Hello,
I just picked up Seagate Backup Plus (3TB) external HD. Wondering if I should use Time Machine or Seagate Dashboard app that comes with the hard drive. Any advice will be appreciated.
Thank you in advance.
Best,
M
iMac (20-inch Late 2006), Mac OS X (10.7.3)
I absolutely agree with mende1 - no need to use the software that comes with the hard drive. You will need to format the drive for Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and GUID partition scheme for use as a clone - that process will erase the drive anyway. Having a 3 TB drive, you may want to consider partitioning it so you could have Time Machine, a clone, and/or another partition for your iTunes, iPhoto, etc. libraries.
I absolutely agree with mende1 - no need to use the software that comes with the hard drive. You will need to format the drive for Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and GUID partition scheme for use as a clone - that process will erase the drive anyway. Having a 3 TB drive, you may want to consider partitioning it so you could have Time Machine, a clone, and/or another partition for your iTunes, iPhoto, etc. libraries.
It's much better to use Time Machine. If your Mac crashes, it's easy to restore the whole backup onto the hard drive, but it's even easier if you use a cloning app like Carbon Copy Cloner.
Cloning apps make bootable backups into the external drive, so you can start up your iMac from it even if the hard drive isn't working. There are different options, but I don't recommend you to use the Seagate app.
If you want more information about Time Machine > http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427
Thank you for the tips. Your suggestion about partitioning is very intriguing. My Mac has 1TB drive, so I will have plenty of room ... When you mention having a third partition for iTunes, iPhoto and iMovie libraries, are you suggesting I move those files off my Mac internal drive? And if so, do I use a second external HD to back that up? How would that work?
Also, if I'm backing up a 1TB drive on Time Machine, do I need the same exact space on the external backup drive? In other words, if I'm partitioning my external, should I set aside just 1TB to do that?
You need about 2 - 4 times the space of the data you are trying to backup. See item 1.
Well, yes you can move them off - preferably to a second drive - if you have a lot of GB's worth. If it's not that many, then don't worry about it. If you have the libraries on a second drive, then yes, you do want to make sure that you also have a backup of those. I believe Time Machine can handle backing up an external; however, I don't use it, so make sure you check that (I prefer working with bootable clones).
I'd consider moving them if you have a lot and if you're into editing video/making movies as you do need as much empty hard drive space available for reading/writing while editing, rendering, and burning as you have in project files. I regularly have 150 - 200 GB of files in an HD project, so I need to make sure I have another 200+ available. While in a project, my hard drive space used easily quadruples until I'm done and the temp files are archived on an external or deleted.
As mentioned, you should have 2 - 3 times for TM (if you are thinking of filling up your 1 TB drive - see last paragraph).
time machine or seagate dashboard?
