im not sure what's the format out of the box. as long as u format it to fat32 right out of the box (before copying ur stuff ofcoz), u'll be fine. actually the "for mac" part doesnt mean anything

1) yeap
2) 1.5x or 2x the size of ur internal HDD is good enough.
3) mac also can do those cloning etc...but the drawback is this stuff got so many process. TM is practically invisible, as long as the hdd is plugged in, OSX will handle everything 4 u. that's why it's the best backup solution

---

Added on April 14, 2010, 2:08 pmanyway, TM will create a folder on the external drive for time machine. u can still use the drive to store other files too, juz dun disturb the time machine folder

This post has been edited by dvlzplayground: Apr 14 2010, 02:08 PM

1) Any extra HDD will do. Rule of thumb is that the backup cannot be inside the current disk or else it won't be a real backup anyway. Some bought new bigger HDD for their mac and use the one supplied with their mac as backup drive. Just need some enclosure will do the trick. Some get an external FW or USB drive. Browse through all your options.

2) No idea. I usually dictates it based on my wallet and my need. Currently I have 500GB 2.5" drive. Plenty of space for all my movies and music plus it's portable since I really need that function. If you don't do alot of movement get a 3.5" drive as it's cheaper and can get more disk space. 2 partitions one for TM and another for storage space for all those movies/musics/pics. Make sure it's bigger in capacity that your current drive if you plan to use TM with that.

3) Alot of freeware programs available. You can use all those like make image, just backup certain path/files. Example SuperDuper! Head to freemacware.com to get ideas. Depends on your need
TM can do those plus more customization but more of a backup purposes where the files constantly change. Image is taken that point in time thus more suitable if you plan to have a duplicate disk or restore whole ISO etc. Well that's my preference anyway.

For question 2: lets say my internal HDD is 320GB.. so i hv to get at least 1.5x or 2x the internal HDD? so is around 500GB-1TB?

Anyway, can I use back my old 320GB external HDD and plug in my mac?

no lah. u wanna use a smaller hdd also can it juz makes bttr sense to use a huge one

thanks for the reply.. but how big is the file for the backup from TM? let say my 500GB MBP hdd already 200GB filled.. then the TM backup will be how big?

1st it will kinda clone ur hdd...everything will be copied (unless u exclude some folders), so if u got 200gb of stuff, then the TM will be around 200gb too. after that it will 'update' with new files and so on. it will make a 'screenshot' of ur system every time u backup, so u can revert to any one of them.

once the TM drive is full, it will start to delete the screenshots from the oldest one. so the bigger the drive, the further you can time travel

oh... nw i get it.. thx dvlzplayground... xD
another question.. how often TM will update? if use external as backup must always plug in?

time machine keeps:
- hourly backups for the past 24 hours
- daily backups for the past month
- weekly backups for all previous months

the oldest backups are deleted when your disk becomes full

^ that's what written on the TM syspref so yeah for the hourly backups u need to keep it plugged in all the time. but for me i juz plug in my TM whenever i want to backup. once done, eject the disk

thanks.. now i understand better.. but can i copy the backup of certain date out and keep it separately so that if my system crash.. i can restore the backup not from days ago, weeks ago but restore to a fresh copy after i install all the apps?

if the format WD my book studio for mac is in Journaled ( i think),
can my pc use it or if that drive connect to aiport extreme base station,
can my pc use it? Can my mac & pc share the data?

any recommendation for external HDD? for TM... going to PC fair later to survey..

im looking for seagate freeagent desk/go for mac which comes wif firewire800, is there anyone know the price?
Im looking for 500GB and above.

good question when restoring from the time machine (after a system crash or something), u can pick which date to restore from.

but yea if the hdd is full it will be deleted :S u can create a fresh-install-with-apps system clone, but i dunno what's the easiest way to restore from it unless another HDD is used. sorry about this

i never done this before, but i dont think the PC can read it. cuz windows cant understand HFS no matter where it's connected

and if we use an external HDD to do TM.. then we cant format it in FAT32 right? bcoz max size only 4GB.. that hdd we can only format in the mac format and we cant let PC read the file from the hdd d right?

ah yes, the TM drive need to be HFS. i think got windows software to read HFS drives. i think laaa

im a bit confused.. lets say i got a 500GB external HDD.. newly bought and then i wanna transfer my files from my PC to mac, so i just simply copy and paste? or need to format 1st? din noe external HDD can format different type of drives... LOL

any HDD can have different format

it really depends on what the external HDD is formatted right out of the box. sometimes it's FAT32, in this case you can straight away copy ur files into it. the limitation of FAT32 is u can't store a single file larger than 4GB

sometimes they are formatted as NTFS. no prob with windows, but OSX can only read from NTFS, cannot write. meaning u can copy files from it, but not to it. in this case, u either need to format the drive to FAT32 first, or install an app in OSX to enable writing on NTFS

about those "for Mac" external drives, they're formatted as HFS. no prob on OSX, but windows cant do anything with it at all. so if u plan on sharing an external HDD with a PC, dont use HFS. however, HFS is the format required for OSX installation and Time Machine backups

how do I know whether the HDD is formatted in what drives?
wow.. luckily I haven bought the HDD "for mac"..
HFS format, I cant use it on windows?

juz plug in to ur mac 1st, right click on the HDD icon n go to Get Info... u can find out the format there

yea HFS format cannot use on windows. so if u buy the 'for Mac' HDD, need to reformat 1st if u want to use with windows

so u wanna buy any external HDD also can, all of them will work. the difference is just the format, which is easy to take care of

Sorry Im still abit confused... Lets say I buy the MyBook Essential 1TB from WD... Its not for Mac... So it should most probably be formated as NTFS right?

If I want to use it on both windows and Mac what format best to use? Cause Ill be dual booting with boot camp.. So would like to know... Thanks in advance!