Partition Time Machine

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Level 1

12 points

Partition Time Machine

Is it safe to partition an external hard drive that is being used for Time Machine back up? What I need is too back up some files from another External HD(2TB) on to my Time Machine Drive(4TB) but it wont fit on my laptop so I need to transfer it directly from the 2nd External(2TB). I was gonna put the files on the root of my Time Machine Drive(4TB) next to the Time Machine Folder but I wasnt sure if that would screw anything up or if a partition would be safer. A better question, is it necessary to partition the drive for I what I want to do or could I just store my files on the root?

This is my first time using Time Machine and it seems like it customized the hard drive, so I am not sure what I should and should do to it.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Jan 14, 2014 8:28 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Eric Root

Level 10

684,039 points

Jan 15, 2014 12:07 PM in response to macjsus

Most people recommend making a separate partition for storing data on a external drive that has a Time Machine backup on it; however, I've stored data without a new partition and it didn't seem to affect Time Machine.

http://pondini.org/TM/6.html

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Answer 2

nifflerX

Level 4

2,826 points

Jan 15, 2014 12:28 PM in response to macjsus

As Eric Root pointed out there is no requirement to have separate partitions. The reason most people do it is because Time Machine will take as much space as it can. So if you have your iPhoto library and your time machine backup on the same partition you may find yourself running out of room for new pictures before you expect as Time Machine keeps gobbling up hard drive space. HTH.

-NifflerX

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