Can Time Machine use partition from ext HD?

[SGarcia]

Hi all, I have a question regarding Time Machine. If I have an external USB drive, can I partition it and use a partition for Windows files backup and another partition for Apple Time Machine?

 

I do not use Mac OS X much, perhaps just to edit video using iMovie, so I am planning on reserving 50GB for Time Machine. Would this be appropriate? Thanks all! SGarcia

 

PS: If I should be asking this in another forum please advice.

[SGarcia]

Yes, I can use one external USB HDD for Windows and Time Machine!

 

I got myself a WD Essentials with 500GB capacity, a PC with Mac OS X and another PC with Windows. This is how I did it,your mileage may vary :-)

 

First I connected the external HDD to the Windows 7 PC. I think this willalso work with Vista. I ran the Disk Management Console by right clicking Computer then selecting Manage then selecting Disk Management.

 

I selected the USB ext. drive, right clicked and selected Shrink Volume. I shrunk it by 45GB. I then proceeded to partition and format the new nonallocated space. When it finished Windows toldme that the new disc was "Healthy". Make sure that it is a primary parttion.

 

Next up, the Mac OS X PC. I have 10.6. Booted Mac OS X and plugged in the ext. USB HDD. Mac OS X recognized it and asked whether I wanted to use it for Time Machine. Note that it selected the newly created partition which is the one I wanted. I clicked on the button to confirm that I did so want to use that partition for Time Machine. It then told me to beware, that all info was going to be deleted from the selected drive that would be used for Time Machine. I did not care, so I letit proceed. Mac OS X proceed to do something and when it was done it started the first backup. The backup, as I understood it, included everything. This means, if i understood correctly, that if I trask my Mac OS X I can reinstall it as it was from the Time Machine.

 

Some where along the line I had the option to scanfor a Time Capsule. This is a Wifi Apple storage device. If you do not have this product, don't scan for it! After about 20 minutes it had backed up the entire mac OS X install drive, about 9.45GB in my case. So I am now happily using my external USB 500GB HDD to back up files for Windows and Time Machine. Oh yeah!!

 

Please note that the above procedure worked for me for the specific hardware I had.Any changes in hardware or technique might cause a different outcome. If using Windows XP, you{ll need a third party partitin manager that can shrink volumes (partitions). Regards, SGarcia

 

 

 

 

 

Hi all, I have a question regarding Time Machine. If I have an external USB drive, can I partition it and use a partition for Windows files backup and another partition for Apple Time Machine?

 

I do not use Mac OS X much, perhaps just to edit video using iMovie, so I am planning on reserving 50GB for Time Machine. Would this be appropriate? Thanks all! SGarcia

 

PS: If I should be asking this in another forum please advice.