Formatting Seagate External HDD with exFAT and APFS partitions on Mac

Technically yes, this can be done. However, I never recommend people using multiple partitions on a drive because sooner or later people realize one or more partitions are too small, or one may no longer be needed. To fix such situations requires completely erasing the drive & starting over which is a huge hassle.

If you insist on doing this, then make sure the APFS partition is created first, then resize the drive to add the exFAT partition. This way if you later decide you don't need that exFAT partition, theoretically it is possible to delete that 2nd partition to merge it into the first partition. (Or you can make the exFAT partition first, then APFS where if you delete the APFS one it might be possible to merge the space into the 1st exFAT partition). Keep in mind this merging is not always possible using the Disk Utility GUI interface....sometimes it may require using the command line.....sometimes it is not possible to merge the 2nd partition into the first.

Mu-iOS wrote:

Well, if I partition them into two volumes, one for live data and one for Time Machine backups, I can simply have encryption enabled on both, with both partitions using APFS, A backup drive should be secure, I’ve tried it on a 500GB external hard drive, partitioned them and it worked perfectly, 300gb for TM, and 200gb for live data and files,

Several critical things to note here. You must be very careful on your use of the terms volumes and partitions. Traditionally they could almost be used interchangeably, but with the APFS file system (and other similar ones for other operating systems) this is no longer true. An APFS "partition" is actually called a "Container" by Apple. It is considered a Container because it can contain multiple APFS volumes sharing the same storage pool within that Container (aka partition).

If you are APFS, then creating multiple APFS volumes within a single Container is the proper way to do things as it does not force any hard limits on sizes since those APFS volumes share the same storage pool. Otherwise these APFS volumes act a lot like tradition partitions where each APFS volume can be independently mounted & unmounted, or have one of the encrypted, but another one without encryption.

While Apple mentions this is possible for a Time Machine backup drive utilizing APFS, Apple tells users to avoid this configuration. It is not just the forum contributors who believe this is not a good idea.

Add, delete, or erase APFS volumes in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support * Use your Time Machine backup disk only for Time Machine backups, not for storage of other files.*

However, the main concern of storing regular data onto a backup drive is how are you backing up that regular data that is sitting beside the backup? "Backing" up that data to the backup volume/partition on the same drive is not a real backup because what happens if that single drive containing both data & backup fails? You lose both the data on that drive along with its "backup". If that data is not important enough to back up, then is it important enough to actually risk your main backup?

Plus using a backup drive for other purposes does put your backup at risk. Do you want to risk damaging the backup or causing undue wear to the drive? Shouldn't the backup be safe & ready to be used in the event of a catastrophic data loss of the original data? Even people who do everything correctly including multiple backup drives & methods will occasionally encounter situations where one of the backups is not usable for some reason.

As @John Galt mentions, it is up to each user how they decide to manage their systems, data, and backups. Trying to skimp on one aspect means skimping on it all. Is it really worth it?

I do not know if you’ve experienced something else that makes you say that.. I can mount and/or dismount a partition, this includes the Time Machine backups, If I want to move files from the live data partition, I can enter the password for it when asked, and simply not enter the password for the Time Machine backups partition if I don’t want to backup at the time.

Yes: Partition a physical disk in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support

Format: File system formats available in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support

Mu-iOS wrote: Hello, I’m looking to buy a 5TB One touch seagate hard drive ...

If you intend to use the external drive as a Time Machine drive, the entire drive should be dedicated to TM. Users have encountered unpredictable problems using the same physical drive for both TM and live data.

Also, using the same (non-TM) drive for live data as well as backup defeats the purpose of the backup. A backup drive should be exclusively backup ... and, except under certain use cases, only connected to your Mac at the times you do a backup or restore operation.

Also, I would not encourage the use of any software that comes packaged with a drive. If you want to automate backups, use Time Machine or CarbonCopyCloner or similar backup utility. And AFAIK the backup app that comes with the Seagate One Touch is Windows only.

