Mac Time Machine

[JerryL]

Hi

Does a Mac Time Machine backup drive have to be completely blank to be used as the main backup source, or can I use a drive that already contains a lot of other files & folders?

I have a 300Gb external drive which is about 30% full with the above folders & files, but I am concerned if I plug it in to my Macbook Air that time machine will lose the stuff that is already on the drive, or will it?

Can other Mac users comment on how TM works?

Thanks

 

[Chappers]

Time machine will back up to any drive you want. Sometimes it's easier to partition a drive and have Time Machine just work on that. It's not essential but it does keep things tidy.

If you use an existing drive TM will make a folder called Backups.backups. It will put the backups here. However it will continue to add data to the selected dive until it's full, so you will loose the ability to add additional files. Hence the reason most people have either a separate drive for TM or a separate partition. When TM fills up the drive it deletes the oldest backup

 

[JerryL]

Thanks Chappers for your response.

I was concerned about losing the files I had on the drive as they were copies of stuff off my Imac desktop (not TM, just dragged over).

I have loads of photos on my Macbook that I wanted an easy backup so TM seemed the ideal option.