177 GB to back up initially PLUS any new or changed material from either drive. My 750 GB TM drive still has about 170 GB available.

vin1215 Author

Level 1

1 points

Mar 5, 2009 7:21 AM in response to rkaufmann87

I must be still confused on TM then because I thought TM makes an exact copy of my internal and if my internal is only 250 gb (up to 320 gb) how can 320 not be enough for my partition?

rkaufmann87

Level 10

148,494 points

Mar 5, 2009 8:41 AM in response to vin1215

OK I think I understand, you have a 320 GB internal drive that has 250 GB of data on it right now. If so then making a 320 GB TM partition will be OK for awhile, it will give you roughly 70 GB to add once you have done the initial TM backup.

vin1215 Author

Level 1

1 points

Mar 5, 2009 12:15 PM in response to rkaufmann87

Ok so I just hooked up my Lacie drive but I am kind of lost. I am on disk Utility and I have selected 2 partitions and have also devoted the space I want on each but how do I format one to FAT32 (ps3) and the other to Time machine?

rkaufmann87

Level 10

148,494 points

Mar 5, 2009 3:44 PM in response to vin1215

To Partition:

Disk Utility, Select drive on left side, Partition, Select 2 Partions under Volume Scheme, Input name for first drive (Time Machine), then click on bottom box and name it something like PS3 Backup, click Options, click Master Boot Record (note it says it's for Windows or DOS machines), click OK, click Apply.

Once the drive has been partitioned and formatted then:

System Preferences, Time Machine, choose the disk you just created and begin the backup. This initial backup can take hours depending on how you have the Lacie connected. You never mentioned the connections the Lacie has, if it has Firewire 800 then I would suggest using that for your TM.

Having never owned a PS3 I don't have a clue how to connect it. I would imagine that would be a drag and drop process though. If your iMac can see the PS3 then that should work fine.

vin1215 Author

Level 1

1 points

Mar 5, 2009 7:04 PM in response to rkaufmann87

Well its done! I have backed up my imac as well as connected it to my ps3 through the lacie drive. Thanks so much Roger, I really appreciate it. You made this very easy and painless for me. Thanks again

rkaufmann87

Level 10

148,494 points

Mar 5, 2009 7:31 PM in response to vin1215

Great!!!!! You can mark this thread as answered.

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Question about external hard drive, PS3 and Time Machine