Well, if I partition them into two volumes, one for live data and one for Time Machine backups, I can simply have encryption enabled on both, with both partitions using APFS, A backup drive should be secure, I’ve tried it on a 500GB external hard drive, partitioned them and it worked perfectly, 300gb for TM, and 200gb for live data and files, I do not know if you’ve experienced something else that makes you say that.. I can mount and/or dismount a partition, this includes the Time Machine backups, If I want to move files from the live data partition, I can enter the password for it when asked, and simply not enter the password for the Time Machine backups partition if I don’t want to backup at the time.

It doesn't help that Apple conflates the terms volume, container, and partition. For example Add, delete, or erase APFS volumes in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support mentions containers and partitions as though they are the same thing. That is not how I would describe them. Hint: there is no Disk Utility for iOS devices.

Partition a physical disk in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support suggests we should not do that.

Using separate, dedicated (inexpensive, disposable...) hard disk drives or other suitable storage media obviates the understandable confusion.

John -

If one is partitioning the drive with the intent to format the 2 partitions as ExFAT and APFS, does it matter which order you do it in ... in other words, should the first partition be ExFAT?

And what is the reason one wouldn't just create two Volumes instead of Partitions? Is it that a Windows machine would not recognize an ExFAT volume inside an APFS container?

Hello, I’m looking to buy a 5TB One touch seagate hard drive, Do you back up your Mac to the external hard drive? If so, do you partition the volume or create a partition within the drive to have backup files and other types of files on the same drive? and does it include software?

Without a Windows PC to test, I can't be certain. Personally I think it's less than ideal to partition a disk (both partitions can suffer simultaneous failure) and I don't recommend it. OP does't want to buy another HDD though...

Everyone's backup requirements are different, but with TM, I reiterate the need for simplicity: one backup drive for each Mac. The whole backup drive. And don't encrypt the backup drive, encrypt the TM backup.

But it's your data, so do as you please.

Mu-iOS wrote:

Well, if I partition them into two volumes, one for live data and one for Time Machine backups, I can simply have encryption enabled on both, with both partitions using APFS, A backup drive should be secure, I’ve tried it on a 500GB external hard drive, partitioned them and it worked perfectly, 300gb for TM, and 200gb for live data and files, I do not know if you’ve experienced something else that makes you say that.. I can mount and/or dismount a partition, this includes the Time Machine backups, If I want to move files from the live data partition, I can enter the password for it when asked, and simply not enter the password for the Time Machine backups partition if I don’t want to backup at the time.

And when that drive goes down or is corrupted in any way, you lose BOTH your live data AND your backup.

Good backup practice is called the "3-2-1 Backup Rule," meaning 3 copies of your data ... your original (live) data on whatever storage media it exists on + 2 backups each on different storage media with 1 of those backups kept offsite.

Can't you spread the 5TB. out into smaller portions?

That probably sounds like a silly question?

But I speak, from bad experiences, with too much TB.

It goes wrong, at some point?

Just my opinion, on this issue!

MartinR wrote:

Is it that a Windows machine would not recognize an ExFAT volume inside an APFS container?

A Windows machine would have absolutely no idea of how to deal with APFS, unless one purchased third-party APFS driver software for Windows.

Presumably you would not want to take Windows up on any offers to reformat the "unknown" partition.

Servant of Cats wrote:

A Windows machine would have absolutely no idea of how to deal with APFS, unless one purchased third-party APFS driver software for Windows. Presumably you would not want to take Windows up on any offers to reformat the "unknown" partition.

Thanks for the confirmation. That's what I thought, but I wanted to check with others.

I said goodbye & good riddance to the Windows world over 20 years ago and haven't looked back. The only reason I use ExFAT these days is on a couple of flash drives that I use to transport PDFs to my local copy center for printing.

Thanks for the explanation, well taught, I don’t know if it’s a better way to resort to two different 2TB hard drives? One for backups and one for files and data if that’s the case?