Can the Time Machine backup drive be Internal?

Question

Level 1

6 points

Can the Time Machine backup drive be Internal?

Does the backup HD for Time Machine HAVE to be an external drive?
I want to install an 2nd internal drive into my 2006 Mac Pro and use that as the Time Machine backup for the main boot/storage drive.

An internal drive would save space and eliminate the extra cables and power supply.

Mac Pro Intel 2.66, Mac OS X (10.6.3)

Posted on May 9, 2010 2:00 PM

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Answer 1

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

May 9, 2010 2:36 PM in response to pioche

No. It can be any mounted drive formatted Mac OS Extended, Journaled. I actually use a partition on one of my internal drives for a TM backup drive. Just be sure the volume's capacity is about twice that of the volume you are backing up.

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Answer 2

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

May 9, 2010 3:59 PM in response to pioche

Kappy is correct, of course. 🙂

But I'd add a strong recommendation that you also do some sort of secondary backups, so if something truly awful happens to your Mac, you don't lose everything.

See Kappy's post on Basic Backup, complete with links to the web sites of each product.

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Answer 3

pioche Author

Level 1

6 points

May 9, 2010 10:20 PM in response to Pondini

Thanks. I have my music and photos saved on CD, and other misc files.
I don't do much with my computer so there is not a lot to backup anyway.
The extra TM drive will be mostly for convenience.

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