OS X Time Machine Back-up to another Drive?

Tw4win

I'm building a computer that will have a 1 TB drive. I currently have a MBP with a 200 GB harddrive.

When I format the 1TB drive can I partition it so that there's a 200 GB Time Machine partition? If so, how do I have to partition it? Also, Is it fairly easy to set up Time Machine to back-up to a drive on another computer that is on the same network?

wunderbar

The only current supported method of backing up with time machine over the network is using a Time Capsule, or a USB drive plugged into an Airport router. there are hacks to get backing up to shared folders working, but I tried it, and it's un-reliable at best. I ended up just taking a 500GB drive and using USB.

I can't speak to partitioning it though, haven't tried that.

wirespeed

I have also tried doing the backup to a networked drive via the hacks and agree that it's unreliable (for what it's worth, it's also unsupported).

Also, it should be noted that you don't need to partition it to be 200GB. Time Machine isn't mirroring of your data, it's an initial backup, and then incremental backups until you've filled the drive, so if possible, you'd likely want a larger drive. Personally I'd recommend an external USB or Firewire drive for backup. I have the Time Capsule, and I like it a lot, but between the slow hard drive speeds in the MacBook Pro and Time Capsule and the backup across the network (even wired) the speed could be better.

syndalis

I know this is mildly off topic, but the time capsule / time machine performance in snow leopard is worlds better than it was, even over wireless... so if you are unhappy with the speed, wirespeed, consider upgrading your OS.

wirespeed

What's faster is the manner in which it organizes, catalogues and prepares the backup, not the manner in which it's read from the internal drive and written to the backup drive. At this point, I still prefer to use a Firewire 800 drive for backup because it's the fastest. The Time Capsule is still an awesome product, especially if you're fortunate enough to have gotten the second generation model with dual-band antennas that allow for simultaneous 802.11n and 802.11g connections without the G clients degrading the wireless speed of the N clients.