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time machine backup device iis full

My external 2T HDD that I use for Time Machine is full. I also have music and photos on there that I access manually.


I bought a new 4T external HDD to solve the situation.


It offers a thing called "mirror" (Seagate).


Should I do something different or just keep using Time Machine - selecting the new HDD and manually copy over my music and photos etc?


Thanks

iMac 21.5″, macOS 10.13

Posted on Mar 27, 2022 3:02 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 27, 2022 4:32 PM

Hi,


Time Machine should have its own partition, without other data on it, so it would be better to partition the new drive into two partitions, one for TM and one for manually saving/accessing other files.

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8 replies

Mar 27, 2022 7:03 PM in response to Chamie7

Connect the new drive to the Mac > open Disk Utility > select the name of the drive > click on Erase (this will erase anything on the new drive) > name the drive > select Mac OS Extended (Journaled) in Format > select GUID in Scheme > click on Erase and wait until finished. Click on Partition > click on the + sign > select the size of the partition (make the TM partition as big as possible, at least 2-3x the size of the data on the internal drive it's backing up) > name the partition > select Mac OS Extended (Journaled) in Format > click on Apply > click on Partition.


You now have two partitions; each will act like a separate drive. Open TM Preferences and Select Disk (the TM partition). I believe the other partition will automatically be excluded from backup, but if not, click on Options > + > select the second partition (the non-TM partition).


Now you can use the second partition like a separate drive to save to.

time machine backup device iis full

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