can you partition a hdd with time machine data on it?
My new mac does not have enough space for the data so I want to partition it so i can boot from time machine on the disk and select the things i don't want so i can boot from a time machine thingy that can fit on my new computer :)
Posted Oct 8, 2014, 3:20 PM UTC
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Yep, you can have a Time Machine backup on a drive with multiple partitions (or partition a drive which already has a Time Machine backup). Note that you cannot boot directly from a Time Machine backup however; is that what you'd meant?
Well, here's the thing. My computer has 122 gb of storage and my Time Machine file is 250 gb, so i wanted to partition the hard drive and boot from one partition and delete the stuff i didn't want and get the "essentials". So is it possible to partition the hard drive while the files are on there, and how? and can boot from a hard drive, delete what i don't need and then transfer it to the computer itself... I hope I make sense ;)
I'm a bit confused. So you've bought a new Mac, with presumably a 128GB drive, which gives you 122GB of usable space.
Where is your Time Machine archive - on an external hard drive presumably? Which hard drive are you wanting to partition and boot from?
When you talk about hard drives you need to be specific as there are presumably several that you could be talking about - the storage in your new Mac, the old Mac (if you still have it), the Time Machine disk, etc.
What size was the storage on your old mac? Did you actually have more than 120GB worth of stuff?
Don't forget, a 250GB Time Machine Archive is not a simple copy - it's not 250GB worth of stuff - it's much less than that. You've got all you current and deleted files (that's what backups are for), and then all the "deltas" for both current and deleted files - i.e. each time you save a new version of a file it stores the changes so you can roll it back if you need to. When you restore from Time Machine it only restores the most recent version. Stuff you've deleted or old versions of files are not restored to your live machine. I'm using about 100GB of my Mac's storage capacity, but my TM archive is bordering on 300GB. If I had to scrub my Mac, or was setting up a new machine, it would only restore that 100GB worth.
I bought a new mac with 122gb of usable space on it, but on my old mac I had about 250gb worth of stuff (pictures and music mostly) which I had backed up via Time machine, so now I would like to get the things I absolutely need on my new 122gb computer. And so i thought I could partition the hard drive I use as a Time Machine disk and then boot from time machine, delete some of the 250gb so that it would fit on my new computer. Is there a smarter way of doing this?
Yeah, so you can't do that - the Time Machine Archive is that - a backup archive. It's not a bootable volume.
I don't understand why you want to partition the Time Machine Disk - so that you can have your archive on one partition and then your other bulk "stuff" that won't fit on your Mac on the other?
When you plug the Time Machine Disk in, you can access the archive through Finder, rather than through Time Machine. You can use this to selectively copy over media, but obviously that doesn't carry all your software and settings and such as through you were doing a full restore through the proper Restore From Time Machine feature. Although TM restores individual lost files very well, or entire systems, you can't restore say, just software and settings without your other files.