Apple Intelligence is now available on iPhone, iPad, and Mac!
📢 Newsroom Update
Apple unveils the new iMac with M4, supercharged by Apple Intelligence and available in fresh colors. Learn more >
Apple unveils the new iMac with M4, supercharged by Apple Intelligence and available in fresh colors. Learn more >
📢 Newsroom Update
Apple introduces M4 Pro and M4 Max. Learn more >
Apple introduces M4 Pro and M4 Max. Learn more >
I considered to start to use Time Machine for a total backup of my two iMac's. Is it possible to use one external HD on one of the computers and share it to the other one? And how shall I think about size? If I today have one machine with 1,7 TB data on a 2 TB HD and the other one has 0,45 TB date on a 1 TB disk.
iMac (2017 – 2020)
You can use a single external drive for two different Time Machine backups, but only if you've partitioned the external drive (and given each partition a different name so you know which is which). When you run Time Machine you'll need to tell it which partition to use.
Best practice is to use an external drive that's twice the size of the Mac you're trying to back up. So I'm seeing a 4TB drive for your 2TB Mac, and a 2TB drive for your 1TB Mac. So a 6GB drive would be what you want.
(Might be less expensive to get two external drives...a 4TB and a 2TB).
You can use a single external drive for two different Time Machine backups, but only if you've partitioned the external drive (and given each partition a different name so you know which is which). When you run Time Machine you'll need to tell it which partition to use.
Best practice is to use an external drive that's twice the size of the Mac you're trying to back up. So I'm seeing a 4TB drive for your 2TB Mac, and a 2TB drive for your 1TB Mac. So a 6GB drive would be what you want.
(Might be less expensive to get two external drives...a 4TB and a 2TB).
Technically yes however this is a very bad idea. When the External Hard Disk dies ( they all do) you will have lost your backup to both Mac’s. Be smart and not cheap and buy an External Hard Disk for each Mac!
BDAqua wrote:
A basket with two handles is no good when the bottom of the basket fails. :)
Gotta get that book.
+1
A basket with two handles is no good when the bottom of the basket fails. :)
Disk for Time Machine
